Facts about Sweden

Here are some facts about “the land of the midnight sun”.

1.    Sweden is often confused with Switzerland. Sweden is NOT Switzerland. It is part of the Nordic Countries which also includes: Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland.
2.    Reindeers do not wander about the streets.
3.    The capital of Sweden is Stockholm.
4.    The second largest city in Sweden is Gothenburg (or Göteborg in Swedish).
5.    The Swedish spelling of Sweden is Sverige.
6.    Sweden is a member of the European Union but does not use the euro as currency.
7.    Sweden’s currency is the Swedish Krona (or crown). SEK or Kr. There are 100 öre in a krona. It’s 1 krona but 2 kronor.
8.    The Swedish Parliament is called Riksdag and the house is known as Riksdagshuset. There are 349 members.
9.    Sweden is a constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy. King Carl XVI Gustaf, Queen Silva, Crown Princess Victoria, Princess Madeline and Prince Carl Philip.
10.    The Swedish alphabet is similar to the English alphabet, but Swedish has three more letters at the end of their alphabet which are å, ä and ö.
11.    Swedes, like most Europeans, write the date in the following format: yyyy-mm-dd (example: 1961-05-12)
12.    They also use the 24 hour clock.
13.    Sweden was the first country to require sustainability reports from state-owned companies.
14.    Everyone in Sweden has equal access to health-care services.
15.    The pacemaker, the ball bearing, the refrigerator, computer mice, the safety match and the adjustable wrench are examples of Swedish inventions.
16.    Sweden is six hours ahead of East Coast Standard Time (US)… well mostly, except for when daylight saving time messes it up.