Facts about Sweden: nature, climate, people

Sweden is a large country in the far north of Europe, with a lot of forest and many lakes. The north and the south are very different. Here are the main facts about nature, climate, resources and people.

Where is Sweden and how big is it?

Sweden has a land border with two countries: Norway and Finland. Part of the Finnish border runs along a river.

The Baltic Sea, the Bothnian Sea and the Bothnian Bay lie east of Sweden. Sweden also has a west coast (västkusten).

Statistics Sweden (Statistiska centralbyrån, SCB) is a government agency that produces statistics. According to SCB, Sweden's land area is about 410,000 square kilometres. The biggest county, Norrbotten, is about one quarter of the country.

Read about Sweden's Nordic neighbours and the EU on the page Sweden and the world.

Mountains, lakes, rivers and islands

The fjäll are high, cold mountains in the west, near Norway. The highest is Kebnekaise in Norrbotten. High up, the forest stops. This line is the tree line. It is at a height of 600–900 metres. Above it, only herbs, dwarf trees and other small plants grow.

Why does Sweden have so many lakes? Long ago, the ice sheet (inlandsisen), a very thick layer of ice, moved over the land. It left cracks and holes in the rock, where water collected. Today there are almost 100,000 lakes larger than one hectare (10,000 square metres). Norrbotten County has the most lakes.

The biggest lake is Vänern. Next come Vättern and Mälaren.

Norrland has many big rivers, for example the Umeälven. Further south there are the Dalälven and the Göta älv. Sweden's biggest island is Gotland.

Climate and seasons

The wind mostly comes from the west or southwest, and Sweden is close to the North Atlantic. So the winters are fairly mild for a country so far north.

The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) is a government agency for weather, water and climate. According to SMHI, the average January temperature is 1–2 degrees above zero in many places on the coast of Götaland. In the coldest valleys of inland Lapland, it is about 15 degrees below zero (average for 1991–2020).

• Winter and forest: In most of the country, winters are snowy and conifer forest is most common. In Götaland and the far south of Svealand, winters are milder. There, broadleaf forest is the natural forest.
• Snow: On the southern coasts, snow usually stays only a short time. In the north, mostly in the mountains, it stays for just over six months a year.
• Precipitation, that is rain and snow, falls all year, mostly in summer and autumn. Most of it comes from the west. So the western parts get the most.

Since the early 1990s, it has been clearly warmer than in 1961–1990. Winters in central and northern Sweden have warmed the most, by about two degrees. The tree line has moved higher up.

Midnight sun and dark winters in the north

In the far north, the sun can be up all day and night in summer. This is the midnight sun. In winter, there are days when the sun does not rise at all. This is the polar night. This happens north of the Arctic Circle (polcirkeln). It lies at about 66.5 degrees north.

SMHI gives an example from Kiruna in 2013. The sun was up all day and night for 47 days in a row. The polar night was shorter: 27 days.

Hydropower, ore and forest

Sweden has many natural resources. These are things from nature that people can use.

• Hydropower: In a normal year, about 40 percent of Sweden's electricity production comes from hydropower (Swedish Energy Agency, 2026). It is the biggest renewable source of electricity. The big power stations are mostly in the north.
• Ore: Ore is a natural collection of minerals with metal that is worth mining. One example is iron ore. People have mined minerals in Sweden for more than 1,000 years. The Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU), a government agency, calls Sweden one of Europe's most important mining countries. Kiruna and Gällivare in Norrbotten are well-known mining towns.
• Forest: According to SCB, 68 percent of the land was forest in 2020. Only 7 percent was farmland.

In nature, allemansrätten (the right of public access) applies. See the page about Law and justice.

How many people live in Sweden?

In 2025, just over 10.6 million people lived in Sweden, according to SCB. The population has grown by more than 1.7 million since 2000. This is mainly because more people have moved to Sweden than away from Sweden. Also, more people are born than die.

Sweden is thinly populated. In 2025, there were 25.9 people per square kilometre on average.

• Southern Sweden has many more people per square kilometre than northern Sweden.
• People live closest together in Stockholm county. They live furthest apart in Norrbotten and Jämtland counties.
• About half of all people live within one mil (ten kilometres) of the sea.

Most people live in a tätort, an urban area. This is an area where the houses are close together and at least 200 people live. In 2023, 88 percent of the population lived in a tätort. Stockholm is the biggest.

Provinces, parts of the country and counties

Sweden has 25 provinces (landskap), for example Dalarna, Halland and Gotland. About a thousand years ago, the provinces had their own laws and courts.

Sweden also has three parts of the country. From south to north they are Götaland, Svealand and Norrland.

For the work of the state, Sweden is divided into counties (län). Sweden now (2026) has 21 counties. Each county has a county administrative board (länsstyrelse), the state's main representative in the county. A county governor (landshövding) leads the board. The government appoints the governor.

Read about regions and municipalities (kommuner) on the page Democracy and how Sweden is governed.

Capital, language, flag and national day

Sweden's capital is Stockholm. The government and the Riksdag (the Swedish parliament) have their seat there, where they work.

The Language Act says: "Swedish is the principal language in Sweden." Principal means main. Swedish is the common language in society. National minority languages also have special protection. Read about them on the page Rights and the media.

The Act on the Flag of Sweden says that the flag is blue with a yellow cross.

6 June is a public flag day. The ordinance on public flag days calls it Sweden's national day and the day of the Swedish flag. It is also a public holiday. Read about other holidays on the page Religion, traditions and holidays.

For more about the test, read what the citizenship test contains and how to study for the test.

Words to know

Word	Meaning
Fjäll	High mountains near Norway
Trädgränsen	The tree line, where the forest stops
Inlandsis	Thick ice that once lay over the country
Midnattssol	Midnight sun: sun up all day and night
Polarnatt	Polar night: no sunrise at all
Naturtillgång	Natural resource, for example forest
Tätort	An area with houses close together and at least 200 people
Län	County: one of 21 areas for the work of the state
Landskap	Province: an old area, for example Dalarna