"text":"A military power during the 17th century, Sweden has not participated in any war for two centuries. An armed neutrality was preserved in both world wars. Sweden's long-successful economic formula of a capitalist system intermixed with substantial welfare elements was challenged in the 1990s by high unemployment and in 2000-02 and 2009 by the global economic downturns, but fiscal discipline over the past several years has allowed the country to weather economic vagaries. Sweden joined the EU in 1995, but the public rejected the introduction of the euro in a 2003 referendum."
}
},
"Geography":{
"Location":{
"text":"Northern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea, Gulf of Bothnia, Kattegat, and Skagerrak, between Finland and Norway"
"text":"most Swedes live in the south where there the climate is more mild and there is better connectivity to mainland Europe; population clusters are found all along the Baltic coast in the east; the interior areas of the north remain sparsely populated"
"text":"indigenous population: Swedes with Finnish and Sami minorities; foreign-born or first-generation immigrants: Finns, Yugoslavs, Danes, Norwegians, Greeks, Turks"
},
"Languages":{
"text":"Swedish (official), small Sami- and Finnish-speaking minorities"
},
"Religions":{
"text":"Lutheran 87%, other (includes Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Baptist, Muslim, Jewish, and Buddhist) 13%"
"text":"5.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.)"
},
"Population distribution":{
"text":"most Swedes live in the south where there the climate is more mild and there is better connectivity to mainland Europe; population clusters are found all along the Baltic coast in the east; the interior areas of the north remain sparsely populated"
"text":"name ultimately derives from the North Germanic Svear tribe, which inhabited central Sweden and is first mentioned in the first centuries A.D."
"text":"the father must be a citizen of Sweden; in the case of a child born out of wedlock, the mother must be a citizen of Sweden and the father unknown"
"text":"King CARL XVI GUSTAF (since 19 September 1973); Heir Apparent Princess VICTORIA Ingrid Alice Desiree, daughter of the monarch (born 14 July 1977)"
"text":"the monarchy is hereditary; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or majority coalition usually becomes the prime minister"
}
},
"Legislative branch":{
"description":{
"text":"unicameral Parliament or Riksdag (349 seats; 310 members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote and 39 members in \"at-large\" seats directly elected by proportional representation vote; members serve 4-year terms)"
},
"elections":{
"text":"last held on 14 September 2014 (next to be held in September 2018)"
"text":"percent of vote by party - SAP 31.0%, M 23.3%, SD 12.9%, MP 6.9%, C 6.1%, V 5.7%, FP 5.4%, KD 4.6%, others 4.1%; seats by party - SAP 113, M 84, SD 49, MP 25, C 22, V 21, FP 19, KD 16"
"text":"Supreme Court of Sweden (consists of 16 justices including the court chairman); Supreme Administrative Court (consists of 18 justices including the court president)"
"text":"Supreme Court and Supreme Administrative Court justices nominated by the Board of Judges, a 9-member nominating body consisting of high-level judges, prosecutors, and members of Parliament; justices appointed by the Government; following a probationary period, justices' appointments are permanent"
},
"subordinate courts":{
"text":"first instance and appellate general and administrative courts; specialized courts that handle cases such as land and environment, immigration, labor, markets, and patents"
"text":"Center Party (Centerpartiet) or C [Annie LOOF] ++ Christian Democrats (Kristdemokraterna) or KD [Ebba Busch THOR] ++ Green Party (Miljopartiet de Grona) or MP [Asa ROMSON and Gustav FRIDOLIN] ++ Left Party (Vansterpartiet) (formerly Communist Party) or V [Jonas SJOSTEDT] ++ Liberal Party (Liberalerna) or L [Jan BJORKLUND] ++ Moderate Party (Moderaterna) or M [Anna KINBERG BATRA] ++ Swedish Social Democratic Party (Socialdemokraterna) or SAP [Stefan LOFVEN] ++ Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna) or SD [Jimmie AKESSON]"
"text":"Swedish Confederation of Professional Associations or SACO [Goran ARRIUS] ++ Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees or TCO [Eva NORDMARK] ++ Swedish Trade Union Confederation (Landsorganisationen) or LO [Karl-Petter THORWALDSSON]",
"text":"American Embassy Stockholm, US Department of State, 5750 Stockholm Place, Washington, DC 20521-5750"
},
"telephone":{
"text":"[46] (08) 783 53 00"
},
"FAX":{
"text":"[46] (08) 661 19 64"
}
},
"Flag description":{
"text":"blue with a golden yellow cross extending to the edges of the flag; the vertical part of the cross is shifted to the hoist side in the style of the Dannebrog (Danish flag); the colors reflect those of the Swedish coat of arms - three gold crowns on a blue field"
},
"National symbol(s)":{
"text":"three crowns, lion; national colors: blue, yellow"
},
"National anthem":{
"name":{
"text":"\"Du Gamla, Du Fria\" (Thou Ancient, Thou Free)"
},
"lyrics/music":{
"text":"Richard DYBECK/traditional"
},
"note":{
"text":"in use since 1844; also known as \"Sang till Norden\" (Song of the North), is based on a Swedish folk tune; it has never been officially adopted by the government; \"Kungssangen\" (The King's Song) serves as the royal anthem and is played in the presence of the royal family and during certain state ceremonies"
"text":"Sweden has achieved an enviable standard of living with its combination of free-market capitalism and extensive welfare benefits. Sweden remains outside the euro zone largely out of concern that joining the European Economic and Monetary Union would diminish the country’s sovereignty over its welfare system. Timber, hydropower, and iron ore constitute the resource base of an economy heavily oriented toward foreign trade. ++ ++ Economic growth slowed in 2013, as a result of continued economic weakness in Sweden’s European trading partners; Sweden’s economy experienced modest growth in 2014-15, with real GDP growth above 2%, but continues to struggle with deflationary pressure."
"text":"iron and steel, precision equipment (bearings, radio and telephone parts, armaments), wood pulp and paper products, processed foods, motor vehicles"
"text":"data cover general government debt, and includes debt instruments issued (or owned) by government entities other than the treasury; the data include treasury debt held by foreign entities; the data include debt issued by subnational entities, as well as intra-governmental debt; intra-governmental debt consists of treasury borrowings from surpluses in the social funds, such as for retirement, medical care, and unemployment; debt instruments for the social funds are not sold at public auctions"
"text":"the Discount rate was abolished in 2002, and replaced by a \"Reference rate\" with no bearing on monetary policy; the rate quoted here is the Reference rate"
"text":"highly developed telecommunications infrastructure; ranked among leading countries for fixed-line, mobile-cellular, Internet and broadband penetration"
},
"domestic":{
"text":"coaxial and multiconductor cables carry most of the voice traffic; parallel microwave radio relay systems carry some additional telephone channels"
"text":"country code - 46; submarine cables provide links to other Nordic countries and Europe; satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean), 1 Eutelsat, and 1 Inmarsat (Atlantic and Indian Ocean regions); note - Sweden shares the Inmarsat earth station with the other Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Norway) (2015)"
"text":"publicly owned TV broadcaster operates 2 terrestrial networks plus regional stations; multiple privately owned TV broadcasters operating nationally, regionally, and locally; about 50 local TV stations; widespread access to pan-Nordic and international broadcasters through multi-channel cable and satellite TV; publicly owned radio broadcaster operates 3 national stations and a network of 25 regional channels; roughly 100 privately owned local radio stations with some consolidating into near national networks; an estimated 900 community and neighborhood radio stations broadcast intermittently (2008)"
"text":"Swedish Armed Forces (Forsvarsmakten): Army (Armen), Royal Swedish Navy (Marinen), Swedish Air Force (Svenska Flygvapnet) (2010)"
},
"Military service age and obligation":{
"text":"18-47 years of age for male and female voluntary military service; Swedish citizenship required; service obligation: 7.5 months (Army), 7-15 months (Navy), 8-12 months (Air Force); the Swedish Parliament has abolished compulsory military service, with exclusively voluntary recruitment as of July 2010; conscription remains an option in emergencies; after completing initial service, soldiers have a reserve commitment until age 47 (2013)"
