Exports and Imports:
Some of Sweden’s major exports include cars, steel, electronics, communications gear, paper products, and engineering products. In addition, it sells quite a few cars. In 2006 the amount of new and used automobiles it sold was far over two billion dollars. Sweden exports services as well. It exported over two billion dollars worth of, pharmaceutical, dental and medical preparations to the United States alone in 2006. Sweden’s imports have risen dramatically in recent years. Plywood, military equipment, and art supplies are a few of the country’s fastest growing imports. Between 2005 and 2006 the amount of plywood imported increased by over four hundred percent. Military equipment sales shot up three hundred and thirty percent during the same period.

What we’ re known for:
Swedish is probably most famous for the Nobel Peace Prize. Alfred Nobel left a part of his fortune to fund the first Nobel prize. The country is also known for the trendy but affordable furniture store Ikea. When it comes to food Sweden is known for pea soup, Baltic herring, pancakes and, Swedish meatballs. Sweden is also notorious for its smorgasbords. A smorgasbord is a buffet of flavorful dishes. They are known for the musical group Abba. This disco group was so popular that Sweden is set to open an Abba museum this year.

Tourism!
Dispute the economic recession Sweden’s tourism industry does not seem to be suffering as much as other industries. Most tourism companies have not had to layoff anyone. Tourism is also a hot area for investors. Most of Sweden’s tourists are from nearby countries. This includes other Nordic countries as well as Germany and those in Britain. Because Sweden is so family oriented there are a plethora of places for families to enjoy. The country has a lot of natural beauty so there are many tourist activities centered around the outdoors.

Political :

Sweden is a constitutional monarchy. This constitution is made up of several laws that have developed over many years: freedom of the Press Act, Act of Succession, freedom of the Press Act Instrument of Government, and the Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression. The Prime Minister is the head of the Swedish government. All citizens must be at least eighteen in order to vote. Some of Sweden’s major parties include the Social Democratic Party, Moderate Party, Centre Party, and the People's Party Liberals. Each party must have a certain percentage of the votes to receive representation in parliament; they must have at least four percent of the national vote or at least twelve percent of the vote in a district. The government and parliament both have the power to legislate. The government appoints the people in the Judiciary.

Legal:
As mentioned in an earlier post, Sweden has recently legalized marriage. Six out of the seven political parties in parliament supported the change. Churches will not be forced to perform same-sex marriages; they may choose to opt out. Gay and lesbian couples have been allowed to form unions since 1994. Unions gave them the same rights as heterosexual couples but did not refer to them as marriages. Denying gays the same title was seen as discrimination by some people. Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Norway are other countries in Europe that already recognize gay marriage.

Regulatory :
Sweden has tried to regulate the use of the Internet with the BBS act and the Data Act. Website owners are responsible for overseeing what is happening on their sites. They are held accountable for any behavior on their site that is considered illegal even if they are unaware that it’s occurring. The government has always been proactive in protecting the privacy of its citizens online. Atom point in time it was illegal to display personal information, such a person’s name, on the internet. However, the law as changed slightly. Sweden’s laws currently allow users to publish “harmless” inhumation but this has caused some debate over what is or is not harmless information.

Society

Language and Attitudes: Swedish is the official language of Sweden. Most people in Sweden speak Swedish but it is not the only spoken language. Saami, Finnish, and Romani are also spoken in the country. Swedish is also spoken by a lot of people in Finland. The Swedish have a liberal attitude towards gays and lesbians. Gay couples have been allowed to form Civil Unions since the mid-nineties. They recently voted in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage. This law goes into effect May the first. They are the fifth country in Europe to grant homosexual couples marriage equality.

Beliefs and Values: The Swedish believe the family is very important, therefore, there are many laws that help parents spend more time with their children. For example, parents are allowed to decrease their workload by twenty-five percent if their child is less than eight years old. When it comes to religion, over eighty percent of the country is Lutheran. The rest of the population consists of other Christian denominations, as well as Buddhists, Muslims and those of the Jewish faith. Sweden’s, Church of Sweden claims to be the biggest Lutheran church in the world. It has over seven million members; however, only two percent of their members attend on a regular basis. The Swedish value modesty, benevolence, and level headedness. They do not approve of bragging or extravagance.

How business is conducted: In business it is important to remain calm during negotiations. They prefer to make group decisions rather than allowing one person to make all the decisions. They are very focused on details and usually do not engage in small talk before meetings. When doing business here, people are expected to keep their word.

The currency in Sweden is called the krona. It is an exceedingly industrialized nation that maintains one of the highest living standards on the planet. They have an export-oriented market economy. The Swedish stock market is called the Stockholm Stock Exchange or SSE. It was created over one hundred years ago, in 1863. The SSE is located in Stockholm. Swedish banks greatly resemble the way banks in America run. Their fees and rates are lower than the average country in the European Union. A lot of nations experienced a significant decline in their Gross Domestic Product numbers at the end of last year. The worldwide financial problem is not expected to end anytime soon. Sweden’s economy, like most countries, has been hit hard for the last several months. In an effort to free up credit in the economy they have put fifty billion of their own money into the banking system. Companies that agree to receive government money must also agree to the stipulations that come with it. They are prohibited from raising the salaries of top company officials for a set number of years. The hope is that the companies will be able to pay back the money with interest at a later date. Sweden had an unemployment rate of 6.1 percent in 2007. Since 2007, the unemployment rate has gone up. According to highbeam.com, the EU unemployment rate, on the increase due to the recession currently affecting businesses, was 7.6% in January 2009, compared with 7.5% in December 2008 and a 6.8% in January 2008, announced Eurostat, on 27 February. Unemployment for young people in the country is even worse.

General Information:

location:
Sweden is located in Europe. It is boardered by Norway and Finland.

size:
Total land size is 173,732 square miles.

population:
As of July 2008: 9,045,389

resources:
Sweden’s dominating mineral resources are iron, uranium, copper, lead, zinc, silver. It does not have a lot fossil fuels so it imports it. It relives heavily on hydroelectric power. It has a low level of oil production. They catch 343,368 tones of fish each year.

natural terrain:
Most of Sweden is covered by forests. It has high montians along its' boarder with Norway.

government:
King Carl XVI Gustaf is the Chief of state and the Prime Minister is Fredrik Reinfeldt. Sweden has a limited constitutional monarchy.

economic community membership:
Sweden’s GDP is 37,500 per capita and has an inlation rate fo 2.2 percent.

Country’s name

Hey everyone,

I am doing my blog on Sweden!