The Coins of Sweden
THE COINS OF SWEDEN To Queen Christina By David Ruckser Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It has borders with Norway (west and north) and Finland (northeast). It has been a member of the European Union since January 1, 1995. Its capital city is Stockholm. At 449,964 km² (173,720 square miles), Sweden is the third largest country by area in Western Europe and fifth in all of Europe. Sweden has a low population density of 20 people per square kilometre, except in its metropolitan areas; 84% of the popula- tion lives in urban areas, which comprise only 1.3% of the country's total land area so that's about 1,300 people per square kilometre (3,400 per square mile) in urban areas. The inhabitants of Sweden enjoy a high standard of living, and the country is generally perceived as modern and liberal, with an organisational and corporate cul- ture that is non-hierarchical and collectivist compared to its Anglo-Saxon counter- parts.[3] Nature conservation, environmental protection and energy efficiency are generally prioritized in policy making and embraced by the general public in Sweden. Sweden has long been a major exporter of iron, copper and timber. Improved trans- portation and communication has allowed for the large scale utilization of remote nat- ural assets, most notably timber and iron ore. In the 1890s, universal schooling and industrialization enabled the country to devel- op a successful manufacturing industry and by the twentieth century, Sweden emerged as a welfare state, consistently achieving high positions among the top-ranking countries in the UN Human Development Index (HDI).
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