Cold Sweden — the birthplace of the harsh Vikings, who terrified half of Europe for several centuries. But these days this country — one of the most organized, prosperous and safe. High salaries, peace of mind, security — it’s all about her.
Facts about Sweden
- The name of the country in Old Norse means “the state of the Svei”.
- Part of Sweden is located in the Arctic, therefore, in the summer the sun shines around the clock, and in winter the locals have to get used to constant darkness.
- Sweden is the main European exporter of iron ore.
- About 10% of the country’s area is hidden under the waters of lakes (interesting facts about lakes).
- Sweden was the first country in Europe where national parks appeared – this happened back in the first decade of the 20th century. Now there are 16 such parks and about 9 hundred nature reserves in the country.
- The Swedish company Ericsson, widely known throughout the world, was founded in the mid-1870s.
- Sweden granted the right votes in elections for all its citizens, without exception, the last of the Nordic countries.
- Although the population of this country is only slightly more than 10 million people, about 50 multinational companies have been founded and successfully operate here.
- Almost 60% of Sweden’s GDP is made up of tax revenues from citizens and businesses.
- It is also the world leader in the production of bearings.
- One in five Swedish citizens is descended from foreigners.
- The Lutheran Church of Sweden, the main local religion, was only separated from the state in 2000.
- In Swedish Stockholm and its environs there is the largest model of the solar system on Earth, where the 85-meter Ericsson Globe, the largest spherical building on the planet, acts as the Sun. The scale of the construction is 1:20,000,000.
- Each year on January 13, Sweden celebrates Whip Day, which marks the end of the Christmas holidays and school holidays. On this day, Swedes remove elegant Christmas trees from their homes.
- Large-scale celebrations take place all over Sweden on Walpurgis Night – thousands of people gather around large bonfires and listen to the choral singing of men welcoming the onset of spring.
- The Swedes believe that if a girl collects 7 different flowers on the eve of the summer solstice and puts this bouquet under her pillow, she will see her future husband in a dream.
- In mid-August, in the northern regions of Sweden, surströmming day is celebrated – pickled herring, as fermented and sour herring is considered a delicacy among the Swedes. In the south of the country, crayfish day is celebrated at the same time.
- On St. Lucia’s Day, which the Swedes celebrate on December 13, children wake up earlier than their parents and prepare breakfast for them – cocoa with homemade cookies. Then the girls put on white dresses, and the boys dress up as stargazers to congratulate and honor adults all day long. Schoolchildren also go to visit their teachers on this day.
- The replacement for Santa Claus in Sweden is the Christmas gnome.
- Natives of Sweden were and still are many Hollywood stars: Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman, Dolph Lundgren and others.
- The concept of “Swedish family”, meaning life and love together, appeared in the USSR in the 1970s and exists only in Russian.