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About SwedenApproximately nine million people live in Sweden. The biggest towns are Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. Sweden can be reached by airplane, boat or car. It is a narrow and long country measuring 2000 km from the south to the north. There is a lot to see and do. Sweden is a country with an extensive coastline, woods, countryside and mountains and alpine scenery. It offers a very rich variation of nature. Here you can paddle a canoe, go walking, cycling, sailing, climbing mountains, and so on. Sweden, or more officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a country in northern Europe. Sweden is further north and further east than England, almost directly north of the border between Germany and Poland. Sweden is part of the Scandinavian Peninsula, along with Norway and Denmark. Together with Iceland and Finland, these are called the Nordic countries. Sweden is in northern Europe People in Sweden are called Swedes, and things from Sweden are called Swedish. The language people speak is Swedish. The currency used in Sweden is the Swedish krona (one krona, two kronor). One krona is divided into 100 öre. Sweden has a population of around 9 million people, and a land area of 449,964 sq km. This is smaller than New South Wales (land area of 809,444 sq km), and bigger than Victoria (237,629 sq km). Around 1% of Australia's land area is water, but Sweden has lakes and rivers making up 8.67%. The capital of Sweden is Stockholm. Other big cities are Gothenburg (Göteborg) and Malmö. Far northern Sweden is above the Arctic Circle, so in summer, the sun shines all day and all night. In winter, it gets very very cold, and it is dark all day and all night. In southern Sweden, the climate is more temperate. In winter it snows, and people like to go skiing and ice-skating. In summer, the temperature is between 20 and 30 degrees centigrade. Many people go on holidays to the lakes or to the sea, and go swimming or boating. The flag of Sweden is 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. The traditional Swedish Church is Lutheran, and 100 years ago most Swedish people were Christian. Today, Sweden has many immigrants from all around the world, and people from many different religions live here. Sweden is a constitutional monarchy so there is a government elected by the people, and a hereditary monarch. The current King of Sweden is King Carl XVI Gustaf, of the house of Bernadotte. The heir to the throne is his daughter, Princess Victoria. The Parliament in Sweden is elected every four years. The current ruling party is Moderaterna, and the Prime Minister is Fredrik Reinfeldt. Some famous Swedish people you may have heard of:
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