Year of EU entry: 1995 / Capital city: Stockholm / Population: 9.0 million

Sweden has the largest population of the Nordic countries. It is separated from Norway in the west by a range of mountains. The southern part of the country is chiefly agricultural, with forests covering an increasing percentage of the land as one goes further north. Population density is higher in southern Sweden, with the centres being in the valley of Lake Mälaren and Öresund region. The country has at least 17,000 indigenous Samis among its population and a minority of ethnic Finns.

Sweden exports cars, engineering products, steel, electronic devices and paper products. Swedes played a pioneering role in the early days of cinema, with Mauritz Stiller and Victor Sjöström. Later on, directors like Ingmar Bergman and actresses such as Greta Garbo and Anita Ekberg made careers abroad. Songs from ABBA are probably the best know Swedish music product.