ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief historical background and a description of major events in Sweden. It also provides basic political, economic, and social data arranged in the following categories: polity, economy, population, purchasing power parities, life expectancy, ethnic groups, capital, political rights, civil liberties, and status. The chapter discusses the progress and decline of political rights and civil liberties in Sweden. Swedes can change their government democratically. The 310-member, unicameral Riksdag is elected every four years through universal suffrage. Sweden is a constitutional monarchy and a multiparty parliamentary democracy. After monarchical alliances with Finland, Denmark, and Norway between the eleventh and nineteenth centuries, Sweden emerged as a modern democracy. Sweden administers one of the world's most extensive welfare systems. The Persson government has been assailed for maintaining high taxes, which, critics say, make Sweden less competitive and encourages a brain drain of young, educated professionals.
