Sweden

Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: Konungariket Sverige is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Its capital city is Stockholm. It is surrounded by Norway (west), Finland (northeast), the Skagerrak, Kattegat and Oresund straits (southwest) and the Baltic Sea (east). It has maritime borders with Denmark, Germany, Poland, Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, and it is also linked to Denmark (southwest) by the Öresund Bridge. It has been a member of the European Union since 1995.

At 449,964 km² (173,720 square miles), Sweden is the third largest country in Western Europe. Sweden has a low population density except in its metropolitan areas; 84 percent of the population lives in urban areas, which take up only 1.3 percent of the total land area.

The citizens enjoy a high standard of living and the country is generally perceived as modern and liberal, with an organizational and corporate culture that is non-hierarchical and collectivistic compared to its Anglo-Saxon counterparts. Nature conservation, environmental protection and energy efficiency are generally prioritized in policy making and embraced by the general public in Sweden.

Sweden has a long tradition as a major exporter of iron, copper and timber. Improved transportation and communication allowed more remote natural assets to be utilized on a larger scale, most notably timber and iron ore. In the 1890s, universal schooling and industrialization enabled the country to develop a successful manufacturing industry and by the twentieth century, Sweden emerged as a welfare state, consistently achieving a high position among the top-ranking countries in the UN Human Development Index (HDI). Sweden has a rich supply of water power, but lacks significant oil and coal deposits.

During the Middle Ages, Denmark, Norway and Sweden (including the Swedish-controlled areas of what is today Finland), were united through the Kalmar Union, formed in 1397 under Margaret I of Denmark. Sweden left the union in the 16th century, and battled its neighbours for many years, especially Russia and Denmark-Norway. In the seventeenth century, during an era of absolute monarchy, the Swedish kings expanded Sweden's territory through warfare, creating Swedish dominions on the Scandinavian peninsula, in the Baltic and in areas in present-day Germany. After the death of Charles XII in 1718, the Swedish empire crumbled. In 1809, the eastern part of Sweden, Österland and the eastern part of Norrland became Finland, the semi-autonomous Grand Duchy of Imperial Russia and by 1814, Sweden had lost all of the conquered territory outside the Scandinavian peninsula. In 1814, Norway was coerced into a personal union with Sweden which lasted until 1905. Since 1814, Sweden has been at peace, adopting a non-aligned foreign policy in peacetime and neutrality in wartime.