70 Fun Facts About Sweden

Stockholm's centre is spread across how many islands?

The islands sit where Lake Mälaren meets the Baltic, which is why so many of the city's motorways run through tunnels and over bridges.

Which Swedish city, at the mouth of the Göta älv, has the largest port in the Nordic countries?

It is Sweden's second-largest city and sits on the west coast about 400 km from the capital.

What is Sweden's third-largest city?

It sits at the Swedish end of the Öresund crossing and is the seventh-largest city in the Nordic region.

The Öresund Bridge carries road and rail from Sweden across the strait to which foreign capital?

The bridge itself ends on the artificial island of Peberholm, and a four-kilometre tunnel completes the link.

Kiruna, Sweden's northernmost city, decided in 2004 to move its town centre. Why?

The relocation was planned to happen gradually over the following decade, with buildings shifted piece by piece.

Which is Sweden's largest island?

Its main town Visby hosts the political gathering Almedalen Week every summer, followed by Medieval Week.

What is the largest lake in Sweden?

It is also the largest lake in the European Union and the third-largest in Europe after Ladoga and Onega.

What is the highest mountain in Sweden?

Its glaciated southern peak has shrunk so much that the ice-free northern peak is now the higher of the two.

Sweden's National Day, 6 June, marks the 1523 election of which king?

His election ended the Kalmar Union and he went on to lead Sweden into the Protestant Reformation.

King Gustavus Adolphus was killed in 1632 at which Thirty Years' War battle?

He had reportedly planned to become Holy Roman Emperor over a united Scandinavia and the German states.

Charles XII's army was crushed by Russia in July 1709 at which battle?

By then the king had been wounded, a third of his infantry was dead, and he fled to the Ottoman Empire afterwards.

Charles XII was killed in 1718 while besieging which fortress?

The fortress overlooked the Norwegian border town of Fredrikshald, now Halden.

The reigning Swedish royal house, Bernadotte, was founded by a marshal in the service of which emperor?

Jean Baptiste Bernadotte was elected heir to the Swedish throne in 1810 and reigned as Charles XIV John from 1818.

In 1809 Sweden lost which territory, then its eastern half, to Imperial Russia?

The loss reshaped Sweden into roughly its modern borders.

In which year did Sweden join the European Union?

It joined on 1 January alongside Austria and Finland, and later held the EU chair in 2009.

Sweden deposited its instrument of accession and formally joined NATO in March of which year?

It ended two centuries of formal non-alignment, a move prompted by Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Carl XVI Gustaf became King of Sweden in which year?

He succeeded his grandfather Gustaf VI Adolf; his own father had died in a plane crash when he was an infant.

Who became first in line to the Swedish throne under the 1980 absolute-primogeniture law?

The 1980 law made Sweden the first monarchy to adopt absolute primogeniture, moving Carl XVI Gustaf's eldest child ahead of her younger brother Carl Philip.

How many members sit in the Riksdag, Sweden's parliament?

It has been unicameral since 1971 and its members serve fixed four-year terms.

Alfred Nobel patented which invention in 1867?

He later left 94% of his estate to fund the prizes that bear his name.

The annual Nobel Prize award ceremony in Stockholm is held in which building?

The banquet that follows is a separate event, which is why the venue trips up so many people.

UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld died in a 1961 plane crash in what is now which country?

He was the second person to hold the post and remains the only one to die in office.

Which Swedish prime minister was shot dead on a Stockholm street in February 1986?

It was the first killing of a national leader in Sweden since Gustav III in 1792.

In Sweden, the main Midsummer's Eve celebrations always fall on which day of the week?

The holiday was moved to a fixed weekday slot in the 1950s, so it lands between 19 and 25 June.

The Swedish ritual of fika centres on which drink?

Swedes are among the world's heaviest per-capita drinkers of it, a habit dating back to the 1600s.

Sweden's candle-lit Lucia processions take place on which date?

It is not an official public holiday, but many schools let pupils out at midday to prepare.

Surströmming, infamous for its smell, is a fermented version of which fish?

Its stench is rated worse than Iceland's hákarl or Korea's hongeo-hoe, and it has been eaten in Sweden since at least the 1500s.

Swedish meatballs are traditionally served with jam made from which berry?

Pickled cucumber and boiled or mashed potatoes usually round out the plate.

Kanelbullens dag, Sweden's Cinnamon Roll Day, falls on which date?

It is a promoted theme day rather than an official holiday, but a large share of Swedes mark it.

Systembolaget is the only shop allowed to sell drinks above what alcohol strength?

You must be 20 to buy there, and a 2024 survey found 68% of Swedes still back the monopoly.

What does the Swedish principle of allemansrätten give people?

It covers walking, camping a night or two, and picking berries and mushrooms even on private land.

The painted wooden Dala horse originates from which Swedish province?

Painters in Nusnäs near Mora developed the two-colours-on-one-brush technique still used today.

In the acronym IKEA, the 'E' stands for Elmtaryd. What was Elmtaryd?

The 'A' is Agunnaryd, the Småland village where founder Ingvar Kamprad grew up.

The car brand Volvo takes its name from a Latin word meaning what?

The company was set up in 1927 by an SKF sales manager and a KTH-trained engineer.

Which former Stardoll chief technology officer co-founded Spotify in 2006?

His co-founder Lorentzon had earlier co-founded the ad network Tradedoubler.

H&M's original name, Hennes, is Swedish for what?

Erling Persson's first shop, opened in 1947, sold only women's clothing.

Which Swedish programmer founded Mojang, the studio behind Minecraft?

He sold the studio to Microsoft in 2014, by which point Minecraft was on its way to becoming the best-selling game ever.

Candy Crush Saga, from Swedish-founded King, was first released in 2012 on which platform?

At its peak the game reportedly earned King almost a million dollars a day.

ABBA won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with which song?

In 2005 it was voted the best song in the contest's history at the 50th-anniversary show.

How many times has Sweden won the Eurovision Song Contest, as of 2023?

That ties Ireland for the most wins by any country.

Which singer won Eurovision for Sweden in both 2012 and 2023?

She was the first female artist to win the contest more than once.

Roxette paired Per Gessle with which singer?

After her death in 2019, the act returned to touring in 2024 with Lena Philipsson on vocals.

Avicii was the stage name of which Swedish DJ?

His 2013 single 'Wake Me Up', with vocals by Aloe Blacc, became one of Spotify's most-streamed songs.

Which Swedish producer wrote Britney Spears's debut hit '...Baby One More Time'?

Born Karl Martin Sandberg, he has more Hot 100 number ones as a writer than anyone except Paul McCartney.

Zlatan Ibrahimović is Sweden's all-time top international scorer with how many goals?

He was born in Malmö in 1981 and began his senior career with his hometown club.

How many consecutive Wimbledon singles titles did Björn Borg win?

He also won six French Opens before shocking tennis by retiring in his mid-twenties.

Ingemar Stenmark's record for alpine World Cup race wins, unbroken until 2023, stood at how many?

Mikaela Shiffrin finally passed it; among men it still stands.

Pole vault world-record holder Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis was born in which US state?

He grew up speaking English, learned Swedish as a second language, and competes for Sweden.

What is the nickname of Sweden's men's national ice hockey team?

In 2006 they became the first team to win Olympic gold and the World Championship in the same year.

Which Swedish author created Pippi Longstocking?

She also wrote Emil of Lönneberga, Karlsson-on-the-Roof and Ronia the Robber's Daughter.

Which publisher famously rejected the Pippi Longstocking manuscript before it found a home?

The book went on to become one of the most translated children's stories in the world.

Ingmar Bergman lived and shot many of his later films on which island?

The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries came out in Sweden just ten months apart in 1957.

Stieg Larsson died in 2004, before which of his works was published?

He suffered a heart attack at 50 after climbing the stairs to his office; the first book appeared the following year.

On Anders Celsius's original 1742 thermometer, what value marked the boiling point of water?

His scale ran the other way from today's; it was inverted after his death.

Carl Linnaeus formalised which system?

He published the first edition of Systema Naturae in the Netherlands in 1735.

In which year did Swedish gain official legal status as Sweden's main language?

Until then it was only the de facto language of government and schools.

What colour is the cross on the flag of Sweden?

Blue and yellow have been Swedish colours since at least Magnus III's coat of arms of 1275.

Sweden voted against adopting the euro in a referendum held in which year?

56% voted no on a turnout of 82%, so the krona stayed.

The Vasa Museum stands on which Stockholm island?

It houses the only almost fully intact 17th-century ship ever salvaged, a 64-gun warship.

The Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi is rebuilt each winter from ice cut from which river?

Even the glasses in its bar are made of ice, and it claims to be the world's first ice hotel.

On 'Dagen H', 3 September 1967, what did Sweden switch overnight?

The country had driven on the left since roughly 1736.

Roughly what is the population of Sweden, the most populous Nordic country?

Around 88% of Swedes live in urban areas, mostly in the south and centre, giving the country just 25.5 people per square kilometre.

In 1397 Sweden, Norway and Denmark were joined together under what name?

Queen Margaret I of Denmark created it; Sweden left in 1523 after the Stockholm Bloodbath provoked a revolt.

In which year was Sweden last directly involved in a war, forcing Norway into a union?

The Convention of Moss forced Norway into a personal union under the Swedish crown that lasted until 1905.

The Swedish name Sverige is a compound translating as what?

It combines Svea and rike, first recorded as Swēorice in Beowulf, and originally left out the Geats.

Which Viking Age trading centre was founded around 750 AD on the island of Björkö?

It was the Baltic link in the Dnieper route to Byzantium and the Abbasid Caliphate, with perhaps 500 to 1,000 inhabitants.

Sweden's three traditional 'lands' are Norrland, Svealand and what?

Sparsely populated Norrland alone covers almost 60% of the country.

Sweden reached its greatest territorial extent under Charles X after which 1658 agreement?

Charles X had marched his army across the frozen Danish Belts to force the deal.

The Finnish and Estonian names for Sweden, Ruotsi and Rootsi, refer to which people?

The Rus' lived on the coast of Roslagen in Uppland and went on to give their name to Russia.

A 1593 church assembly that confirmed the Church of Sweden as Lutheran met in which city?

Charles Vasa summoned it in opposition to his Catholic nephew Sigismund, whose dual monarchy was briefly known as the Polish-Swedish Union.