Sweden Facts

Interesting Sweden Facts for Kids

Here are some interesting Sweden Facts which were chosen and researched by kids especially for kids.

Facts about Sweden

Sweden facts: The Swedish flag with yellow and blue

Population: 10 million people live in Sweden (2021)
Capital: Stockholm with over 1.6 million inhabitants
Name: Kingdom of Sweden, in Swedish: Sverige
Government: parliamentary constitutional monarchy
Official Language: Swedish
Religion: more than 60% are Christians
Life expectancy: 82 years
Currency: 1 Krona = 100 öre (since 2008 the smallest denomination is 1 Kr)
National Symbols: Eurasian elk (national animal), three crowns and the national colours blue and yellow
National Day: 6 June (Independence Day)

Anthem of Sweden

National Anthem: 'Du Gamla, Du Fria', means in English: Thou Ancient, Thou Free
History: The Sami people are the indigenous people of Sweden. The first Christian king of Sweden was Olof Skötkonung in the 11th century. The Svea kings conquered also Finland which was Swedish until 1809 when it had to hand the region of Finland to Russia.

Sweden Geography
Where is Sweden? - Sweden Map

Sweden is a country in northern Europe. Sweden belongs to the Scandinavian countries which also include Norway and Finland.

Sweden borders Norway to the West and to the North and Finland to the East and the Baltic Sea to the South and Southeast and the North Sea to the Southwest.

Map of Sweden

Sweden is slightly larger than California/ USA or about the size of Germany, Austria and Slovenia combined. Sweden is Northern Europe's largest country.

Sweden is among Europe's most sparsely populated countries with Finland, Iceland and Norway. About 68% of the country are forests.

A flight to Stockholm takes about 2.5 hours from London/UK, or 8.5 hours from New York/USA.

Sweden Geo Superlatives

The highest point in Sweden is the Kebnekaise with 2,100 m/ 6,890 ft.
The longest river in Sweden is called Klarälven. This river is also the longest river in Scandinavia.
Sweden has mountains in the western parts, but otherwise flat with rolling hills.

Lapland in northern Sweden

Sweden has over 100 000 lakes and is one of the countries with the most lakes. The largest lake is Lake Vänern.
The largest island of Sweden is called Gotland.
Sweden borders two countries: Norway and Finland.

Sweden for Kids | Attractions and Landmarks

Here are our favourite attractions in Sweden for kids:

Stockholm's Royal Palace

Stockholm: The capital city is located on 14 islands which are connected with 57 bridges. The Vasa museum displays the original war ship that sank off the Stockholm coast in 1628. Famous sights in Stockholm also include the Nobel Museum, the ABBA museum and of course, the medieval town centre 'Gamla Stan' with its cobblestone streets, the Stockholm cathedral and the royal palace.

Sweden's capital city Stockholm Gamla Stan - Old Town

Stockholm's old town

Visby: The town and surrounding region on Gotland provided the scenery for many Pippi Longstocking scenes. Visby is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site and referred to as the best medieval fortified trading town in Northern Europe.

Medieval town of Visby

Fårö: The island off Gotland is located in the Baltic Sea and dominated by a barren landscape and limestone monoliths or sea stacks, called 'raukar' in Swedish. The famous sea stacks are often given names by visitors, as this one below, which has been named 'dog'. Can you see why?

Sweden Facts: The largest island of Sweden is Fårö - see the 'dog' seastack

Sea stack looking like a dog.

Goteborg (Gothenburg) was once the most important fishing port, the city is also known for the Volvo car factory and its blue city trams - and city buses. The Poseidon fountain is a symbol of the maritime heritage of the city.

Gothenburg - image by Andreas Bergerstedt

Lapland with Kiruna and Abisco National Park: The Northern Lights can be experienced in Swedish Lapland. In and around Kiruna is a good place to watch the dancing green, pink and purple stripes of light in the night sky between 9 pm and 2 am. Did you know that the indigenous people of Sweden, the Sami people, believed the lights come from the souls of the dead?

Northern lights in Kiruna in Sweden - image by Alberto Gonzalez Gimenez

Northern Lights in Abisco National Park

Sweden Facts | Swedish People

Sweden is one of Europe's monarchies. Sweden is a kingdom for over one thousand years. All the time Sweden was ruled by a king. Since 1973 King Carl XVI Gustaf is the reigning monarch of Sweden. The royal house includes Queen Silvia and the three children (as well as their children) and the older sister of the King, Princess Birgitta. The castle of Drottningholm, near Stockholm, is the residence of the king and his family.

Castle Drottningholm near Stockholm

The majority of the Swedish population live along the coastline or the country's South. About 88% of the Swedes live in or near urban centres. The North of the country is very sparsely populated.

The biggest cities of Sweden are Stockholm, Göteborg, Malmö and Uppsala.

The Sámi people are Sweden's indigenous people. Some of the Sámi also live in Finland, Norway and Russia and count in total about 75,000 people. Did you know that the Sámi people are the only recognised indigenous people in within the area of the European Union?

Traditional yurt in Lapland

'Midsommar’ or Midsummer celebrations are the biggest celebrations of the year - after Christmas. The Swedes celebrate the longest day of the year with dances around the maypole, parades and get-togethers. In 2021, midsummer is celebrated on 25 June.

Midsummer celebrations

Sweden Facts | Sweden Economy

The natural resources of Sweden include timber, iron ore, copper and zink. 75% of the country's electricity is produced by hydroenergy and other renewable energy sources.
Manufactured goods such as cars, electronics, clothing as well as refined petroleum are the main export products.
The main trading partners of Sweden are Germany, Norway, Denmark, the USA and the UK.
Among the biggest Swedish companies are car manufacturer Volvo, clothing brand H&M (Hennes & Mauritz), music streaming platform Spotify and IKEA, which is among the largest furniture manufacturers in the world. IKEA was founded in Sweden, but now its headquarters is based in the Netherlands.

IKEA store in Almhult - image by Per Pixel Petersson/imagebank.sweden.se

IKEA store - Image by Per Pixel Petersson

Sweden Facts | Sweden Animals

The national animal of Sweden is the Eurasian elk or moose. About 300,000 to 400,000 of these huge hoofed mammals roam freely in Sweden. The Swedish name for moose is älg.

Elk

In Central Sweden there is a population of the Scandinavian wolves. These are very shy animals and they live in dense forested areas. European brown bears, lynxes and Arctic foxes also live in the wild in Sweden.

Sweden Facts | Food in Sweden

Typical Swedish food includes:

Köttbullar: meatballs traditionally served with gravy, potatoes, lingonberries, and pickled cucumber.

Köttbullar - image by Daniel Herzell

Falukorv: sausage served with macaroni pasta and cream sauce
Kalops: meat stew cooked with all spice and bay leaves and served with potatoes and beetroots
Raggmunk: potato pancakes are often eaten with salted pork bacon and lingonberries

Kanelbullar: The typical Swedish cinnamon buns are made with wheat flour and filled with cinnamon, sugar and butter.

Swedish cinnamon buns are served with milk

Sweden Facts for Kids
Useful Resources

Sweden Tourism. "Midsummer Step-by-Step." VisitSweden. Last updated 23 March 2021. Last accessed 9 April 2021.
Historiska. "We call them Vikings." Historiska-Exhibitions. Last accessed 8 April 2021.
Håkan Stenlund. "World's Best Place for Northern Lights". Swedish Lapland. Last accessed 8 April 2021.
Central Intelligence Agency. "Europe: Sweden." World Fact Book. Update 7 April 2021. Accessed 9 April 2021
Wild Sweden. "Wild Animals in Sweden." WildSweden. Accessed 9 April 2021

Sweden Facts | Related Pages

Denmark Facts

Norway Facts

Iceland Facts

We hope you enjoyed reading our Sweden Facts for Kids. Make sure to bookmark this page, as we plan to add on more information to make this page even more interesting, not only for children:-)

Picture credits on this page: Images by ImageBank Sweden, SXC.hu and Shutterstock.com

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