Einar H. Dyvik
Research expert covering Nordics and global data for society, economy, and politics
Sweden - statistics & facts
The Kingdom of Sweden is part of Scandinavia and situated in Northern Europe. It shares borders with Norway and Finland, and has access to Denmark via the Öresunds bridge-tunnel, which opened in 2000. Sweden is a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy, the current regent being King Carl XVI Gustaf. Both in terms of population and area, it is the largest of the five Nordic countries. However, its population density is relatively low, with a total population of 10.55 million people lived in Sweden people spread across 450,000 square kilometers. However, a large part of the country's population lives in the southern part of the country, especially in and around the largest cities Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. Stockholm is the capital and the largest city by far with a population of almost one million inhabitants. Sweden has a very high level of urbanization, 88 percent of the population lives in urban areas. As a result of the slowly increasing life expectancy at birth, the total population in Sweden has been steadily increasing over the past decade, and the country's popularity among immigrants from all over the world also contributed to increasing population figures.
Although Sweden became a member of the European Union in 1995, a referendum decided against joining the euro area. Thus, the official Swedish currency is still the Swedish krona. Despite the current challenges, the Swedish economy is still considered one of the strongest in the world. It is still among the countries in the world with the largest gross domestic product per capita, an important indicator for a country's economic well-being. However, due to the challenging economic circumstances, Sweden's GDP growth has slowed. Most of Sweden's GDP is generated by the services sector, which includes tourism and hospitality. The automobile producer Volvo AB is the country's largest company measured by turnover.
Economic challenges
Today, Sweden is considered one of the most highly developed societies in the world. One major reason for this fact is surely the Swedish social welfare system, which provides universal health care and post-secondary education for its citizens. However, Sweden has been facing several challenges recently, first with the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, then the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As a result of these two crises, Sweden's inflation rate rose rapidly in 2022 and 2023, and as a consequence, the unemployment rate was one of the highest in Europe as of 2024.Although Sweden became a member of the European Union in 1995, a referendum decided against joining the euro area. Thus, the official Swedish currency is still the Swedish krona. Despite the current challenges, the Swedish economy is still considered one of the strongest in the world. It is still among the countries in the world with the largest gross domestic product per capita, an important indicator for a country's economic well-being. However, due to the challenging economic circumstances, Sweden's GDP growth has slowed. Most of Sweden's GDP is generated by the services sector, which includes tourism and hospitality. The automobile producer Volvo AB is the country's largest company measured by turnover.
Rising crime
Sweden is considered one of the safest and most peaceful countries to live in. However, the country has been struggling with increasing violent crime related to gang crime in recent years. For instance, the number of people killed in shootings reached a new record in 2022, and the number of explosive attacks saw a sharp increase in 2023. As a result, more than half of the population worry about crime and violence, and Sweden is not included among the 20 most peaceful countries in the world. The increasing violent crime must be seen in relation with Sweden's relatively high unemployment rate, especially among youth, which makes criminal activities a more attractive alternative. Moreover, some blame the rising gang-related crime on migration and failing integration, and the right-wing party the Sweden Democrats received the highest share of the votes in the 2022 election.
