70 free Sweden trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
61 free Sweden trivia questions with answers. Sweden is a country of 10 million people that somehow gave the world dynamite, flat-pack furniture, Spotify, ABBA and surströmming. This quiz covers all of it: sixty questions on Stockholm's fourteen islands, Gotland and Lapland, the Vasa kings and Charles XII, the Bernadotte monarchy, the Riksdag, Nobel Prizes and Olof Palme, then Midsummer, fika, Lucia, Systembolaget and the Dala horse, before turning to IKEA, Volvo, H&M, Minecraft, Eurovision wins, Zlatan, Borg, Stenmark and Duplantis. The easy questions ask which fish surströmming is made from and who wrote Pippi Longstocking; the hard ones want the fortress where Charles XII fell, the river the Icehotel is carved from, and which publisher turned down Pippi. It suits anyone planning a trip, brushing up before a pub quiz, or just curious about the place behind the meatballs. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on Sweden and its cities, monarchs, companies, artists and athletes, and each question carries the sentence that backs it up.
30 of 70 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Stockholm's centre is spread across how many islands?
14
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.
Q 02Which Swedish city, at the mouth of the Göta älv, has the largest port in the Nordic countries?
Gothenburg
It is Sweden's second-largest city and sits on the west coast about 400 km from the capital.
Q 03What is Sweden's third-largest city?
Malmö
It sits at the Swedish end of the Öresund crossing and is the seventh-largest city in the Nordic region.
Q 04The Öresund Bridge carries road and rail from Sweden across the strait to which foreign capital?
Copenhagen
The bridge itself ends on the artificial island of Peberholm, and a four-kilometre tunnel completes the link.
Q 05Kiruna, Sweden's northernmost city, decided in 2004 to move its town centre. Why?
Ground subsidence from its iron mine
The relocation was planned to happen gradually over the following decade, with buildings shifted piece by piece.
Q 06Which is Sweden's largest island?
Gotland
Its main town Visby hosts the political gathering Almedalen Week every summer, followed by Medieval Week.
Q 07What is the largest lake in Sweden?
Vänern
It is also the largest lake in the European Union and the third-largest in Europe after Ladoga and Onega.
Q 08What is the highest mountain in Sweden?
Kebnekaise
Its glaciated southern peak has shrunk so much that the ice-free northern peak is now the higher of the two.
Q 09Sweden's National Day, 6 June, marks the 1523 election of which king?
Gustav Vasa
His election ended the Kalmar Union and he went on to lead Sweden into the Protestant Reformation.
Q 10King Gustavus Adolphus was killed in 1632 at which Thirty Years' War battle?
Lützen
He had reportedly planned to become Holy Roman Emperor over a united Scandinavia and the German states.
Q 11Charles XII's army was crushed by Russia in July 1709 at which battle?
Poltava
By then the king had been wounded, a third of his infantry was dead, and he fled to the Ottoman Empire afterwards.
Q 12Charles XII was killed in 1718 while besieging which fortress?
Fredriksten
The fortress overlooked the Norwegian border town of Fredrikshald, now Halden.
Q 13The reigning Swedish royal house, Bernadotte, was founded by a marshal in the service of which emperor?
Napoleon
Jean Baptiste Bernadotte was elected heir to the Swedish throne in 1810 and reigned as Charles XIV John from 1818.
Q 21The annual Nobel Prize award ceremony in Stockholm is held in which building?
The Concert Hall
The banquet that follows is a separate event, which is why the venue trips up so many people.
Q 22UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld died in a 1961 plane crash in what is now which country?
Zambia
He was the second person to hold the post and remains the only one to die in office.
Q 23Which Swedish prime minister was shot dead on a Stockholm street in February 1986?
Olof Palme
It was the first killing of a national leader in Sweden since Gustav III in 1792.
Q 14In 1809 Sweden lost which territory, then its eastern half, to Imperial Russia?
Finland
The loss reshaped Sweden into roughly its modern borders.
Q 15In which year did Sweden join the European Union?
1995
It joined on 1 January alongside Austria and Finland, and later held the EU chair in 2009.
Q 16Sweden deposited its instrument of accession and formally joined NATO in March of which year?
2024
It ended two centuries of formal non-alignment, a move prompted by Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Q 17Carl XVI Gustaf became King of Sweden in which year?
1973
He succeeded his grandfather Gustaf VI Adolf; his own father had died in a plane crash when he was an infant.
Q 18Who became first in line to the Swedish throne under the 1980 absolute-primogeniture law?
Crown Princess Victoria
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.
Q 19How many members sit in the Riksdag, Sweden's parliament?
349
It has been unicameral since 1971 and its members serve fixed four-year terms.
Q 20Alfred Nobel patented which invention in 1867?
Dynamite
He later left 94% of his estate to fund the prizes that bear his name.
Q 24In Sweden, the main Midsummer's Eve celebrations always fall on which day of the week?
Friday
The holiday was moved to a fixed weekday slot in the 1950s, so it lands between 19 and 25 June.
Q 25The Swedish ritual of fika centres on which drink?
Coffee
Swedes are among the world's heaviest per-capita drinkers of it, a habit dating back to the 1600s.
Q 26Sweden's candle-lit Lucia processions take place on which date?
13 December
It is not an official public holiday, but many schools let pupils out at midday to prepare.
Q 27Surströmming, infamous for its smell, is a fermented version of which fish?
Herring
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.
Q 28Swedish meatballs are traditionally served with jam made from which berry?
Lingonberry
Pickled cucumber and boiled or mashed potatoes usually round out the plate.
Q 29Kanelbullens dag, Sweden's Cinnamon Roll Day, falls on which date?
4 October
It is a promoted theme day rather than an official holiday, but a large share of Swedes mark it.
Q 30Systembolaget is the only shop allowed to sell drinks above what alcohol strength?
3.5%
You must be 20 to buy there, and a 2024 survey found 68% of Swedes still back the monopoly.