Sweden

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Facts & Figures

AC member since 1996

Active Polar Icebreakers

Coordinates

Stockholm: 59.3294° N, 18.0686° E
Kiruna: 67.8558° N, 20.2253° E

Population

Sweden: 10.158,223 (31.12.2019)
Norrland: 1.185,483 (31.12.2019)

Land Area

Sweden: 449,964 km²
Norrland: 261,292 km²

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Stockholm, Sweden’s largest city and the capital, has a population of 2 371 774 million. Most big cities, including Stockholm, Gothenburg, Uppsala and Malmö are situated in the south of the country. Although it is sparsely populated, approximately 15% of the total land area is situated north of the Arctic Circle. Kiruna, the northernmost and most populated town in Sweden’s Arctic, was home to 22,906 inhabitants in December 2019. Kiruna, built on top of an iron ore mine, is in the process of moving three kilometres east by 2033 to avoid collapsing into the mine pit. While general weather conditions in northern Sweden are harsh, with average winter temperatures hovering around -10 C°, its 17 C° summer average and long hours of sunlight allow for the industrial cultivation of grains, potatoes, and grass for hay.

Sweden has positioned itself as one of the most progressive countries on environmental issues in the world. With 99% of its solid waste recycled or used to produce biogas, Sweden was the first country to establish an environmental protection agency in 1967. Despite its reputation, Sweden has surprisingly light forestry laws, and often leaves decisions about logging to timber companies. The result of such lax regulation is the loss of large swaths of biologically-rich boreal forests in the North to clear cuts that remove up to 95% of the trees, leave deep tire tracks, and are often re-planted with lodgepole pine, a species imported from North America. The Word Wildlife Fund has reported that two thousand forest-dwelling species are threatened in Sweden. Mining in Sweden’s northern county of Lapland, in particular iron ore, has also led to environmental concerns over waste materials, heavy metal leaching, water contamination, and habitat destruction.

Sweden accounts for less than 0.2% of total global emissions, and has committed to building a society with no net greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050. Northern Sweden is home to several climate research stations monitored by the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat, including an atmosphere radar facility and field stations capable of glacier monitoring and permafrost studies. Like the rest of the Circumpolar North, Sweden’s Arctic territory is facing some of the world’s most intense temperature increases and increased precipitation. Such changes may lead to greater water flows, changes in soil conditions, and more extreme weather patterns. Sweden has made climate change research, mitigation, and adaptation top priorities in its national Arctic policy. Climate change leaves Sámi culture and industries particularly vulnerable, as they traditionally have strong links to the surrounding natural environment. Sweden’s Arctic strategy from 2011 aims to strengthen the long-term capacity of these communities and of the surrounding environment to help them adapt to a changing climate.

This page was last updated on 1 August 2022. If we have missed anything, please contact info@thearcticinstitute.org.

Of Sweden’s total population, only 5.4% live in the Arctic. With an average age of 41 in the north, Sweden is the second oldest arctic nation, and has seen a moderate decline of population since 2000 that is projected to continue. A testament to the internationalisation of place and population in the 21st Century Arctic, each year just over 50,000 seasonal migrant workers from Asia and Eastern Europe are provided temporary work permits for berry picking.

Of all residents in the North, an estimated 17,000 to 20,000 are Sámi, an indigenous Finno-Ugric group that speaks the official minority language of Sámi. Sámi country, known as Sápmi, stretches across the northern parts of Scandinavia and Russia’s Kola Peninsula. The Sámi were originally nomads, living in tents during the summer and more sturdy peat huts during the colder seasons. Nowadays Sámi live in modern housing and only use tents as temporary accommodations during reindeer migrations if they do not already own cottages. Oral storytelling and Sámi music have a central role in traditional culture. Yoiking, a distinctive form of singing to recall events, people, and nature, is a core part of this tradition. Today Sámi are able to choose between attending government Sámi schools or regular municipal nine year compulsory schools, where they can also receive instruction in Sámi. The aim of Sámi education in Sweden is to give the children the same instruction that Swedish children receive in the compulsory school while providing them with schooling that takes into account their own linguistic and cultural background.

Traditionally, their best known means of livelihood is reindeer herding to provide meat, fur, and transportation. About 10% of Sámi today are connected to reindeer herding. For centuries the Sámi faced discrimination throughout the Nordic countries, often resulting in disputes over grazing rights and logging territories. Since the 1970s and 1980s, however, the Sámi in Sweden have steadily gained special protections and rights. This relative increase in their rights to their land and how it is used reached new height in January 2020 when the Supreme Court of Sweden voted agains the government and gave Sámis exclusive rights to hunting and fishing across a swathe of Arctic Sweden

Sweden’s Arctic economy is an export-oriented mixed economy, where timber, hydropower, and iron constitute the resource base. In 2017, Sweden’s Arctic regional GRP was €22.5bn, comprising 4.7% of national GDP. The region is rich in natural resources, and the share of gross value added of agriculture, forestry and fishing stood at 2.7% in 2016 which is above the national average of 1.3%. In 2018 employment in agriculture, forestry and fishing in Upper Norrland was 2.4% while employment in industry, excluding construction, was 13.05% which is well above the national average of 11.9%. The largest share of employment-by-sector, moreover, is in public administration, defence, education, human health and social work activities. Employment in the secondary sector and tertiary sectors stand at 21.2% and 76.4% respectively, while the average level of unemployment has been decreasing steadily since 2010 standing at 5% in 2018.

Sweden is the European Union’s (EU) largest mining nation, producing over 90% of the EU’s iron ore and almost 20% of its base and precious metals. Mining accounts for 7.5% of Sweden’s northern economy, with another 7.2% made up of resource processing. While much of these minerals and metals are mined by LKAB, the state-owned Swedish mining company, other international firms, in particular from the UK, also operate in the region. To support further investments, the Swedish government has been vocal about its commitments to improving infrastructure connected to mining and improving regulation to advance environmental protection and competitiveness.

Tourism is also deemed to have considerable growth potential to create new jobs and boost Arctic economic growth. A number of regional destination development projects are already underway, co-financed by EU structural funds. Though climate change will inevitably pose challenges to long term winter tourism growth, innovation and entrepreneurship, particularly in food tourism, will help to grow local economies in rural and geographically remote areas of Sweden’s Arctic.

As of recent, the government has sought to increase both public and private investments into the Research and Development (R&D) of the region working hand in hand with Luleå University of Technology and Umeå University. To this end, a joint initiative between 12 rural municipalities called Akademi Norr has been launched with the objective of synchronising the need for higher education with innovative growth. Additionally, increasing efforts have been made to provide distance education in order to prevent brain-drain. Still, much more needs to be done with the average annual business expenditure on R&D standing at 2.4% during the period of 2003-2013 which is below the national average of 3.3%.

Sweden’s governance of and policy for the Arctic can be sectioned into four categories: (1) domestic; (2) European Union; (3) regional; and (4) Sámi.

Domestically, Sweden is a parliamentary democracy with general elections every four years. While central ministries in Stockholm make decisions and administer issues relating to the north like natural resource development and environmental protection, northern and remote regions like Norrbotten and Västerbotten Counties exercise a limited degree of autonomy through their centrally appointed governor. Sweden’s Arctic Strategy guides decisions relating to the country’s northernmost stretches at both the federal and regional level. Approving the strategy in 2011, Sweden was the last of the eight Arctic states to issue an official policy on the circumpolar region. It focuses on climate and the environment, economic development, and the human dimension (i.e. the people living in the Arctic region).

As a EU member since 1995, northern Sweden has benefited from structural support funds, particularly in northern communities. Sweden’s Arctic policy and governance choices are also in part determined by the Northern Dimension Program. The Program is a joint policy between the EU, Russia, Norway, and Iceland regarding cross-border and external policies in the Arctic region. Established in 1999 and renewed in 2006, the policy aims to strengthen dialogue and cooperation between EU and other northern countries on economy, human resources, the environment, justice, and cross-border development. For further information on (EU policy and action in the Arctic, please read our EU go-to guide).

Regionally, Sweden is party to a number of intergovernmental forums, including the Nordic Council, the Nordic Council of Ministers, the Barents Euro-Arctic Council, and the Arctic Council. Each of these provide Sweden the opportunity to engage in interregional cooperation across a variety of issue areas including trade, security, defense, environment, Nordic welfare, and natural resource industries. In its 2011 strategy, Sweden noted that the Arctic Council “Should be more active in developing common policies and practical projects.”

This may be in response to their exclusion from the Ilulissat Declaration in 2008—a point of contention in the region between arctic littoral states and non-coastal states. The declaration was the result of discussions by the five coastal states on the Arctic Ocean, climate change, the protection of the marine environment, maritime safety, and division of emergency responsibilities if new shipping lanes are opened. As a non-coastal state, Sweden was not included in the Ilulissat Declaration or any discussions about maritime activities. Since the Declaration in 2009, Sweden has emphasised the need for greater collaboration among the coastal states and non-coastal states in open fora where pan-Arctic issues should be discussed by the wider Arctic community.

Because of their Indigenous status, the Sámi people have a different political standing and governance structure through the Sámi Parliament. The Parliament is a publicly-elected body and state agency regulated by the Swedish Sámi Parliament Act. They have political autonomy to develop policy recommendations to the Swedish Parliament, but are limited in that the recommendations are advisory and not legally binding. The Sámi are also regionally represented in the Sámi Council and as permanent members of the Arctic Council.

Sweden has also passed UNDRIP, the UN Convention on Indigenous Rights, though with “serious reservations as to the existence of group rights.” It has not yet passed the International Labor Organisation’s convention 169 on Indigenous rights, however. Issues of reindeer herding, as detailed in the People section of this go-to guide, are the biggest point of contention between the Sámi and the Swedish governments. Sámi representation feels that national law has provided inadequate protection policies in the face of mining and more recently wind farms.

Generally, the Swedish Arctic strategy is straightforward and not very controversial, with a focus on multilateral cooperation and the environment. Sweden is a country with strong historic and cultural ties to the region, as well as security and economic interests, such as mining and aerospace industries. The 2011 strategy defined Sweden as an Arctic nation and reaffirmed the Swedish commitment to the region. In early 2016, the Swedish Arctic strategy was complemented by a memorandum on the new Swedish environmental policy for the Arctic.

However, in a stark departure from the previous version, and in response to the country’s changed strategic environment, Sweden’s latest Arctic strategy document from 2020 highlights the region’s importance in geopolitical and/or strategic terms, and thus it seems that Stockholm’s view on the Arctic has moved away from its heavy human-security focus to one that is more openly blended in traditional, hard security language.