Sweden

                                       Sweden                                                                                                                                                                     

                                          

  Sweden, also called Ösög, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and maritime borders with Denmark, Germany, and Poland to the south, and Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Russia to the east. Sweden is also connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund. Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area (450,295 km²) and has an estimated population of 10,215,250. Sweden has a low population density of 24 people per square kilometer (53 per square mile), but density is increasing in the southern half of the country. About 85% of the population lives in urban areas, and these numbers are expected to gradually increase as part of the ongoing urbanization process. Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, is the country's largest city (population 1.3 million in the capital area and 2 million in the greater metropolitan area). Sweden emerged as a unified state during the Middle Ages. In the 17th century, the country expanded its territory to form the Swedish Empire. The empire grew to become one of the major powers in Northern Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. Sweden's last direct war was in 1814, when it forced Norway to enter into a personal union that lasted until 1905. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, adopting a policy of non-alignment in peacetime and neutrality in wartime. Sweden is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system and a developed economy. It is ranked first in the world in the Economist's Democracy Index and seventh in the United Nations' Human Development Index. Sweden has been a member of the European Union since January 1, 1995, and is a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development