SWEDEN

http://www.sweden.se/eng/Home/Society/Sustainability/Facts/Sustainable-livingGoing-back-to-the-
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Full speed! Photo: Henrik Trygg/Image Bank Sweden

A significantly more recent phenomenon is that travel into and out of Sweden is well on its way
toward reaching a balance. Foreign tourism in Sweden has increased dramatically in recent years.
What can be called "nature tourism" still accounts for most such travel. Sweden's exceptional
natural scenery and enormous tracts of untouched wilderness are a major attraction to the
inhabitants of more densely populated parts of Europe and the world. People from around the
globe travel to Lapland to experience the magnificent natural scenery and such exotic phenomena
as the midnight sun, the aurora borealis (northern lights), Arctic chill and total silence. During the
warmer half of the year, people mainly from other countries of Europe travel to all parts of Sweden
to enjoy the luxury of peaceful solitude in a splendid natural setting.

However, the type of tourism in Sweden that has grown the fastest by far in recent years is big-city
tourism. Stockholm has become a world attraction, luring tourists from all over the world with its
unique mixture of natural beauty, cultural heritage and modern international urban culture,
including its dynamic design, fashion, gastronomic, music, art and entertainment scenes. The
country's second largest city, Göteborg, is a hub for maritime traffic on the North Sea and also has
plenty to offer people in search of entertainment and cultural experiences. Since the opening of
the Öresund Bridge, Sweden's third-largest city, Malmö, has joined the Danish capital of
Copenhagen to form an exciting new cross-border metropolitan region.

Sustainable living: Going back to the future

Sustainable development promotes ways of living that safeguard the environment.
This involves protecting natural resources and taking responsibility for future generations.

Sustainable development is a key objective of the Swedish government, both nationally and internationally.
The main principle is that members of one generation should act to conserve resources for future generations.
It is an approach that, in order to succeed, must actively inform and shape policy on every political level. It
requires that each decision strikes a balance between social, economic and environmental consequences. 
Environmentally aware Swedes
In recent years, Swedes – as individuals, as politicians and as entrepreneurs – have become increasingly aware
of their responsibility for the environment. There is a steadily growing interest in organic food. In Europe,
where the organic food market is growing 5—7 percent a year, Sweden tops the green shopping list. A recent
study by the European Commission found that 40 percent of Swedes had purchased an eco-labeled item over
the past month. The EU average is 17 percent.

Ecological fashion
Interest in ecological clothing has also increased. In recent years, more new stores with ecological apparel
have opened while established stores, including H&M, have begun to use ecological fabrics in their collections.
The second-hand market, both in stores and on-line, is also growing. Charity store Myrorna, one of Sweden’s
largest second-hand chains, takes in more than 9,000 tons of textiles each year. According to Myrorna, this
equates to a saving of 9,000 tons of pesticides, 9,000 tons of chemicals and 25 billion gallons (93 billion liters)
of water. The recycling trend can also be seen among the country’s furniture designers. Sebastian Kjersén and
the duo LL Lindblom Lindström are examples of young designers who take sustainability and the environment
into consideration during the design process.
Sweden is also at the forefront of recycling and waste management. In 2005, more stringent requirements
were introduced for packaging and paper producers. The goal was to have producers take responsibility for
their products so that they were developed in a more environmentally sustainable way. Sweden prohibits the
sale of drinks in plastic bottles or metal cans that are not part of an approved recycling system.

Leader in recycling
Swedes are good at returning bottles for deposit. The target, to have 90 percent of all aluminum cans and PET
bottles included in the recycling system, is close to being reached. Today, the rate is about 85 percent, which
makes Sweden an international leader in recycling beverage containers. In 2008, 1.4 billion cans and bottles
were returned for deposit and recycled. Returpack, which runs the Swedish deposit system, estimates that the
energy this saved is enough to heat about 21,000 mid-sized houses for a whole year.

Most Swedes feel at home in the great outdoors and can´t wait to get back to nature. Photo: Martin
Björnwall
Strategic challenges for a better world
Sustainable development demands a clear view of resource utilization. This is dependent upon our ability to
use, create and invest in the resources that constitute the basis of our economy.

Four strategic challenges have priority in the Swedish approach to sustainable development formulated in 2004
by the government: building sustainable communities, encouraging good health on equal terms, meeting
demographic challenge and encouraging sustainable growth.
The strategy covers all three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental. It
also applies to the international effort for sustainable development, including UN initiatives and the EU’s
strategy.
The government has set up an advisory Commission on Sustainable Development to strengthen cooperation and
produce a more detailed analysis of issues related to sustainable development. The commission’s work is
action-oriented and focus on themes identified as essential for creating conditions for sustainable
development.
Of particular interest are areas in which Sweden can develop internationally competitive concepts,
technologies and services and thereby contribute to global sustainable development. Because Sweden has been
able to show that it is possible to combine an advanced level of economic and social welfare with high
environmental ambitions, it is often held up as a model.

Accommodation revenue at hotels, holiday villages, youth hostels and camp sites by county and by
inhabitant, 2007

County Total accommodation Accommodation 07/06

revenue per county revenue per percent
(in thousand SEK) inhabitant, SEK

Jämtland 488,386 3,847 9.3

Gotland 206,522 3,609 16,2
Stockholm 5,954,093 3,066 14.3
Dalarna 780,327 2,832 3.5
Norrbotten 632,920 2,523 8.5
Kalmar 545,850 2,334 4.9
Halland 579,463 1,992 8.4
Västra Götaland 2,893,181 1,872 7.0
Värmland 472,325 1,725 4.0
Västerbotten 419,976 1,631 9.1
Blekinge 231,063 1,521 4.0
Skåne 1,781,486 1,490 7.1
Jönköping 480,401 1,441 5.5
Västernorrland 346,897 1,425 10.1
Södermanland 359,960 1,361 12.8
Östergötland 564,551 1,343 10.6
Uppsala 433,056 1,342 9.6
Kronoberg 232,210 1,287 11.4
 Örebro 347,433 1,261 9.6
Gävleborg 308,711 1,121 8.9
Västmanland 243,768 979 12.1
Whole country & average 18,302,579 1,997 9.7
Preliminary data for 2007 Source: Nutek/SCB

Geography of Sweden
Despite its small population and large area, Sweden is a technologically advanced country
with good infrastructure. It is characterized by its long coastlines, large forests and
numerous lakes. Sweden is one of the countries on earth located furthest from the
Equator. In terms of area it is similar to Spain, Thailand or California.

A land of ancient bedrock, Sweden was settled later than most countries; yet its national government has
relatively old roots. By the 16th century Sweden had evolved into a strongly centralized nation, with
Stockholm as its capital. The size of the country has changed over the centuries: Finland was part of Sweden
until 1809. What is now southern and western Sweden was conquered in 1658 from the then Danish-Norwegian
union. During certain periods Sweden also had provinces on the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic Sea,
and even colonies in North America and the West Indies. In 1905, a nearly century-old union with Norway was
dissolved, but since 1812 Sweden’s borders have been unchanged and the country has been spared from war
since 1814.

Today the Nordic countries (Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland), whose central portion is called
Scandinavia, cooperate closely in many fields. Through its membership in many international organizations,
including the United Nations (since 1946) and the European Union (since 1995), Sweden plays an active role in
international cooperation.

Geology

Sweden is situated in a geologically very stable portion of the great Eurasian land mass. The southernmost part
of the country (Skåne, or Scania) is a continuation of the fertile plains of Denmark and northern Germany.
Further north is a heavily wooded highland region (Småland) with soils that are less rich. The rest of southern
Sweden consists of a fairly level but fragmented landscape of primary rock with a varied terrain of fields, hills
and lakes that is especially typical of the broad zone between the cities of Stockholm and Göteborg
(Gothenburg).

North of this belt is a borderline area separating the more southerly regions from the terrain of Norrland – the
region comprising the northern three-fifths of Sweden – with its rolling landscape of hills and mountains,
forests and large river valleys. Along this borderline are deposits of iron and other ores, which gave rise to
Sweden’s oldest industrial region, Bergslagen. Further north are the copper, lead and zinc ores of the
Västerbotten region and the large iron ore deposits of Kiruna and Gällivare-Malmberget. In these northerly
areas as in much of Sweden, however, granite and gneiss predominate.

The western border between Sweden and Norway mainly follows the Scandinavian mountain range. Its peaks,
rising 1,000–2,000 meters (or some 3,000–7,000 feet) above sea level, were folded during the Silurian and
Devonian periods but were raised during the Tertiary period. Sweden’s largest rivers originate in these
mountains.
Also dating from more recent times (the Cambro-Silurian era) is the sand and limestone bedrock found on
Öland and Gotland – two large, mainly flat islands in the Baltic – and in some other places in southern and
central Sweden.

During several periods, Scandinavia has been covered by inland ice. The most recent Ice Age ended only about
10,000 years ago. The weight and movement of the ice sheet altered the landscape. The hard cliffs of primary
rock were polished into the rounded shapes characteristic of Sweden’s archipelagoes. Hollows were deepened
into valleys and lakes. Gravel, boulders, sand and clay created irregular moraine strata. Glacial rivers polished
and rounded the stones and bits of gravel that were deposited in glacial estuaries and gravel ridges. These
sandy ridges served for a long time as transportation routes in the humid lowlands, and the ridges were later
important as sand pits. Finely ground material that sank slowly to the sea bottom outside the ice cap now
forms the fertile clays of the central plains.

Natural scenery, flora and fauna

Much of the Swedish landscape is dominated by coniferous forests, in southern Sweden often blended with
such deciduous trees as birch and aspen. Deciduous forests (beech, oak) used to grow along the southern and
southwestern coast but have been replaced by farmland, and in recent years also by planted coniferous forest.
But these and other hardwoods such as linden, ash, maple and elm trees are found throughout southern
Sweden up to the border of Norrland. Other vegetation follows largely the same geography. Because of their
lime-rich bedrock and favorable local climate, Gotland, Öland and parts of the Scandinavian mountain range
have an interesting flora that includes numerous varieties of orchids.

Sweden’s fauna has been determined by the climate and history of the period since the last Ice Age and by
human settlement. The wolf, not long ago threatened with eradication, is now expanding its habitat across
northern and central Sweden. This creates conflicts between nature conservationists and livestock owners.
Bear and lynx populations are also increasing. Throughout the country are large numbers of moose (elk), roe
deer, foxes and hares. The moose is a great prize for hunters but is also a traffic hazard. Hunting is closely
regulated, and many species of animal are fully protected. Winter bird life in Sweden is dominated by a few
species, but summer brings large numbers of migratory birds from more southerly climes.

With its long coasts and many lakes, Sweden has a rich variety of waterborne life, but environmental pollution
has taken its toll. The Baltic seal now seems to be recovering, to the frustration of fishermen whose nets are
ravaged by these animals. Fish species vary from the cod and mackerel of the deep, salty Atlantic to the
salmon and pike found in the far less saline Gulf of Bothnia and in lakes and rivers. Herring and its smaller
relative the Baltic herring used to be an important staple food, but today they are among the delicacies served
on the Swedish smörgåsbord, a festive buffet.

To protect its sensitive natural scenery and examples of its cultural heritage, in 1910 Sweden was the first
European country to establish national parks, mainly in the mountainous districts of Norrland but also
elsewhere in the country. In this way, part of Europe’s last wilderness was saved from exploitation. Numerous
nature reserves and cultural heritage areas have also been established to protect environments regarded as
important to preserve.

Under the customary right of common access, anyone is entitled to hike through the forests and fields and pick
berries and mushrooms, without asking the landowner’s permission, but this right also carries with it an
obligation to respect natural scenery and private property.
Climate

Sweden’s climate is a function of the country’s location in the border zone between Arctic and warmer air
masses as well as its proximity to the Atlantic, with its warm Gulf Stream.

Because of the tilt in the earth’s axis and its rotation around the sun, the polar regions experience an extreme
contrast between long summer days and equally long winter nights. In the summer, sunlight lasts around the
clock in the portion of Sweden located north of the Arctic Circle, but even as far the June nights have only a
few hours of semi-darkness.

Considering its geographic location Scandinavia enjoys a very favorable climate. Atlantic low pressure areas
often blow in warmth and precipitation from the southwest. The weather is changeable; a few hours of rain
are often followed by sunlight and wind the next day and then new rainfall. Given this type of weather, the
temperature differences between night and day, summer and winter, are not so great – especially in western
Sweden. Another type of weather, however, creates a more contrasting climate: high pressure zones to the
east, which create stable, dry, sunny weather. This high pressure leads to hot spells in summer and cold ones
in winter. The battle between the more temperate Atlantic weather and the more extreme continental
weather is an important reality to farmers and vacationers. The difference between the weather in southern
and northern Sweden is slight in the summer, when Norrland warms up because of its very long days.

Fall and winter arrive early in the northern interior, while the southern coastal areas enjoy long, mild fall
weather. Norrland has colder and longer winters than southern Sweden, where there is often rain interspersed
with snowfall.

Total area 449,964 km2,

(173,731 sq.miles)

Some distances

Max. north-south 1,574 km (977

miles)

Max. east-west 499 km (310 miles)

By road:

Malmö-Stockholm 619 km (385 miles)

Malmö-Göteborg 276 km (172 miles

Göteborg-Stockholm 484 km (301 miles)

Stockholm-Luleå 958 km (595 miles)

             

Total population 9,011,000

Population in major cities

(incl. suburbs)
 Stockholm 1,873,000
Göteborg 872,000
Malmö 599,000

Population

Like the animal population, the first human beings are believed to have migrated into Scandinavia from the
south after the ice cap withdrew northward, but some of the population, probably including the Sami people,
came from the east.

About 1,000 years ago a central Swedish realm began to take shape, with its core in the fertile farmlands and
waterways around Lake Mälaren. By the 16th century, when Sweden became a centralized state, the country
had fewer than a million inhabitants within its present-day borders. During the 19th century, when Sweden
enjoyed peace, the population began to grow rapidly. This resulted in a large wave of migration to the
expanding forestry operations and wood product industry of Norrland, to industrial jobs in Swedish urban
areas, as well as abroad to the cities and prairies of North America. Over a million of the country’s inhabitants
emigrated during the period 1865–1914.

From an ethnic standpoint, Sweden has traditionally been a very homogeneous country. Swedish – a Germanic
language – has historically been the mother tongue of nearly the entire population, and some 80% of the
population belongs to the Lutheran Church of Sweden. However, since World War II, the ethnic and religious
composition of the population has changed and today roughly 12% of Swedish residents are foreign-born. Most
immigrants have come from the neighboring Nordic countries, with which Sweden has a common labor market,
and from elsewhere in Europe. For non-EU nationals, immigration is strictly regulated today but Sweden still
accepts certain categories of immigrants and refugees.

In addition, Sweden has two minority groups of native inhabitants: the Finnish-speaking people of the
northeast, along the Finnish border (about 30,000) and the Sami (Lapp) population of about 15,000. The Sami
are scattered throughout the northern Swedish interior and in nearby northerly areas of Norway, Finland and
Russia, numbering between 50,000 and 60,000 in all. Once a hunting and fishing people, they developed a
reindeer herding system which they carry out very efficiently today, although most Sami in Sweden have other
occupations. The Sami in Sweden have a Sami Parliament, the Sámediggi, which has decision-making authority
on certain issues.

Patterns of settlement

About 90% of Sweden’s inhabitants live in communities with more than 2,000 residents. The most densely
populated areas lie in the triangle formed by the three largest cities – Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö – and
along the Baltic coastline north of the capital. The interior of Norrland is very sparsely populated, which
creates problems in supplying adequate services and transportation facilities to its inhabitants.

By means of heavy government subsidies, the country’s housing stock has been modernized very rapidly, and
nearly all inhabitants live in homes which are technically very well equipped, even in the countryside. Nearly
half of the housing stock consists of single-family homes, but apartment buildings predominate in larger cities.

Over a long period of history, Swedish farmers lived together in small villages with common grazing lands and
allotments in common croplands. During the 18th and 19th centuries the central government implemented a
major series of reforms that divided up the commons, brought together the scattered allotments of each
farming family and moved their farmhouse to their “new” consolidated property. These reforms accelerated
the technical development of Swedish agriculture but also had social consequences.

An abundance of second homes is characteristic of Sweden. There are large areas of recently built summer
cottages along the coasts and lakes, especially near the three largest cities, but city dwellers have also
acquired abandoned crofts and small farms. Construction is regulated to ensure that beaches and other
valuable natural areas are accessible to everyone.

Communications

Good transportation and communications systems have always been vital to a country of Sweden’s size and
sparse population. The central government that emerged in the 16th century organized the country’s road
network and transportation system. For centuries, maritime shipping was dominant, with Stockholm as the
main Baltic port. During the 17th century, Göteborg (Gothenburg) was established as an exporting harbor.
Exports of timber led to the creation of ports along the Norrland coast.

In the mid-19th century, the Swedish government built a nationwide network of railroad trunk lines. The
railroads and new steelmaking processes made it possible to begin mining the large high-phosphorus ore
deposits of the north. Hydroelectric power was transmitted from the major waterfalls of Norrland to industrial
plants and large cities further south. Nuclear power plants at four locations along the southern and central
Swedish coasts have supplemented this north-to-south electric power system. Following a decision by
Parliament, one of these nuclear power plants (located near the coast of Denmark) was shut down in 2005.

There is an extensive network of highways, with freeways (motorways) following the triangle between the
three largest cities and continuing to the north. Remote rural areas usually have very good main highways,
often constructed as government-financed relief work projects. In 2000, Sweden and Denmark inaugurated a
16 km (10 mile) long bridge and tunnel across the Öresund straits between Malmö and Copenhagen, the Danish
capital. The domestic air traffic network is well developed, and Scandinavian cooperation has resulted in good
airline connections with the whole world.

Most Swedish families have their own car. Many cities have an extensive network of bus lines, operated and
subsidized by municipal governments and county councils. Large cities have such additional transit amenities
as subways, streetcars and commuter trains, which are coordinated with other local transportation facilities.
The fixed telecommunications network has been in place for many decades, and today there are also 7 million
mobile telephones. Most people in Sweden, except some retirees, have access to the Internet.

Economic geography

Although nowadays less than 3% of Sweden’s labor force works in agriculture and less than 10% of the country’s
area consists of farmland, agriculture is still an important sector of the Swedish economy. The largest
agricultural acreage and the highest productivity are found in southernmost Sweden, where specialization in
grain and pork production predominates, and in the plains of central Sweden. In Norrland, the production of
fodder crops, meat and milk predominates. Farming takes place as far north as the border with Finland, where
an intensive summer season and fertile river sediments provide good conditions for growing vegetables.

Nearly all Swedish farms are operated by individual families and are relatively small, but in the most
important agricultural districts, larger units also exist. Despite a sharp reduction in the number of farms and
crop acreage, production has increased, and with the exception of a few products, Sweden is self-sufficient in
agriculture. However, Sweden’s membership in the European Union since 1995 has led to increased two-way
trade with other EU countries in agricultural products and foodstuffs.

Of Sweden’s forest land, 10% (mostly in the north) is owned by Swedish state companies, while private
companies own 40% (mainly in north central Sweden) and individual owners, mainly farmers, own 50%.

Fishing is a small sector of the national economy nowadays. Because fishing zones have been redrawn by
international agreements, Sweden has lost some of its traditional fishing areas in the North Sea and the
emphasis has shifted to the Baltic Sea.

Mining has diminished in relative importance, but in northern Sweden the iron ore fields of Kiruna are at the
center of a railroad line from the Baltic steel mill center of Luleå and the ice-free Atlantic export harbor of
Narvik, Norway.

Sweden’s rich natural resources – its forests, ore deposits and hydroelectric power – constitute the historical
basis of its industrial economy, but the emphasis has shifted toward increasingly advanced products, often still
based on such indigenous raw materials as timber and metals.

The timber and wood product industry is, of course, located close to its sources of raw material. The pulp and
paper industry is often situated at the mouths of rivers running through forest regions — including a number
along the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia and of Vänern, Sweden’s largest lake. Production is concentrated at
large, efficient mills, nowadays also including units located in southern Sweden.

Sweden’s metal industry still follows a pattern from the days when water power and timberland (for charcoal
fuel) determined the location of iron mills. Sweden’s metal industry is thus still concentrated in Bergslagen,
where some smaller units face increasing competition from larger production sites abroad. The iron and steel
mills in coastal Oxelösund and Luleå were built in the 20th century. Otherwise, metal-based industries are
dispersed throughout southern and central Sweden and along the Norrland coast.

The automotive and aerospace industry has its main plants in south central Sweden (Göteborg, Trollhättan,
Linköping, Södertälje). The electronics industry is concentrated in Stockholm and Västerås.

The pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries are important, especially in the university cities of east
central Sweden and in Skåne, where the new bridge/tunnel across the Öresund has encouraged even closer
links with similar companies in Denmark.

Distributive trade, transportation, administration and services comprise a larger percentage of the national
economy than industry in terms of employees, but account for a small but increasing proportion of exports.
This sector is concentrated mainly in major cities, especially Stockholm.

Administrative structure

Sweden is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary form of government based on a one-chamber

legislature. A majority of the Swedish Riksdag (Parliament) approves the selection of a Prime Minister who
forms a Cabinet (or Government). Members of this Cabinet head some ten ministries, which formulate policy in
their respective fields and supervise a larger number of agencies, which enforce government regulations and
the laws enacted by Parliament.
To facilitate the administration of national government policies on the regional level, Sweden is divided into
21 counties, each headed by a Governor who is a Cabinet appointee. The county is often contiguous with the
district served by the regionally elected county council, which is responsible for medical care, regional traffic
and transit planning and other matters too large in scope for individual municipalities. A third type of region is
the historical province, which has no political significance but is important for people’s sense of regional
identity.

Local government in Sweden is exercised by 290 municipalities, which cover the entire country. Until 1952
there were more than 2,600 local governments, ranging from rural districts to the capital. These were merged
into larger units in two stages in order to create viable units consisting of a municipal center and a surrounding
territory. Their responsibilities include zoning and city planning, much of the educational system, social
welfare, childcare, fire protection, recreational and cultural amenities.

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