conventional long form: Kingdom of Sweden
conventional short form: Sweden
local long form: Konungariket Sverige
local short form: Sverige
449,964 km²
Stockholm
Swedish krona (SEK)
46
.se
Swedish, small Sami-, Finnish-speaking minorities
Lutheran, Orthodox, Baptist, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist)
9,031,088
constitutional monarchy
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)
A military power during the 17th century, Sweden has not participated in any war in almost two centuries. An armed neutrality was preserved in both World Wars. Sweden's long-successful economic formula of a capitalist system interlarded with substantial welfare elements was challenged in the 1990s by high unemployment and in 2000-02 by the global economic downturn, 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.
temperate in south with cold, cloudy winters and cool, partly cloudy summers; subarctic in north
