KINGDOM OF SWEDEN Official name: Konungariket Sverige (Kingdom of Sweden) Location: Northern Europe International organisations: The Council of Europe, The European Union, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, The United Nations, The World Trade Organisation Borders: Finland, Norway Coastline: Baltic Sea Land area: 449,964 Km2 Population: 8,800,000 Ethnicity: Almost the entire population is of Swedish stock. There are small minorities of recent immigrants from European and Middle Eastern countries. Languages: Swedish is the official language and is univerally understood. There is a small Finnish-speaking minority, and Turkish and other immigrant languages are used. Sami indigenous languages survive in remote areas. Religion: 87% of the population are nominally Protestant Christians, but religious practice has radically declined. There are small Catholic, Orthodox and Moslem minorities. Form of government: Constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. Sweden is divided into 21 counties.

Capital: Stockholm
Constitution: The Swedish Constitution consists of three documents, the Instrument of Government which came into effect on 1 January 1975, the Act of Succession and the Freedom of the Press Act.
Head of state: Karl XVI Gustav, King of Sweden since 19 September 1973.
Head of government: The Prime Minister, appointed by the King. The Prime Minister is usually the leader of the largest party in the legislature, to which he is accountable.
Legislature: Sweden has a unicameral legislature, the National Assembly (Riksdag), which has 349 members elected four four-year terms by proportional representation from multi-member constituencies.
Electoral authority: The Election Authority conducts national elections.
Freedom House rating: Political Rights 1, Civil Liberties 1

Political history Until the mid 19th century Sweden was an absolute monarchy, whose politics revolved mainly around the struggle for power between the throne and the aristocracy. Sweden was united with Norway in 1814. In 1867 King Karl XV agreed to a revision of the Constitution whereby power was transferred to a prime minister accountable to the legislature, and during the later 19th century Sweden became a modern parliamentary democracy. Norway became independent in 1905. A powerful labour movement arose in the 1890s, and in 1932 the Social Democrats came to power. Except for the periods 1976-82 and 1991-94, they were in office for 70 years, under three dominant prime ministers: Per Albin Hansson (1932-46), Tage Fritiof Erlander (1946-69) and Olof Palme (1969-76 and 1982-86). The Social Democrats created the world's most advanced welfare state and became a model for democratic socialist parties everywhere. Since Palme's assassination in 1986, high taxes and increasing social discord have weakened support for the "Swedish model." The Social Democrats were comfortably re-elected in 2002, but narrowly defeated in 2006. They are generally supported by parties to their left, the Left Party, which has replaced the old Communist Party, and the The Greens.

The Social Democrats have always been helped by the divisions among their opponents. The conservative Moderate Rally Party is the largest centre-right party, but it has to compete with the liberal People's Party, the Christian-Democrats and the Centre Party.