Wikijunior:Europe/Sweden
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Sweden is a large country in northern Europe. It is one of the 5 countries of Scandinavia. Sweden shares borders with Norway and Finland. The country is also linked to Denmark by a road bridge. The capital city of Sweden is Stockholm. Other big cities are Malmo and Goteborg.
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[edit] Sweden's History
Sweden remained officially neutral during World War I and World War II.
[edit] Sweden's Geography
Sweden covers 449.964 km² (173.732 sq mi) of land. Sweden is the third largest country by area in Northern Europe and fourth in all of Europe. Sweden is surrounded by Norway, Finland, the Skagerrak, Kattegat and Öresund straits, and the Baltic Sea.
Sweden has a temperate climate despite its northern latitude with distinct seasons and mild temperatures both in winter and summer. Sweden is much warmer than other places in the same latitude, mainly because of the Gulf Stream. In southern and central Sweden, summers are pleasantly warm (sometimes hot or cooler for a couple of days) with comfortable cool evenings; while the north experiences cooler temperatures. In the summer the sun hardly sets in Sweden, especially in the far north where it does not set at all. This allows activity until late in the evening, or even through the night. During winter, temperatures are close to freezing in the south, slightly below freezing in the central regions, and very cold, snowy and below freezing for around 6 months in the north.
Yearly average precipitation in most of the country is between 500 and 800 millimeter per year. In some parts though the average is between 1000 and 1700 millimeters. Thunderstorms account for most of the precipitation in the summer. Snowfall usually occurs between November and April, but in northern regions, snow could fall from September to May and stay on the ground for almost 6 months.
[edit] Sweden's People
The dominant language is Swedish, though it is not an official language. Other languages spoken
Photo by Tom Corser www.tomcorser.com.
include Finnish, Meänkieli, Sami, Romani, and Jiddisch. The population of Sweden is about 9,031,088. Sweden's population is mostly made up of Scandinavians and Germans. Most of the Swedish population take Lutheranism as a Religion.
All young children from 1-5 years old are guaranteed a place in public day-care facility. Between ages 6-16, children attend required comprehensive school, divided in three stages. After completing the ninth grade, 90% of students continue with a three-year upper secondary school.
[edit] Sights of the Country
Sweden is mostly visited by tourists from its neighbouring countries Denmark, Norway and Finland. Thereafter follow tourists from Germany and the United Kingdom. Sweden has a large number of lakes and forests, and it is very good for fishing and canoeing. There are several large lakes. Walking is quite a popular activity in the summer. There are no very high mountains in Sweden, so climbing is somewhat limited.
