Are you looking for some basic facts about Sweden? Maybe you are going to have a Sweden quiz and want to prepare by improving your general knowledge about this Sweden. Check out these quick basic Sweden facts below … facts you should know, if you are going to travel or live in Sweden for some time.
Among the information listed below, you will also find Sweden fun facts, not as useful when you try to show off during a quiz but certainly helpful when you have a chat with friends and want to impress with some interesting or weird information about Sweden.
More about Swedish culture
Basic Sweden Facts & Fun Facts
Quick facts about Sweden:
- Top speed on Swedish highways: 110 km/h (68 mp/h), (except on a few highways: 120km/h)
- Population: ca. 10 million
- Government: Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
- King: Carl XVI Gustaf. Queen: Silvia.
More about the Royal Family of Sweden, here - Neighbouring countries with direct border: Norway, Finland (if you include the Öresundbridge, also Denmark)
- Calling code: +46
- Emergency: 112
- Area: 450.000 km², (173,860 sq mi)
- Time zone: CET (UTC +1), Summer CEST (UTC +2)
- Nationalday: 6. Juni
- Highest mountain: Kebnekaise, 2.106m
- Membership
- EU: yes, since 1995
- NATO: yes, since 2024
- Drunk driving: blood alcohol content of minimum 0.02% or more is considered a crime
- Three biggest companies in Sweden:
- Volvo
- Ericsson
- Vattenfall
- Currency: Swedish krona, SEK
- Country code on European number plates: S
- Domain: .se
- GDP per capita (2019): 51.241 US$
- Swedish national anthem: Du gamla, Du fria, (actually there is no official Swedish anthem, but this one has been adopted by convention)
- Official language: Swedish
Here my top tips how to learn Swedish fast. And basic Swedish words and sentences.
Sweden FAQ: my answers to frequently asked questions about Sweden, here
Fun facts
- Sweden has around 221,800 islands, making it the most island-rich country in the world.
- Swedes have days when they celebrate certain pastries, for example:
- Semla (shrovetide bun), Shrove Tuesday
- Kanelbulle (cinnamon bun), 4 October
- Våffel (wafer), 25 March
- Amount of times Sweden won the Eurovision Song Contest: 6
- The amount of coffee a typical Swede drinks per day: 3,2 cups
- There’s a law in Sweden called allemansrätt, freedom to roam, which means that you can go wherever you want in nature, forest and fields, without having to ask for permission. There are some restrictions though: read more about the Swedish allemansrätt.
- The distance from north to south is 1,572 km (~977 mi), which is about the same distance as from the town Ystad in the south of Sweden to Naples (south of Rome) in Italy.
- 80% of Swedes don’t know the name of any of their neighbors
