¶ … Sweden Economy
International business: Sweden
The world economic powers have controlled the world economies for the longest time. Sweden is a remarkably small nation, yet it has developed to become among the best and wealth endowed nations in the world. It is a historically established nation that has been existence as early as the 7th century. From these early centuries, Sweden has been known for the level of involvement and development in trade.
Geographic, demographic and natural resources information of Sweden
The geography of Sweden makes it a nation of envy by many others. Sweden has a small area of total coverage of about 449,964 sq km. The area that is dry land is about 410, 934 sq km, and the rest is water. This in comparison to the United States is just slightly larger than the state of California by about land total 2,233 km. Sweden has a coastline of 3,218 km and borders the nations of Finland and Norway. The terrain of the country is mainly flat with a few regions of gently sloping lowlands. Sweden has some few mountains in the western region of the state. The lowest summit is in the reclaimed bay of the lake Hammarsjon, located near Kristianstad and is about 2.41 m below the sea level (Phillips & National Geographic Society, 2009). The highest point is Kebnekaise with height of 2,111 m. The climate is largely cold with the north region being subarctic. The south experiences low temperatures, with cold and cloudy winters and partly cold, cloudy summers.
The demographic data released recently in the year 2010 shows that the population of the country is about 9,074,055 people. The age composition shows that the bulk of the population is between ages 15 to 64 years, this group making about 65.5% of the total population. The below 15 years age group is only 17.1% while that over 64 years is 17.4% of the population (Phillips & National Geographic Society, 2009). The median age of the whole inhabitants is 40.6 years, with the females living longer with a median age of 41.75 years compared to that of the males which stands at 39.49 Years. The population growth rate is about o.17%. The majority of the population above the 15 years can read and write, therefore, the population is highly educated.
The country is richly endowed in resources. Sweden has lots of wealth in terms of the natural resources. These natural resources include large deposits of iron core, lead, zinc, copper, silver, uranium, gold, tungsten, feldspar, timber, arsenic and hydropower (Phillips & National Geographic Society, 2009). This makes her a country of envy for many other nations. The transport systems include well developed and established road and railway systems. The water transport and air are her main contacts with the foreign nations other than the contact she has with Finland and Norway. Sweden is strategically located allowing her to have links with the outside world. The biggest challenge to all these transport systems is the ice flows. These significantly affect the rail, road, water and air transport systems when they start flowing, posing a lot of danger on these channels of transportation.
Political systems
Sweden has been a monarchy for the longest time. Over the past few years, specifically since the beginning of the 20th and 21st centuries, the political systems have gone through several reforms (Kent, 2008). These have seen the introduction of democracy and the institution of parliament in the country. Thus, the government is currently a parliamentary system, with division of power between the executive, judiciary and legislature. The people are democratically elected, but the leader of the majority in the parliament forms the government. Other free institutions such as churches, movements like the labor, temperance and women movements also were allowed.
In the early years, the 12th, 13th to 17th centuries, the political power weld was directly linked to the trade patterns of the nation (Kent, 2008). To have peace, the nation had joined in power unions with the surrounding nations to establish military powerhouse that allowed them to trade securely as there was adequate security. For instance, in the world wars period, Sweden did not have any affiliations; she remained neutral allowing her to maintain her relations with all nations even if they were both at war. She established several trade relations with most of the European countries, exporting her rich wealth of natural resources to those nations. Currently, she is a chief member of many trade unions including the European Union which she has produced the president of the union.
The economy of Sweden owes its success...
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