 |
|
Sweden in brief |
Geography and climate
|
Sweden has an area of 450,000 km² (174,000 sq. mi.) similar
to California. Half its land surface is covered with forest. Less
than 10% is farmland.
 Nearly
100,000 lakes dot the countryside, which is relatively flat. A long
mountain chain in the northwest reaches heights of up to 2,111 m
(6,926 ft). There are thousands of islands along the jagged coast.
The warm Gulf Stream in the Atlantic gives Sweden a milder climate
than other areas equally far north. Stockholm, the capital,
is at almost the same latitude as southern Greenland but has an
average temperature of about +18°C (64°F) in July. The winter temperatures
average slightly below freezing and snowfall is moderate. Far northern
Sweden has long and cold winters and bright summers of moderate
temperatures; in June and July daylight lasts around the clock.
|
|
The people
|
|
Sweden has a population of 8.9 million, with about 85% living in
the southern half of the country. Around 85% belong to the Church
of Sweden, which is Lutheran. Swedish is a Germanic language.
Like other industrialized countries, Sweden has a low birth rate.
It rose during the 1980s and early 1990s but is now in decline again.
Life expectancy is high, about 76 years for men and 82 for women.
Since the 1940s, immigration, mostly from neighboring Scandinavian
countries but also from elsewhere in the world, has accounted for
over 40% of the population growth. Sweden has two minority groups
of native inhabitants in the north: the Finnish-speaking people
of the northeast and the Sami (Lapp) population.
|
|
|
|
In Swedish