Learn Swedish

Sweden (pronounced , ), officially the Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: ), is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the Öresund Bridge in the south.

At 450,295 km², Sweden is the third largest country in the European Union in terms of area, and it has a total population of about 9.2 million. Sweden has a low population density of , but with a considerably higher density in the southern half of the country. About 85% of the population live in urban areas, and it is expected that these numbers will gradually rise as a part of the ongoing urbanization.

Statistics Sweden. Yearbook of Housing and Building Statistics 2007. Statistics Sweden, Energy, Rents and Real Estate Statistics Unit, 2007. ISBN 9789161813612. Available online in PDF format

Sweden's capital is Stockholm, which is also the largest city in the country (population of 1.3 million in the urban area and with 2 million in the metropolitan area). The second largest city is Gothenburg with 500,000 inhabitants in the urban area and approximately 1 million in the metropolitan area. The third largest city is Malmö.

Sweden is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government and a highly developed economy. It ranks first in the world in The Economist's Democracy Index and seventh in the United Nation's Human Development Index. Sweden has been a member of the European Union since 1 January 1995 and is a member of the OECD.

Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages. In the 17th century the country expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire. Most of the conquered territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were lost during the 18th and 19th centuries. The eastern half of Sweden, present-day Finland, was lost to Russia in 1809. The last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Sweden by military means forced Norway into a personal union with Sweden, a union which lasted until 1905. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, adopting a non-aligned foreign policy in peacetime and neutrality in wartime.U.S. State Department Background Notes: Sweden

'''' () is the capital and the largest city of Sweden. It is the site of the national Swedish government, the Riksdag (parliament), and the official residence of the Swedish monarch as well as the prime minister. Since 1980, the monarch has resided at Drottningholm Palace outside of Stockholm and uses the Royal Palace of Stockholm as his workplace and official residence. As of 2009, the Stockholm metropolitan area is home to approximately 22% of Swedens population, and contributes 28% of Sweden's gross domestic product. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden with a population of 825,057 in the municipality (2009), 1.25 million in the urban area (2005), and 2 million in the metropolitan area (2009).

Founded circa 1250, Stockholm has long been one of Sweden's cultural, media, political, and economic centres. Its strategic location on 14 islands on the south-central east coast of Sweden at the mouth of Lake Mälaren, by the Stockholm archipelago, has been historically important. Stockholm has been nominated by GaWC as a global city, with a ranking of Alpha-.The World According to GaWC 2008 In The 2008 Global Cities Index, Stockholm ranked 24th in the world, 10th in Europe, and first in Scandinavia. Stockholm is known for its beauty, its buildings and architecture, its abundant open water and many parks.Stockholm facts It is sometimes referred to as Venice of the North.[http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/06/05/stockholm.trip/index.html Adventures in the 'Venice of the North'], CNN.com June 5, 2009 Stockholm is the second most visited city in the Nordic countries, with around one million visitors in 2006.Top 150 City Destinations: London Leads the Way

Stockholm syndrome is a psychological response sometimes seen in abducted hostages, in which the hostage shows signs of loyalty to the hostage-taker, regardless of the danger or risk in which they have been placed. The syndrome is named after the Norrmalmstorg robbery of Kreditbanken at Norrmalmstorg in Stockholm, in which the bank robbers held bank employees hostage from August 23 to August 28, 1973. In this case, the victims became emotionally attached to their captors, and even defended them after they were freed from their six-day ordeal. The term "Stockholm Syndrome" was coined by the criminologist and psychiatrist Nils Bejerot, who assisted the police during the robbery, and referred to the syndrome in a news broadcast.Nils Bejerot: The six day war in Stockholm New Scientist 1974, volume 61, number 886, page 486-487

In 2007, a group of scholars studied twelve highly publicized cases of Stockholm syndrome, publishing their results in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. They argued that, as the media accounts lacked "access to primary sources" or an "identification of a pattern of features exhibited in Stockholm syndrome," the characterization of any of these events as Stockholm syndrome could have been due to reporting bias.