Spotlight on Sweden
- 85% of Sweden’s 9.2 million people live in cities.
- Sweden has the highest number of McDonalds restaurant per person in Europe.
- A popular souvenir in Sweden is the road sign for moose-crossing. In fact, a large number of these signs are stolen from Swedish roads every year.
- On Easter children dress up as witches and go trick-or-treating.
- The government has proposed a total ban on fossil fuel driven vehicles by 2025.
- About 13% of the Swedish population were born in a country other than Sweden.
- Sweden has the longest life expectancy — over 80 years!
- 76% of mothers in Sweden work — this is the highest percentage of working mothers in the developed world.
- Parents are allotted 13 months of paid maternity leave and the father is required to take at least 1 month of it.
- Sweden granted women the right to vote in 1862. They were the first country in the world to do so.
- After Spain and France, Sweden is the largest country by land mass in the EU.
- As of 2004 you can pay your Swedish taxes by sending an SMS message from your cell phone.
