Sweden

Sweden is a northern country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, Finland to the east, and is connected to Denmark in the southwest by a tunnel bridge across the Øresund Strait. Covering 450,295 square kilometers (173,860 sq mi), Sweden is the largest country in Northern Europe, the third largest country in the European Union and the fifth largest country in Europe. The capital and largest city is Stockholm. The total population of Sweden is 10.4 million; and a low population density of 25 people per square kilometer (65 / sq mi). 87% of Swedes live in urban areas, which cover 1.5% of the entire country. The highest concentration is in the central and southern half of the country.

Sweden is part of the geographic region of Fennoscandia. The climate is generally mild for northern latitudes due to significant maritime influences. Despite its high latitudes, Sweden often experiences warm continental summers, located between the North Atlantic, the Baltic Sea and vast Russia. The overall climate and environment differ significantly in the south and north due to the large latitude differences, and most of Sweden has consistently cold and snowy winters. Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is covered with dense forests and includes part of the Scandinavian mountains.

Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, went down in history as the Getae (Swedish: Götar) and Swedes (Svear), and made up the sea people known as the Normans. An independent Swedish state emerged in the early 12th century. After the Black Death killed about a third of the Scandinavian population in the mid-14th century, the domination of the Hanseatic League in Northern Europe became an economic and political threat to Scandinavia. This led to the formation of the Scandinavian Kalmar Union in 1397, which Sweden left in 1523. When Sweden fought on the Protestant side in the Thirty Years War, the expansion of its territory began, and the Swedish Empire was eventually formed.. The last war in which Sweden was directly involved took place in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into a personal war. A union that fell apart peacefully in 1905. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining an official policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. In 2014, Sweden celebrated 200 years of peace, breaking even Switzerland's world record. Sweden formally remained neutral both in the world wars and in the Cold War, although Sweden has openly moved towards cooperation with NATO since 2009.

Sweden is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with legislative power vested in a 349-member unicameral Riksdag. It is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 districts and 290 municipalities. Sweden supports the Scandinavian social security system, which provides universal health care and higher education for its citizens. It ranks eleventh in the world in per capita income and ranks very high in quality of life, health, education, protection of civil liberties, economic competitiveness, income equality, gender equality, prosperity and human development. Sweden joined the European Union on January 1, 1995, but withdrew from NATO membership as well as from the eurozone after a referendum. He is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, the Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).