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Sweden is one of the oldest continuously existing countries in the world at over 1000 years old. It is also one of the oldest democracies, governed by a popularity elected unicameral parliament. The head of state, King Carl XVI Gustaf, has purely ceremonial functions.
| Sweden is situated on the Scandinavian peninsula in northern Europe. Highly developed today, it has changed in the course of about a hundred years from a relatively poor country dependent mainly on subsistence farming and forestry (half of the land surface is covered by forest) to one of the most prosperous and technologically advanced nations in the world.
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| With a land area of 174,000 square miles, Sweden is large. At about the size of California it is also one of the most sparely populated countries in Europe with 8.8 million inhabitants (52 inhabitants per square mile). There are almost 100,000 lakes and a coastline of 1,680 miles with tens of thousands of islands, which help explain the Swedish passion for summer houses, boats and outdoor activities. Stockholm is the capital, with its almost 700,000 inhabitants, is the largest city.
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| Some of the major exports are; Volvo and Saab cars, IKEA furniture, Absolute Vodka, Astra's Losec, Ericsson telephones.
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