title: Sweden

text: In August 2021, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven announced his resignation and finance minister Magdalena Andersson was elected as the new head of Sweden's ruling Social Democrats in November 2021. On 30 November 2021, Magdalena Andersson became Sweden's first female prime minister. She formed a minority government made up of only her Social Democrats. Her plan for forming a new coalition government with the Green Party was unsuccessful the coalition partner left after her budget proposal failed to pass. In the 2022 election, the remnants of the Alliance were able to secure a narrow majority. This was backed up by the surging Sweden Democrats becoming the second largest party. The election saw Andersson resigning from her post, with the Moderate leader Ulf Kristersson the likely replacement. The election saw the right-wing coalition win dozens of small towns always dominated by the left, while suffering major losses in the big cities.


title: Sweden

text: Election turnout in Sweden has always been high by international comparison. Although it declined in recent decades, the latest elections saw an increase in voter turnout (80.11% in 2002, 81.99% in 2006, 84.63% in 2010, 85.81 in 2014) and 87.18% in 2018. Swedish politicians enjoyed a high degree of confidence from the citizens in the 1960s, However, that level of confidence has since declined steadily, and is now at a markedly lower level than in its Scandinavian neighbours.


title: Sweden

text: Sweden is a unitary state divided into 21 regions () and 290 municipalities (). Every region corresponds to a county () with a number of municipalities per county. Regions and municipalities are both local government bur have different roles and separate responsibilities. Health care, public transport and certain cultural institutions are administered by regional councils. Preschools, primary and secondary schooling, public water utilities, garbage disposal, elderly care and rescue services are administered by the municipalities. Gotland is a special case of being a region with only one municipality and the functions of region and municipality are performed by the same organisation.


title: Sweden

text: Municipal and region government in Sweden is similar to city commission and cabinet-style council government. Both levels have legislative assemblies (municipal councils and region assemblies of between 31 and 101 members (always an uneven number) that are elected from party-list proportional representation at the general election which are held every four years in conjunction with the national parliamentary elections.


title: Sweden

text: Municipalities are also divided into a total of 2,512 parishes (). These have no official political responsibilities but are traditional subdivisions of the Church of Sweden and still have some importance as census districts for census-taking and elections.


title: Sweden

text: The Swedish central government has 21 County Administrative Boards (), which are responsible for regional state administration not assigned to other government agencies or local government. Each county administrative board is led by a County Governor () appointed for a term of six years. The list of previous officeholders for the counties stretches back, in most cases, to 1634 when the counties were created by Lord High Chancellor Count Axel Oxenstierna. The main responsibility of the County Administrative Board is to co-ordinate the development of the county in line with goals set by the Riksdag and Government.


title: Sweden

text: There are older historical divisions, primarily the twenty-five provinces and three lands, which still retain cultural significance.


title: Sweden

text: The actual age of the kingdom of Sweden is unknown. Establishing the age depends mostly on whether Sweden should be considered a nation when the (Sweonas) ruled Svealand or if the emergence of the nation started with the and the "Götar" (Geats) of Götaland being united under one ruler. In the first case, Svealand was first mentioned as having one single ruler in the year 98 by Tacitus, but it is almost impossible to know for how long it had been this way. However, historians usually start the line of Swedish monarchs from when Svealand and Götaland were ruled under the same king, namely Eric the Victorious (Geat) and his son Olof Skötkonung in the tenth century. These events are often described as the consolidation of Sweden, although substantial areas were conquered and incorporated later.


title: Sweden

text: Earlier kings, for which no reliable historical sources exist, can be read about in mythical kings of Sweden and semi-legendary kings of Sweden. Many of these kings are only mentioned in various saga and blend with Norse mythology.


title: Sweden

text: The title was last used for Gustaf I of Sweden, after which the title became "King of Sweden, of the Goths and of the Wends" () in official documentation. Up until the beginning of the 1920s, all laws in Sweden were introduced with the words, "We, the king of Sweden, of the Goths and Wends". This title was used up until 1973. The present King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, was the first monarch officially proclaimed "King of Sweden" () with no additional peoples mentioned in his title.


title: Sweden

text: The term was used for the first time in the 1540s, although the first meeting where representatives of different social groups were called to discuss and determine affairs affecting the country as a whole took place as early as 1435, in the town of Arboga. During the Riksdag assemblies of 1527 and 1544, under King Gustav Vasa, representatives of all four estates of the realm (clergy, nobility, townsmen and peasants) were called on to participate for the first time. The monarchy became hereditary in 1544.


title: Sweden

text: Executive power was historically shared between the King and an aristocratic Privy council until 1680, followed by the King's autocratic rule initiated by the commoner estates of the Riksdag. As a reaction to the failed Great Northern War, a parliamentary system was introduced in 1719, followed by three different flavours of constitutional monarchy in 1772, 1789 and 1809, the latter granting several civil liberties. Already during the first of those three periods, the 'Era of Liberty' (1719–72) the Swedish Rikstag had developed into a very active Parliament, and this tradition continued into the nineteenth century, laying the basis for the transition towards modern democracy at the end of that century.


title: Sweden

text: In 1866, Sweden became a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral parliament, with the First Chamber indirectly elected by local governments, and the Second Chamber directly elected in national elections every four years. In 1971 the parliament became unicameral. Legislative power was (symbolically) shared between the King and the Riksdag until 1975. Swedish taxation is controlled by the Riksdag.


title: Sweden

text: Sweden has a history of strong political involvement by ordinary people through its "popular movements" (), the most notable being trade unions, the independent Christian movement, the temperance movement, the women's movement, and the intellectual property pirate movements. Sweden was the first country in the world to outlaw corporal punishment of children by their parents (parents' right to spank their own children was first removed in 1966, and it was explicitly prohibited by law from July 1979).


title: Sweden

text: Sweden is currently leading the EU in statistics measuring equality in the political system and equality in the education system. The "Global Gender Gap Report 2006" ranked Sweden as the number one country in terms of gender equality.


title: Sweden

text: Some Swedish political figures have become known worldwide, among these are: Raoul Wallenberg, Folke Bernadotte, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld, the former Prime Minister Olof Palme, the former Prime Minister and later Foreign minister Carl Bildt, the former President of the General Assembly of the United Nations Jan Eliasson, and the former International Atomic Energy Agency Iraq inspector Hans Blix.


title: Sweden

text: The courts are divided into two parallel and separate systems: The general courts () for criminal and civil cases, and general administrative courts () for cases relating to disputes between private persons and the authorities. Each of these systems has three tiers, where the top tier court of the respective system typically only will hear cases that may become precedent. There are also a number of special courts, which will hear a narrower set of cases, as set down by legislation. While independent in their rulings, some of these courts are operated as divisions within courts of the general or general administrative courts.


title: Sweden

text: The Supreme Court of Sweden () is the third and final instance in all civil and criminal cases in Sweden. Before a case can be decided by the Supreme Court, leave to appeal must be obtained, and with few exceptions, leave to appeal can be granted only when the case is of interest as a precedent. The Supreme Court consists of 16 Justices (), appointed by the Government, but the court as an institution is independent of the Riksdag, and the Government is not able to interfere with the decisions of the court.


title: Sweden

text: According to a victimisation survey of 1,201 residents in 2005, Sweden has above-average crime rates compared to other EU countries. Sweden has high or above-average levels of assaults, sexual assaults, hate crimes, and consumer fraud. Sweden has low levels of burglary, car theft and drug problems. Bribe seeking is rare.


title: Sweden

text: A mid-November 2013 news report announced that four prisons in Sweden were closed during the year due to a significant drop in the number of inmates. The decrease in the number of Swedish prisoners was considered "out-of-the-ordinary" by the head of Sweden's prison and probation services, with prison numbers in Sweden falling by around 1% a year since 2004. Prisons were closed in the towns of Åby, Håja, Båtshagen, and Kristianstad.


title: Sweden

text: Throughout the 20th century, Swedish foreign policy was based on the principle of non-alignment in peacetime and neutrality in wartime. Sweden's government pursued an independent course of nonalignment in times of peace so that neutrality would be possible in the event of war.


title: Sweden

text: Sweden's doctrine of neutrality is often traced back to the 19th century as the country has not been in a state of war since the end of the Swedish campaign against Norway in 1814. During World War II Sweden joined neither the allied nor axis powers. This has sometimes been disputed since in effect Sweden allowed in select cases the Nazi regime to use its railroad system to transport troops and goods, especially iron ore from mines in northern Sweden, which was vital to the German war machine. However, Sweden also indirectly contributed to the defence of Finland in the Winter War, and permitted the training of Norwegian and Danish troops in Sweden after 1943.


title: Sweden

text: During the early Cold War era, Sweden combined its policy of non-alignment and a low profile in international affairs with a security policy based on strong national defence. The function of the Swedish military was to deter attack. At the same time, the country maintained relatively close informal connections with the Western bloc, especially in the realm of intelligence exchange. In 1952, a Swedish DC-3 was shot down over the Baltic Sea by a Soviet MiG-15 jet fighter. Later investigations revealed that the plane was actually gathering information for NATO. Another plane, a Catalina search and rescue plane, was sent out a few days later and shot down by the Soviets as well. Prime Minister Olof Palme made an official visit to Cuba during the 1970s, during which he denounced Fulgencio Batista's government and praised contemporary Cuban and Cambodian revolutionaries in a speech.


title: Sweden

text: Beginning in the late 1960s, Sweden attempted to play a more significant and independent role in international relations. It involved itself significantly in international peace efforts, especially through the United Nations, and in support to the Third World.


title: Sweden

text: On 27 October 1981, a Whiskey-class submarine ("U 137") from the Soviet Union ran aground close to the naval base at Karlskrona in the southern part of the country. Research has never clearly established whether the submarine ended up on the shoals through a navigational mistake or if an enemy committed espionage against Swedish military potential. The incident triggered a diplomatic crisis between Sweden and the Soviet Union. Following the 1986 assassination of Olof Palme and with the end of the Cold War, Sweden has adopted a more traditional foreign policy approach. Nevertheless, the country remains active in peacekeeping missions and maintains a considerable foreign aid budget.


title: Sweden

text: Since 1995 Sweden has been a member of the European Union, and as a consequence of a new world security situation the country's foreign policy doctrine has been partly modified, with Sweden playing a more active role in European security co-operation. In 2022, in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Sweden moved to formally join the NATO alliance.


title: Sweden

text: The law is enforced in Sweden by several government entities. The Swedish police is a Government agency concerned with police matters. The National Task Force is a national SWAT unit within the police force. The Swedish Security Service's responsibilities are counter-espionage, anti-terrorist activities, protection of the constitution and protection of sensitive objects and people.


title: Sweden

text: The (Swedish Armed Forces) are a government agency reporting to the Swedish Ministry of Defence and responsible for the peacetime operation of the armed forces of Sweden. The primary task of the agency is to train and deploy peacekeeping forces abroad, while maintaining the long-term ability to refocus on the defence of Sweden in the event of war. The armed forces are divided into Army, Air Force and Navy. The head of the armed forces is the Supreme Commander (, ÖB), the most senior commissioned officer in the country. Up to 1974, the King was "pro forma" Commander-in-Chief, but in reality it was clearly understood through the 20th century that the monarch would have no "active" role as a military leader.


title: Sweden

text: Until the end of the Cold War, nearly all males reaching the age of military service were conscripted. In recent years, the number of conscripted males has shrunk dramatically, while the number of female volunteers has increased slightly. Recruitment has generally shifted towards finding the most motivated recruits, rather than solely focusing on those otherwise most fit for service. By law, all soldiers serving abroad must be volunteers. In 1975, the total number of conscripts was 45,000. By 2003, it was down to 15,000.


title: Sweden

text: On 1 July 2010, Sweden ended routine conscription, switching to an all-volunteer force unless otherwise required for defence readiness. Emphasis was to be placed on only recruiting those later prepared to volunteer for international service. The total forces gathered would consist of about 60,000 personnel. This in comparison with the 1980s, before the fall of the Soviet Union, when Sweden could gather up to 1,000,000 servicemembers.


title: Sweden

text: However, on 11 December 2014, due to tensions in the Baltic area, the Swedish Government reintroduced one part of the Swedish conscription system, refresher training. On 2 March 2017, the government decided to reintroduce the remaining part of the Swedish conscription system, basic military training. The first recruits began their training in 2018. As the law is now gender neutral, both men and women may have to serve. Sweden decided not to sign the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.


title: Sweden

text: Swedish units have taken part in peacekeeping operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Liberia, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Chad.


title: Sweden

text: Sweden is the twelfth-richest country in the world in terms of GDP (gross domestic product) per capita and a high standard of living is experienced by its citizens. Sweden is an export-oriented mixed economy. Timber, hydropower and iron ore constitute the resource base of an economy with a heavy emphasis on foreign trade. Sweden's engineering sector accounts for 50% of output and exports, while telecommunications, the automotive industry and the pharmaceutical industries are also of great importance. Sweden is the ninth-largest arms exporter in the world. Agriculture accounts for 2% of GDP and employment. The country ranks among the highest for telephone and Internet access penetration.


title: Sweden

text: Trade unions, employers' associations and collective agreements cover a large share of the employees in Sweden. The high coverage of collective agreements is achieved despite the absence of state mechanisms extending collective agreements to whole industries or sectors. Both the prominent role of collective bargaining and the way in which the high rate of coverage is achieved reflect the dominance of self-regulation (regulation by the labour market parties themselves) over state regulation in Swedish industrial relations. When the Swedish Ghent system was changed in 2007, resulting in considerably raised fees to unemployment funds, a substantial decline in union density and density of unemployment funds occurred.


title: Sweden

text: In 2010, Sweden's income Gini coefficient was the third lowest among developed countries, at 0.25—slightly higher than Japan and Denmark—suggesting Sweden had low income inequality. However, Sweden's wealth Gini coefficient at 0.853 was the second highest in developed countries, and above European and North American averages, suggesting high wealth inequality. Even on a disposable income basis, the geographical distribution of Gini coefficient of income inequality varies within different regions and municipalities of Sweden. Danderyd, outside Stockholm, has Sweden's highest Gini coefficient of income inequality, at 0.55, while Hofors near Gävle has the lowest at 0.25. In and around Stockholm and Scania, two of the more densely populated regions of Sweden, the income Gini coefficient is between 0.35 and 0.55.


title: Sweden

text: In terms of structure, the Swedish economy is characterised by a large, knowledge-intensive and export-oriented manufacturing sector; an increasing, but comparatively small, business service sector; and by international standards, a large public service sector. Large organisations, both in manufacturing and services, dominate the Swedish economy. High and medium-high technology manufacturing accounts for 9.9% of GDP.


title: Sweden

text: The 20 largest (by turnover) registered Swedish companies in 2007 were Volvo, Ericsson, Vattenfall, Skanska, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget, Electrolux, Volvo Personvagnar, TeliaSonera, Sandvik, Scania, ICA, Hennes & Mauritz, IKEA, Nordea, Preem, Atlas Copco, Securitas, Nordstjernan and SKF. The vast majority of Sweden's industry is privately controlled, unlike many other industrialised Western countries, and, in accordance with a historical standard, publicly owned enterprises are of minor importance.


title: Sweden

text: An estimated 4.5 million Swedish residents are employed, and around a third of the workforce completed tertiary education. In terms of GDP per-hour-worked, Sweden was the world's ninth highest in 2006 at US$31, compared to US$22 in Spain and US$35 in the United States. GDP per-hour-worked is growing 2.5% per year for the economy as a whole and the trade-terms-balanced productivity growth is 2%. According to the OECD, deregulation, globalisation, and technology sector growth have been key productivity drivers. Sweden is a world leader in privatised pensions and pension funding problems are relatively small compared to many other Western European countries. A pilot program to test the feasibility of a six-hour workday, without loss of pay, will commence in 2014, involving the participation of Gothenburg municipal staff. The Swedish government is seeking to reduce its costs through decreased sick leave hours and increased efficiency.


title: Sweden

text: The typical worker receives 40% of his or her labour costs after the tax wedge. Total tax collected by Sweden as a percentage of its GDP peaked at 52.3% in 1990. The country faced a real estate and banking crisis in 1990–1991, and consequently passed tax reforms in 1991 to implement tax rate cuts and tax base broadening over time. Since 1990, taxes as a percentage of GDP collected by Sweden have been dropping, with total tax rates for the highest income earners dropping the most. In 2010 45.8% of the country's GDP was collected as taxes, the second highest among OECD countries, and nearly double the percentage in the US or South Korea. Tax income-financed employment represents a third of the Swedish workforce, a substantially higher proportion than in most other countries. Overall, GDP growth has been fast since reforms—especially those in manufacturing—were enacted in the early 1990s.


title: Sweden

text: Sweden is the fourth-most competitive economy in the world, according to the World Economic Forum in its "Global Competitiveness Report 2012–2013". Sweden is the top performing country in the 2014 "Global Green Economy Index (GGEI)". Sweden is ranked fourth in the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2013. According to the book "The Flight of the Creative Class" by the US economist Professor Richard Florida of the University of Toronto, Sweden is ranked as having the best creativity in Europe for business and is predicted to become a talent magnet for the world's most purposeful workers. The book compiled an index to measure the kind of creativity it claims is most useful to business—talent, technology and tolerance.


title: Sweden

text: Sweden maintains its own currency, the Swedish krona (SEK), a result of the Swedes having rejected the euro in a referendum. The Swedish Riksbank—founded in 1668 and thus the oldest central bank in the world—is currently focusing on price stability with an inflation target of 2%. According to the "Economic Survey of Sweden 2007" by the OECD, the average inflation in Sweden has been one of the lowest among European countries since the mid-1990s, largely because of deregulation and quick utilisation of globalisation.


title: Sweden

text: The largest trade flows are with Germany, the United States, Norway, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Finland.


title: Sweden

text: Financial deregulation in the 1980s adversely affected the property market, leading to a bubble and eventually a crash in the early 1990s. Commercial property prices fell by up to two thirds, resulting in two Swedish banks having to be taken over by the government. In the following two decades the property sector strengthened. By 2014, legislators, economists and the IMF were again warning of a bubble with residential property prices soaring and the level of personal mortgage debt expanding. Household debt-to-income rose above 170% as the IMF was calling on legislators to consider zoning reform and other means of generating a greater supply of housing as demand was outstripping what was available, pushing prices higher. By August 2014, 40% of home borrowers had interest-only loans while those that didn't were repaying principal at a rate that would take 100 years to fully repay.


title: Sweden

text: Sweden's energy market is largely privatised. The Nordic energy market is one of the first liberalised energy markets in Europe and it is traded in NASDAQ OMX Commodities Europe and Nord Pool Spot. In 2006, out of a total electricity production of 139 TWh, electricity from hydropower accounted for 61 TWh (44%), and nuclear power delivered 65 TWh (47%). At the same time, the use of biofuels, peat etc. produced 13 TWh (9%) of electricity, while wind power produced 1 TWh (1%). Sweden was a net importer of electricity by a margin of 6 TWh. Biomass is mainly used to produce heat for district heating and central heating and industry processes.


title: Sweden

text: Sweden joined the International Energy Agency in 1974, after the 1973 oil crisis strengthened Sweden's commitment to decrease dependence on imported fossil fuels. To protect against unexpected oil supply shocks and in accordance with international commitments made through the IEA, Sweden maintains a strategic petroleum reserve of at least 90 days of net oil imports. As of February 2022, Sweden's oil reserves totalled 130 days’ worth of net imports. Sweden has moved to generate electricity mostly from hydropower and nuclear power. The use of nuclear power has been limited, however. Among other things, the accident of Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station (United States) prompted the Riksdag to ban new nuclear plants. In March 2005, an opinion poll showed that 83% supported maintaining or increasing nuclear power.


title: Sweden

text: Sweden is considered a "global leader" in decarbonisation. Politicians have made announcements about oil phase-out in Sweden, decrease of nuclear power, and multibillion-dollar investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency. The country has for many years pursued a strategy of indirect taxation as an instrument of environmental policy, including energy taxes in general and carbon dioxide taxes in particular. Sweden was the first nation to implement carbon pricing, and its carbon prices remain the highest in the world as of 2020. This model has been shown to be particularly effective at decarbonizing the nation's economy. In 2014, Sweden was net exporter of electricity by a margin of 16 TWh; the production from wind power mills had increased to 11.5 TWh.


title: Sweden

text: Sweden has of paved road and of expressways. Motorways run through Sweden and over the Øresund Bridge to Denmark. New motorways are still under construction and a new motorway from Uppsala to Gävle was finished on 17 October 2007. Sweden had left-hand traffic ( in Swedish) from approximately 1736 and continued to do so well into the 20th century. Voters rejected right-hand traffic in 1955, but after the Riksdag passed legislation in 1963 changeover took place on 3 September 1967, known in Swedish as Dagen H.


title: Sweden

text: The Stockholm metro is the only underground system in Sweden and serves the city of Stockholm via 100 stations. The rail transport market is privatised, but while there are many privately owned enterprises, the largest operators are still owned by the state. The counties have financing, ticket and marketing responsibility for local trains. For other trains the operators handle tickets and marketing themselves. Operators include SJ, Veolia Transport, DSB, Green Cargo, Tågkompaniet and Inlandsbanan. Most of the railways are owned and operated by Trafikverket.


title: Sweden

text: Most tram networks were closed in 1967, as Sweden changed from left-side to right-side driving. But they survived in Norrköping, Stockholm and Gothenburg, with Gothenburg tram network being the largest. A new tram line opened in Lund on 13 December 2020.


title: Sweden

text: The largest airports include Stockholm–Arlanda Airport (16.1 million passengers in 2009) north of Stockholm, Göteborg Landvetter Airport (4.3 million passengers in 2008), and Stockholm–Skavsta Airport (2.0 million passengers). Sweden hosts the two largest port companies in Scandinavia, Port of Göteborg AB (Gothenburg) and the transnational company Copenhagen Malmö Port AB. The most used airport for a large part of Southern Sweden is Kastrup or Copenhagen Airport which is located only 12 minutes by train from the closest Swedish railway station, Hyllie. Copenhagen Airport also is the largest "international" airport in Scandinavia and Finland.


title: Sweden

text: Sweden also has a number of car ferry connections to several neighbouring countries. This includes a route from Umeå across the Gulf of Bothnia to Vaasa in Finland. There are several connections from the Stockholm area across the Sea of Åland to Mariehamn in Åland as well as Turku and Helsinki on the Finnish mainland and beyond to Estonia and St Petersburg in Russia. Ferry routes from the Stockholm area also connect with Ventspils and Riga in Latvia as well as Gdańsk in Poland across the Baltic Sea. The ferry ports of Karlskrona and Karlshamn in southeastern Sweden serve Gdynia, Poland, and Klaipeda, Lithuania. Ystad and Trelleborg near the southern tip of Sweden have ferry links with the Danish island of Bornholm and the German ports of Sassnitz, Rostock and Travemünde, respectively, and ferries run to Świnoujście, Poland, from both of them. Trelleborg is the busiest ferry port in Sweden in terms of weight transported by lorry. Its route to Sassnitz started as a steam-operated railway ferry in the 19th century, and today's ferry still carries trains to Berlin during the summer months. Another ferry route to Travemünde originates from Malmö. Despite the opening of the fixed link to Denmark, the Øresund Bridge, the busiest ferry route remains the short link across the narrowest section of the Øresund between Helsingborg and the Danish port of Helsingør, known as the HH Ferry route. There are over seventy departures a day each way; during peak times, a ferry departs every fifteen minutes. Ports higher up the Swedish west coast include Varberg, with a ferry connection across the Kattegat to Grenaa in Denmark, and Göteborg, serving Frederikshavn at the northern tip of Denmark and Kiel in Germany. Finally, there are ferries from Strömstad near the Norwegian border to destinations around the Oslofjord in Norway. There used to be ferry services to the United Kingdom from Göteborg to destinations such as Immingham, Harwich and Newcastle, but these have been discontinued.


title: Sweden

text: Sweden has two domestic ferry lines with large vessels, both connecting Gotland with the mainland. The lines leave from Visby harbour on the island, and the ferries sail to either Oskarshamn or Nynäshamn. A smaller car ferry connects the island of Ven in Øresund with Landskrona.


title: Sweden

text: Sweden has one of the most highly developed welfare states in the world. According to a 2012 OECD report, the country had the second-highest public social spending as a percentage of its GDP after France (27.3% and 28.4%, respectively), and the third-highest total (public and private) social spending at 30.2% of its GDP, after France and Belgium (31.3% and 31.0%, respectively). Sweden spent 6.3% of its GDP, the ninth-highest among 34 OECD countries, to provide equal access to education. On health care, the country spent 10.0% of its total GDP, the 12th highest.


title: Sweden

text: Historically, Sweden provided solid support for free trade (except agriculture) and mostly relatively strong and stable property rights (both private and public), though some economists have pointed out that Sweden promoted industries with tariffs and used publicly subsidised R&D during the country's early critical years of industrialisation. After World War II a succession of governments expanded the welfare state by raising the taxes. During this period Sweden's economic growth was also one of the highest in the industrial world. A series of successive social reforms transformed the country into one of the most equal and developed on earth. The consistent growth of the welfare state led to Swedes achieving unprecedented levels of social mobility and quality of life—to this day Sweden consistently ranks at the top of league tables for health, literacy and Human Development—far ahead of some wealthier countries (for example the United States).


title: Sweden

text: However, from the 1970s and onwards Sweden's GDP growth fell behind other industrialised countries and the country's per capita ranking fell from fourth to 14th place in a few decades. From the mid-1990s until today Sweden's economic growth has once again accelerated and has been higher than in most other industrialised countries (including the US) during the last 15 years. A report from the United Nations Development Program predicted that Sweden's rating on the Human Development Index will fall from 0.949 in 2010 to 0.906 in 2030.


title: Sweden

text: Sweden began slowing the expansion of the welfare state in the 1980s, and even trimming it back. Sweden has been relatively quick to adopt neoliberal policies, such as privatisation, financialisation and deregulation, compared to countries such as France. The current Swedish government is continuing the trend of moderate rollbacks of previous social reforms. Growth has been higher than in many other EU-15 countries. Also since the mid-1980s, Sweden has had the fastest growth in inequality of any developed nation, according to the OECD. This has largely been attributed to the reduction in state benefits and a shift toward the privatisation of public services. According to Barbro Sorman, an activist of the opposition Left Party, "The rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer. Sweden is starting to look like the USA." Nevertheless, it remains far more egalitarian than most nations. Partly as a result of these privatisations and widening economic disparity, the Swedes in the 2014 elections put the Social Democrats back in power.


title: Sweden

text: Sweden adopted free market agricultural policies in 1990. Since the 1930s, the agricultural sector had been subject to price controls. In June 1990, the Riksdag voted for a new agricultural policy marking a significant shift away from price controls. As a result, food prices fell somewhat. However, the liberalisations soon became moot because EU agricultural controls supervened.


title: Sweden

text: Since the late 1960s, Sweden has had the highest tax quota (as percentage of GDP) in the industrialised world, although today the gap has narrowed and Denmark has surpassed Sweden as the most heavily taxed country among developed countries. Sweden has a two-step progressive tax scale with a municipal income tax of about 30% and an additional high-income state tax of 20–25% when a salary exceeds roughly 320,000 SEK per year. Payroll taxes amount to 32%. In addition, a national VAT of 25% is added to many things bought by private citizens, with the exception of food (12% VAT), transportation, and books (6% VAT). Certain items are subject to additional taxes, e.g. electricity, petrol/diesel and alcoholic beverages.


title: Sweden

text: , total tax revenue was 47.8% of GDP, the second-highest tax burden among developed countries, down from 49.1% 2006. Sweden's inverted tax wedge – the amount going to the service worker's wallet – is approximately 15%, compared to 10% in Belgium, 30% in Ireland, and 50% in the United States. Public sector spending amounts to 53% of the GDP. State and municipal employees total around a third of the workforce, much more than in most Western countries. Only Denmark has a larger public sector (38% of Danish workforce). Spending on transfers is also high.


title: Sweden

text: In 2015 and 2016, 69 per cent of the employed workers is organised in trade unions. Union density in 2016 was 62% among blue-collar-workers (most of them in the Swedish Trade Union Confederation, LO) and 75% among white-collar workers (most of them in the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees, TCO, and the Swedish Confederation of Professional Associations, SACO). Sweden has state-supported union unemployment funds (Ghent system). Trade unions have the right to elect two representatives to the board in all Swedish companies with more than 25 employees. Sweden has a relatively high amount of sick leave per worker in OECD: the average worker loses 24 days due to sickness.


title: Sweden

text: The unemployment rate was 7.2% in May 2017 while the employment rate was 67.4%, with the workforce consisting of 4,983,000 people while 387,000 are unemployed. Unemployment among youth (aged 24 or younger) in 2012 was 24.2%, making Sweden the OECD country with the highest ratio of youth unemployment versus unemployment in general.


title: Sweden

text: In the 18th century, Sweden's scientific revolution took off. Previously, technical progress had mainly come from mainland Europe.


title: Sweden

text: In 1739, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences was founded, with people such as Carl Linnaeus and Anders Celsius as early members. Many of the companies founded by early pioneers still remain major international brands. Gustaf Dalén founded AGA, and received the Nobel Prize for his sun valve. Alfred Nobel invented dynamite and instituted the Nobel Prizes. Lars Magnus Ericsson started the company bearing his name, Ericsson, still one of the largest telecom companies in the world. Jonas Wenström was an early pioneer in alternating current and is along with Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla credited as one of the inventors of the three-phase electrical system.


title: Sweden

text: The traditional engineering industry is still a major source of Swedish inventions, but pharmaceuticals, electronics and other high-tech industries are gaining ground. Tetra Pak was an invention for storing liquid foods, invented by Erik Wallenberg. Losec, an ulcer medicine, was the world's best-selling drug in the 1990s and was developed by AstraZeneca. More recently Håkan Lans invented the Automatic Identification System, a worldwide standard for shipping and civil aviation navigation. A large portion of the Swedish economy is to this day based on the export of technical inventions, and many large multinational corporations from Sweden have their origins in the ingenuity of Swedish inventors.


title: Sweden

text: Swedish inventors held 47,112 patents in the United States , according to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. As a nation, only ten other countries hold more patents than Sweden.


title: Sweden

text: Combined, the public and the private sector in Sweden allocate over 3.5% of GDP to research & development (R&D) per year, making Sweden's investment in R&D as a percentage of GDP the second-highest in the world. For several decades the Swedish government has prioritised scientific and R&D activities. As a percentage of GDP, the Swedish government spends the most of any nation on research and development. Sweden tops other European countries in the number of published scientific works per capita.


title: Sweden

text: In 2009, the decisions to construct Sweden's two largest scientific installations, the synchrotron radiation facility MAX IV Laboratory and the European Spallation Source (ESS), were taken. Both installations will be built in Lund. The European Spallation Source, costing some SEK 14 billion to construct, will begin initial operations in 2019 with construction completion scheduled for 2025. The ESS will give an approximately 30 times stronger neutron beam than any of today's existing neutron source installations. The MAX IV, costing some SEK 3 billion, was inaugurated on 21 June 2016. Both facilities have strong implications on material research. Sweden was ranked third in the Global Innovation Index in 2022.


title: Sweden

text: On average, 27% of taxpayers' money in Sweden goes to education and healthcare, whereas 5% goes to the police and military, and 42% to social security.


title: Sweden

text: The typical worker receives 40% of his or her labour costs after the tax wedge. Total tax collected by Sweden as a percentage of its GDP peaked at 52.3% in 1990. The country faced a real estate and banking crisis in 1990–1991, and consequently passed tax reforms in 1991 to implement tax rate cuts and tax base broadening over time. Since 1990, taxes as a percentage of GDP collected by Sweden have been dropping, with total tax rates for the highest income earners dropping the most. In 2010, 45.8% of the country's GDP was collected as taxes, the second highest among OECD countries, and nearly double the percentage in the US or South Korea.


title: Sweden

text: Every Swedish resident receives a state pension. Swedish Pensions Agency is responsible for pensions. People who have worked in Sweden, but relocated to another country, can also receive the Swedish pension. There are several types of pensions in Sweden: occupational and private pensions, and national retirement. A person can receive a combination of the various types of pensions.


title: Sweden

text: The total resident population of Sweden was 10,377,781 in October 2020. The population exceeded 10 million for the first time on Friday 20 January 2017.


title: Sweden

text: The average population density is just over 25 people per km (65 per square mile), with 1 437 persons per km in localities (continuous settlement with at least 200 inhabitants). 87% of the population live in urban areas, which cover 1.5% of the entire land area. 63% of Swedes are in large urban areas. It is substantially higher in the south than in the north. The capital city Stockholm has a municipal population of about 950,000 (with 1.5 million in the urban area and 2.3 million in the metropolitan area). The second- and third-largest cities are Gothenburg and Malmö. Greater Gothenburg counts just over a million inhabitants and the same goes for the western part of Scania, along the Öresund. The Öresund Region, the Danish-Swedish cross-border region around the Öresund that Malmö is part of, has a population of 4 million. Outside of major cities, areas with notably higher population density include the agricultural part of Östergötland, the western coast, the area around Lake Mälaren and the agricultural area around Uppsala.


title: Sweden

text: Norrland, which covers approximately 60% of the Swedish territory, has a very low population density (below 5 people per square kilometre). The mountains and most of the remote coastal areas are almost unpopulated. Low population density exists also in large parts of western Svealand, as well as southern and central Småland. An area known as "Finnveden", which is located in the south-west of Småland, and mainly below the 57th parallel, can also be considered as almost empty of people.


title: Sweden

text: Between 1820 and 1930, approximately 1.3 million Swedes, a third of the country's population at the time, emigrated to North America, and most of them to the United States. There are more than 4.4 million Swedish Americans according to a 2006 US Census Bureau estimate. In Canada, the community of Swedish ancestry is 330,000 strong.


title: Sweden

text: There are no official statistics on ethnicity, but according to Statistics Sweden, 2,752,572 (26%) inhabitants of Sweden were of a foreign background in 2021, defined as being born abroad or born in Sweden with both foreign-born parents. Of these inhabitants, 2,090,503 persons were born abroad and 662,069 persons were born in Sweden to parents born abroad. In addition, 805,340 persons had one parent born abroad with the other parent born in Sweden.


title: Sweden

text: The official language of Sweden is Swedish, a North Germanic language, related and very similar to Danish and Norwegian, but differing in pronunciation and orthography. Norwegians have little difficulty understanding Swedish, and Danes can also understand it, with slightly more difficulty than Norwegians. The same goes for standard Swedish speakers, who find it far easier to understand Norwegian than Danish. The dialects spoken in Scania, the southernmost part of the country, are influenced by Danish because the region traditionally was a part of Denmark and is nowadays situated closely to it. Sweden Finns are Sweden's largest linguistic minority, comprising about 5% of Sweden's population, and Finnish is recognised as a minority language. Owing to a 21st-century influx of native speakers of Arabic, the use of Arabic is likely more widespread in the country than that of Finnish. However, no official statistics are kept on language use.


title: Sweden

text: Along with Finnish, four other minority languages are also recognised: Meänkieli, Sami, Romani, and Yiddish. Swedish became Sweden's official language on 1 July 2009, when a new language law was implemented. The issue of whether Swedish should be declared the official language had been raised in the past, and the Riksdag voted on the matter in 2005, but the proposal narrowly failed.


title: Sweden

text: In varying degrees, a majority of Swedes, especially those born after World War II, understand and speak English, owing to trade links, the popularity of overseas travel, a strong Anglo-American influence and the tradition of subtitling rather than dubbing foreign television shows and films, and the relative similarity of the two languages which makes learning English easier. In a 2005 survey by Eurobarometer, 89% of Swedes reported the ability to speak English.


title: Sweden

text: English became a compulsory subject for secondary school students studying natural sciences as early as 1849, and has been a compulsory subject for all Swedish students since the late 1940s. Depending on the local school authorities, English is currently a compulsory subject between first grade and ninth grade, with all students continuing in secondary school studying English for at least another year. Most students also study one and sometimes two additional languages. Some Danish and Norwegian is also taught as part of Swedish courses for native speakers. Because of the extensive mutual intelligibility between the three continental Scandinavian languages, Swedish speakers often use their native language when visiting or living in Norway or Denmark.


title: Sweden

text: Before the 11th century, Swedes adhered to Norse paganism, worshiping Æsir gods, with its centre at the Temple in Uppsala. With Christianisation in the 11th century, the laws of the country changed, forbidding worship of other deities until the late 19th century. After the Protestant Reformation in the 1530s, a change led by Martin Luther's Swedish associate Olaus Petri, the authority of the Roman Catholic Church was abolished and Lutheranism became widespread. Adoption of Lutheranism was completed by the Uppsala Synod of 1593, and it became the official religion. During the era following the Reformation, usually known as the period of Lutheran orthodoxy, small groups of non-Lutherans, especially Calvinist Dutchmen, the Moravian Church and French Huguenots played a significant role in trade and industry, and were quietly tolerated as long as they kept a low religious profile. The Sami originally had their own shamanistic religion, but they were converted to Lutheranism by Swedish missionaries in the 17th and 18th centuries.


title: Sweden

text: With religious liberalisations in the late 18th century believers of other faiths, including Judaism and Roman Catholicism, were allowed to live and work freely in the country. However, until 1860 it remained illegal for Lutherans to convert to another religion. The 19th century saw the arrival of various evangelical free churches, and, towards the end of the century, secularism, leading many to distance themselves from church rituals. Leaving the Church of Sweden became legal with the so-called Dissenter Act of 1860, but only under the provision of entering another Christian denomination. The right to stand outside any religious denomination was formally established in the law on freedom of religion in 1951.


title: Sweden

text: In 2000, the Church of Sweden was disestablished. Sweden was the second Nordic country to disestablish its state church (after Finland did so in the Church Act of 1869).


title: Sweden

text: At the end of 2018, 57.7% of Swedes belonged to the Church of Sweden; this number had been decreasing by about 1.5 percentage points a year for the previous seven years and one percentage point a year on average for the previous two decades. Approximately 2% of the church's members regularly attend Sunday services. The reason for the large number of inactive members is partly that, until 1996, children automatically became members at birth if at least one of the parents was a member. Since 1996, only children and adults who are christened become members. Some 275,000 Swedes are today members of various Evangelical Protestant free churches (where congregation attendance is much higher), and due to recent immigration, there are now some 100,000 Eastern Orthodox Christians and 92,000 Roman Catholics living in Sweden.


title: Sweden

text: The first Muslim congregation was established in 1949, when a small contingent of Tatars migrated from Finland. Islam's presence in Sweden remained marginal until the 1960s, when Sweden started to receive migrants from the Balkans and Turkey. Further immigration from North Africa and the Middle East have brought the estimated Muslim population to 600,000. However, only about 110,000 were members of a congregation around 2010.


title: Sweden

text: Sociology professor Phil Zuckerman claims that Swedes, despite a lack of belief in God, commonly question the term atheist, preferring to call themselves Christians while being content with remaining in the Church of Sweden. Religion continues to play a role in Swedish cultural identity. This is evidenced by the fact that the majority of Swedish adults continue to remain members of the Lutheran Church despite having to pay a church tax; moreover, rates of baptism remain high and church weddings are increasing in Sweden.


title: Sweden

text: Healthcare in Sweden is mainly tax-funded, universal for all citizens, and decentralised, although private health care also exists. The health care system in Sweden is financed primarily through taxes levied by regional councils and municipalities. A total of 21 councils are in charge of primary and hospital care within the country.


title: Sweden

text: Private healthcare is a rarity in Sweden, and even those private institutions work under the mandated city councils. The city councils regulates the rules and the establishment of potential private practices. While care for the elderly or those who need psychiatric help is conducted privately in many other countries, in Sweden, publicly funded local authorities are in charge of this type of care.


title: Sweden

text: Healthcare in Sweden is similar in quality to other developed nations. Sweden ranks in the top five countries with respect to low infant mortality. It also ranks high in life expectancy and in safe drinking water. In 2018, health and medical care represented around 11% of GDP.


title: Sweden

text: Children aged 1–5 years old are guaranteed a place in a public kindergarten ( or, colloquially, ). Between the ages of 6 and 16, children attend compulsory comprehensive school. In the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Swedish 15-year-old pupils score close to the OECD average. After completing the ninth grade, about 90% of the students continue with a three-year upper secondary school ("gymnasium"), which can lead to both a job qualification or entrance eligibility to university. The school system is largely financed by taxes.


title: Sweden

text: The Swedish government treats public and independent schools equally by introducing education vouchers in 1992 as one of the first countries in the world after the Netherlands. Anyone can establish a for-profit school and the municipality must pay new schools the same amount as municipal schools get. School lunch is free for all students in Sweden, and providing breakfast is also encouraged.


title: Sweden

text: There are a number of different universities and colleges in Sweden, the oldest and largest of which are situated in Uppsala, Lund, Gothenburg and Stockholm. In 2000, 32% of Swedish people held a tertiary degree, making the country fifth in the OECD in that category. Along with several other European countries, the government also subsidises tuition of international students pursuing a degree at Swedish institutions, although a recent bill passed in the Riksdag will limit this subsidy to students from EEA countries and Switzerland.


title: Sweden

text: The large influx of immigrants to Swedish schools has been cited as a significant part of the reason why Sweden has dropped more than any other European country in the international PISA rankings.


title: Sweden

text: In recent centuries the country has been transformed from a nation of net emigration, ending after World War I, to a nation of net immigration, from World War II onwards. In recent years the country has received a massive influx of refugees and immigrants mainly due to the Syrian war which broke out in 2015. Sweden received more refugees per capita than anywhere else in Europe. In 2015 alone a record-breaking 163,000 people applied for asylum to a country of barely 10 million people.


title: Sweden

text: The economic, social, and political aspects of immigration have caused controversy regarding ethnicity, economic benefits, jobs for non-immigrants, settlement patterns, effects on upward social mobility, crime, and voting behaviour.


title: Sweden

text: There are no exact numbers on the ethnic background of migrants and their descendants in Sweden because the Swedish government does not base any statistics on ethnicity. This is, however, not to be confused with the migrants' national backgrounds, which are recorded.


title: Sweden

text: Immigrants in Sweden are mostly concentrated in the urban areas of Svealand and Götaland. Since the early 1970s, immigration to Sweden has been mostly due to refugee migration and family reunification from countries in Asia (particularly Western Asia) and Latin America. In 2019, Sweden granted 21,958 people asylum, up from 21,502 in 2018.


title: Sweden

text: In 2021 one in five people (2,090,503) in Sweden were born abroad. The ten largest groups of foreign-born persons in the Swedish civil registry in 2021 were from:


title: Sweden

text: According to an official investigation by The Swedish Pensions Agency on order from the government, the immigration to Sweden will double the state's expenses for pensions to the population.


title: Sweden

text: Sweden has many authors of worldwide recognition including August Strindberg, Astrid Lindgren, and Nobel Prize winners Selma Lagerlöf and Harry Martinson. In total seven Nobel Prizes in Literature have been awarded to Swedes. The nation's most well-known artists are painters such as Carl Larsson and Anders Zorn, and the sculptors Tobias Sergel and Carl Milles.


title: Sweden

text: Swedish 20th-century culture is noted by pioneering works in the early days of cinema, with Mauritz Stiller and Victor Sjöström. In the 1920s–1980s, the filmmaker Ingmar Bergman and actors Greta Garbo and Ingrid Bergman became internationally noted people within cinema. More recently, the films of Lukas Moodysson, Lasse Hallström, and Ruben Östlund have received international recognition.


title: Sweden

text: Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Sweden was seen as an international leader in what is now referred to as the "sexual revolution", with gender equality having particularly been promoted. The early Swedish film "I Am Curious (Yellow)" (1967) reflected a liberal view of sexuality, including scenes of love making that caught international attention, and introduced the concept of the "Swedish sin" that had been introduced earlier in the US with Ingmar Bergman's "Summer with Monika."


title: Sweden

text: The image of "hot love and cold people" emerged. Sexual liberalism was seen as part of modernisation process that by breaking down traditional borders would lead to the emancipation of natural forces and desires.


title: Sweden

text: Sweden has also become very liberal towards homosexuality, as is reflected in the popular acceptance of films such as "Show Me Love", which is about two young lesbians in the small Swedish town of Åmål. Since 1 May 2009, Sweden repealed its "registered partnership" laws and fully replaced them with gender-neutral marriage, Sweden also offers domestic partnerships for both same-sex and opposite-sex couples. Cohabitation () by couples of all ages, including teenagers as well as elderly couples, is widespread. As of 2009, Sweden is experiencing a baby boom.


title: Sweden

text: Historical re-creations of Norse music have been attempted based on instruments found in Viking sites. The instruments used were the "lur" (a sort of trumpet), simple string instruments, wooden flutes and drums. Sweden has a significant folk-music scene. The "joik", a type of Sami music, is a chant that is part of the traditional Sami animistic spirituality. Notable composers include Carl Michael Bellman and Franz Berwald.


title: Sweden

text: Sweden also has a prominent choral music tradition. Out of a population of 9.5 million, it is estimated that five to six hundred thousand people sing in choirs.


title: Sweden

text: In 2007, with over 800 million dollars in revenue, Sweden was the third-largest music exporter in the world and surpassed only by the US and the UK. According to one source 2013, Sweden produces the most chart hits per capita in the world, followed by the UK and the USA.


title: Sweden

text: Sweden has a rather lively jazz scene. During the last sixty years or so it has attained a remarkably high artistic standard, stimulated by domestic as well as external influences and experiences. The Centre for Swedish Folk Music and Jazz Research has published an overview of jazz in Sweden by Lars Westin.


title: Sweden

text: Before the 13th century almost all buildings were made of timber, but a shift began towards stone. Early Swedish stone buildings are the Romanesque churches on the countryside. As so happens, many of them were built in Scania and are in effect Danish churches. This would include the Lund Cathedral from the 11th century and the somewhat younger church in Dalby, but also many early Gothic churches built through influences of the Hanseatic League, such as in Ystad, Malmö and Helsingborg.


title: Sweden

text: Cathedrals in other parts of Sweden were also built as seats of Sweden's bishops. The Skara Cathedral is of bricks from the 14th century, and the Uppsala Cathedral in the 15th. In 1230 the foundations of the Linköping Cathedral were made, the material was there limestone, but the building took some 250 years to finish.


title: Sweden

text: Among older structures are also some significant fortresses and other historical buildings such as at Borgholm Castle, Halltorps Manor and Eketorp fortress on the island Öland, the Nyköping fortress and the Visby city wall.


title: Sweden

text: Around 1520 Sweden was out of the Middle Ages and united under King Gustav Vasa, who immediately initiated grand mansions, castles and fortresses to be built. Some of the more magnificent include Kalmar Castle, Gripsholm Castle and the one at Vadstena.


title: Sweden

text: In the next two centuries, Sweden was designated by Baroque architecture and later the rococo. Notable projects from that time include the city Karlskrona, which has now also been declared a World Heritage Site and the Drottningholm Palace.


title: Sweden

text: 1930 was the year of the great Stockholm exhibition, which marked the breakthrough of Functionalism, or as it became known. The style came to dominate in the following decades. Some notable projects of this kind were the Million Programme, offering affordable living in large apartment complexes.


title: Sweden

text: The Ericsson Globe, located in Stockholm, is the largest hemispherical building on Earth. Its dome has a diameter of 110 metres (360 feet) and took two and a half years to build.


title: Sweden

text: Swedes are among the greatest consumers of newspapers in the world, and nearly every town is served by a local paper. The country's main quality morning papers are "Dagens Nyheter" (liberal), "Göteborgs-Posten" (liberal), "Svenska Dagbladet" (liberal conservative) and "Sydsvenska Dagbladet" (liberal). The two largest evening tabloids are "Aftonbladet" (social democratic) and "Expressen" (liberal). The ad-financed, free international morning paper, "Metro International", was founded in Stockholm, Sweden. The country's news is reported in English by, among others, "The Local" (liberal).


title: Sweden

text: The public broadcasting companies held a monopoly on radio and television for a long time in Sweden. Licence-funded radio broadcasts started in 1925. A second radio network was started in 1954, and a third opened 1962, in response to pirate radio stations. Non-profit community radio was allowed in 1979 and in 1993 commercial local radio started.


title: Sweden

text: The licence-funded television service was officially launched in 1956. A second channel, TV2, was launched in 1969. These two channels (operated by Sveriges Television since the late 1970s) held a monopoly until the 1980s when cable and satellite television became available. The first Swedish-language satellite service was TV3 which started broadcasting from London in 1987. It was followed by Kanal 5 in 1989 (then known as Nordic Channel) and TV4 in 1990.


title: Sweden

text: In 1991 the government announced it would begin taking applications from private television companies wishing to broadcast on the terrestrial network. TV4, which had previously been broadcasting via satellite, was granted a permit and began its terrestrial broadcasts in 1992, becoming the first private channel to broadcast television content from within the country.


title: Sweden

text: Around half the population are connected to cable television. Digital terrestrial television in Sweden started in 1999 and the last analogue terrestrial broadcasts were terminated in 2007.


title: Sweden

text: The first literary text from Sweden is the Rök runestone, carved during the Viking Age c. 800 AD. With the conversion of the land to Christianity around 1100 AD, Sweden entered the Middle Ages, during which monastic writers preferred to use Latin. Therefore, there are only a few texts in the Old Swedish from that period. Swedish literature only began to flourish when the language was standardised during the 16th century. This standardisation was largely due to the full translation of the Bible into Swedish in 1541. This translation is the so-called Gustav Vasa Bible.


title: Sweden

text: With improved education and the freedom brought by secularisation, the 17th century saw several notable authors develop the Swedish language further. Some key figures include Georg Stiernhielm (17th century), who was the first to write classical poetry in Swedish; Johan Henric Kellgren (18th century), the first to write fluent Swedish prose; Carl Michael Bellman (late 18th century), the first writer of burlesque ballads; and August Strindberg (late 19th century), a socio-realistic writer and playwright who won worldwide fame. The early 20th century continued to produce notable authors, such as Selma Lagerlöf, (Nobel laureate 1909), Verner von Heidenstam (Nobel laureate 1916) and Pär Lagerkvist (Nobel laureate 1951).


title: Sweden

text: In recent decades, a handful of Swedish writers have established themselves internationally, including the detective novelist Henning Mankell and the writer of spy fiction Jan Guillou. The Swedish writer to have made the most lasting impression on world literature is the children's book writer Astrid Lindgren, and her books about Pippi Longstocking, Emil, and others. In 2008, the second best-selling fiction author in the world was Stieg Larsson, whose "Millennium" series of crime novels is being published posthumously to critical acclaim. Larsson drew heavily on the work of Lindgren by basing his central character, Lisbeth Salander, on Longstocking.


title: Sweden

text: Apart from traditional Protestant Christian holidays, Sweden also celebrates some unique holidays, some of a pre-Christian tradition. They include Midsummer celebrating the summer solstice; Walpurgis Night () on 30 April lighting bonfires; and Labour Day or May Day on 1 May is dedicated to socialist demonstrations. The day of giver-of-light Saint Lucia, 13 December, is widely acknowledged in elaborate celebrations which betoken its Italian origin and commence the month-long Christmas season.


title: Sweden

text: 6 June is the National Day of Sweden and has since 2005 been a public holiday. Furthermore, there are official flag flying day observances and a Namesdays in Sweden calendar. In August many Swedes have (crayfish dinner parties). Martin of Tours Eve is celebrated in Scania in November with parties, where roast goose and "svartsoppa" ('black soup', made of goose stock, fruit, spices, spirits and goose blood) are served. The Sami, one of Sweden's indigenous minorities, have their holiday on 6 February and Scania celebrate their Scanian Flag day on the third Sunday in July.


title: Sweden

text: Swedish cuisine, like that of the other Nordic countries (Denmark, Norway and Finland), was traditionally simple. Fish (particularly herring), meat, potatoes and dairy products played prominent roles. Spices were sparse. Preparations include Swedish meatballs, traditionally served with gravy, boiled potatoes and lingonberry jam; pancakes; "pyttipanna", a spiced fried hash of meat and potatoes originally meant to use up any leftovers of meat; "lutfisk"; and the "smörgåsbord", or lavish buffet. "Akvavit" is a popular alcoholic distilled beverage, and the drinking of "snaps" is of cultural importance. The traditional flat and dry crisp bread has developed into several contemporary variants. Regionally important foods are the "surströmming" (a fermented fish) in northern Sweden and eel in southern Sweden.


title: Sweden

text: Swedish traditional dishes, some of which are many hundreds of years old, are still an important part of Swedish everyday meals, in spite of the fact that modern-day Swedish cuisine adopts many international dishes.


title: Sweden

text: In August, at the traditional feast known as crayfish party, "kräftskiva", Swedes eat large amounts of crayfish boiled with dill.


title: Sweden

text: Swedes have been fairly prominent in the film area through the years. A number of Swedish people have found success in Hollywood, including Ingrid Bergman, Greta Garbo and Max von Sydow. Amongst several directors who have made internationally successful films can be mentioned Ingmar Bergman, Lukas Moodysson and Lasse Hallström.


title: Sweden

text: Interest in fashion is big in Sweden and the country headquarters famous brands like Hennes & Mauritz (operating as H&M), J. Lindeberg (operating as JL), Acne, Lindex, Odd Molly, Cheap Monday, Gant, WESC, Filippa K, and Nakkna within its borders. These companies, however, are composed largely of buyers who import fashionable goods from throughout Europe and America, continuing the trend of Swedish business toward multinational economic dependency like many of its neighbours.


title: Sweden

text: Sport activities are a national movement with half of the population actively participating in organised sporting activities. The two main spectator sports are football and ice hockey. Second to football, horse sports (of which most of the participants are women) have the highest number of practitioners. Thereafter, golf, orienteering, gymnastics, track and field, and the team sports of ice hockey, handball, floorball, basketball and bandy are the most popular in terms of practitioners.


title: Sweden

text: The Swedish national men's ice hockey team, affectionately known as (English: Three Crowns; the national symbol of Sweden), is regarded as one of the best in the world. The team has won the World Championships nine times, placing them third in the all-time medal count. also won Olympic gold medals in 1994 and 2006. In 2006, became the first national hockey team to win both the Olympic and world championships in the same year. The Swedish national men's football team has seen some success at the World Cup in the past, finishing second when they hosted the tournament in 1958, and third twice, in 1950 and 1994.


title: Sweden

text: Sweden hosted the 1912 Summer Olympics, Equestrian at the 1956 Summer Olympics and the FIFA World Cup in 1958. Other big sports events include the UEFA Euro 1992, 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup, 1995 World Championships in Athletics, UEFA Women's Euro 2013, and several championships of ice hockey, curling, athletics, skiing, bandy, figure skating and swimming.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As France's most successful club, they have won over 40 official honours, including ten league titles and one major European trophy. Their home ground is the Parc des Princes.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: The Parisians were founded in 1970, following the merger of Paris FC and Stade Saint-Germain. PSG won their first major honour, the French Cup, in 1982 and their first Division 1 title in 1986. The 1990s was among the most successful periods in the club's history; they claimed a second league title, three French Cups, two French League Cups, two French Super Cups and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1996. After suffering a decline in fortunes during the 2000s, the Red and Blues have enjoyed a revival since 2011 with increased financial backing, achieving unparalleled dominance in domestic competitions, winning multiple league titles and national cups. PSG have also become a regular feature in the UEFA Champions League, reaching their first final in 2020.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: PSG have the most consecutive seasons playing in France's top flight and are one of two French clubs to have won a major European title. They are the most popular football club in France and one of the most widely supported teams in the world. PSG's home kit colours are red, blue, and white, and their crest features the Eiffel Tower and a fleur-de-lis. Paris have a longstanding rivalry with Olympique de Marseille; the duo contest French football's most notorious match, "Le Classique".


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, owns Paris Saint-Germain through closed shareholders Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), which purchased the club in 2011. The takeover made PSG the richest club in France and one of the wealthiest in the world. Paris currently have the sixth-highest revenue in the footballing world with an annual revenue of €556m according to Deloitte, and are the world's seventh-most valuable football club, worth $3.2bn according to Forbes.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: In the summer of 1970, an ambitious group of businessmen decided to create a major team in the French capital. Guy Crescent and Pierre-Étienne Guyot chose to merge their virtual side, Paris FC, created in 1969, with Stade Saint-Germain of Henri Patrelle after the team from Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 15 km west of Paris and founded in 1904, won promotion to Division 2. However, the three men were stuck with the financial feasibility of the project until they met Real Madrid president Santiago Bernabéu. He told them that starting a crowdfunding campaign was the best solution to establish a new team.20,000 people backed the project and Paris Saint-Germain were formed on June 17, 1970. Guyot was elected the club's first president a few days later. For the first time in French football history, the fans had financially contributed in the making of a club. The merger was made official following the creation of the club's association on August 12, 1970. PSG retains this day as their foundation date.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: Paris FC contributed with the financial backing, while Stade Saint-Germain provided the sporting infrastructure, from the Division 2 status to the Camp des Loges training center, as well as the manager Pierre Phelipon and most of the players, including Bernard Guignedoux, Michel Prost and Camille Choquier. PSG further strengthened their squad with the signing of Jean Djorkaeff, captain of the French national team. PSG's first official game was a 1–1 league draw away to Poitiers on August 23, 1970. Guignedoux scored the club's first ever goal from a free-kick. The club went on to clinch promotion to Division 1 and claim the Division 2 title in its inaugural season.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: PSG's first top-flight season ended with a safe 16th place, meaning they would stay in Division 1 next year, but behind the scenes the club was in a delicate financial situation. Back in September 1971, the Paris City Council offered 850k francs to pay the club's debt and save its place in the elite, demanding PSG in return to adopt the more Parisian name "Paris Football Club." Crescent, who had replaced Guyot as club president before the start of the season, was in favor of the name change, but Patrelle was against it. The disagreement led to Crescent's resignation in December 1971, handing the presidency to Patrelle. The latter tried to persuade the council to reconsider their position, but they remained inflexible and the club split on June 1, 1972, a few days after the last match of the campaign. Backed by the council, Crescent re-formed Paris FC and remained in Division 1, while the PSG of Patrelle were administratively relegated to Division 3, thus losing professional status.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: Paris Saint-Germain really took flight with the arrival of fashion designer Daniel Hechter as chairman of the management committee in June 1973. Besides offering his financial support to the club, he also designed the team's classic home outfit. Hechter then shocked the national game ahead of 1973–74 by appointing French legend Just Fontaine as sporting director.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: Robert Vicot's men finished second in Group B, four points behind Red Star, qualifying for the promotion play–offs against Valenciennes. PSG lost 1–2 away to Valenciennes, but PSG recorded an incredible 4–2 comeback at the Parc des Princes, thus achieving promotion to Division 1 and regaining its professional status abandoned two years earlier. Overwhelmed by emotion, Fontaine collapsed on the lawn and was then carried by the players in celebration. Since then, PSG have always played in the first tier of French football.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: PSG played their first game at the Parc des Princes during this campaign. It was against fellow Parisian side Red Star on November 10, 1973. PSG won 3–1 and Othniel Dossevi scored the club's first goal at the stadium. The Parisians also began their tradition of brilliant Coupe de France runs, reaching the quarterfinals after beating Metz at the Parc in front of 25,000 spectators (2–1; 4–1 on agreggate).


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: In an ironic turn of events, Paris FC were relegated to Division 2 at the same time as Paris Saint-Germain moved up to the top flight in 1974, leaving their home stadium, the Parc des Princes, in the hands of their estranged Parisian brothers. Since then, the Parc has been the home of PSG. With promotion to Division 1 also came a change of command. Daniel Hechter, then chairman of the management committee, took over as club president in June 1974 following the resignation of Patrelle. He named Francis Borelli as vice-president.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: Under Hechter's tenure, the Parisians failed to win any silverware in the 1970s but began their tradition of brilliant Coupe de France runs, established themselves in Division 1, and attracted several prestigious players, including Jean-Pierre Dogliani, Mustapha Dahleb and Carlos Bianchi. After Hechter was banned for life from football by the French Football Federation in January 1978, for running a ticketing scheme at the Parc des Princes, Francis Borelli, who had been vice-president until then, became the new boss of the Île-de-France club.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: Following the arrival of manager Georges Peyroche in November 1979, the club established itself as a top-half team and then welcomed its first major honour when the Parisians reached their first French Cup final in 1982. Up against the great Saint-Étienne of Michel Platini at the Parc des Princes, Nambatingue Toko opened the scoring for PSG following a good cross from Ivica Šurjak. Saint-Étienne reacted and Platini equalized to send the game to extra-time. Platini then doubled his personal account, giving the Greens the lead. The Parc des Princes faithful no longer believed in their team when Dominique Rocheteau, after yet another assist from Šurjak, scored an unexpected equalizer in the last seconds of the match. PSG fans invaded the field in joy, while club president Francis Borelli kneeled and kissed the lawn of the Parc. Following an interruption of 30 minutes, the penalty shootout sealed PSG's coronation. Dominique Baratelli stopped Saint-Étienne's last attempt and Jean-Marc Pilorget scored the winning penalty for the capital side. This success opened the doors to Europe, where PSG made an impressive continental debut in reaching the quarterfinals of the 1982–83 European Cup Winners' Cup.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: On the domestic scene, results were just as satisfying. PSG captured their first podium finish, coming in 3rd place, and repeated the feat in the 1983 Coupe de France Final, this time against Nantes. Recently crowned French champions, the Canaries were headed for the league-cup double, leading at the break after overturning Pascal Zaremba's early strike. But PSG managed their own comeback in the second half as Sušić equalized and then assisted Toko for the winning goal (3–2). The campaign ended on a sad note, though, as Georges Peyroche left the club.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: Three years later, under the guidance of manager Gérard Houllier, PSG claimed their maiden league crown in 1985–86. They dominated the championship from start to finish thanks in big part to the likes of Joël Bats, Dominique Bathenay, Luis Fernandez, Dominique Rocheteau and Safet Sušić, all of whom made up the backbone of the team. The victory away to Toulouse on Matchday 3 meant PSG sat at the top of the table for the first time ever, a spot they never relinquished, going a memorable 26 matches without defeat towards the title.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: The follow-up to the league title was not as glorious though. Defending champions PSG finished the league in 7th place, suffered an early exit from the French Cup and were knocked out by Czech minnows Vítkovice in the first round of a disappointing European Cup debut. The following year, PSG avoided relegation on the final match of the 1987–88 season thanks to a dramatic 0–1 win away to Le Havre. Highly indebted, the club briefly bounced back, fighting for the 1988–89 league crown with Marseille, before going into decline.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: The takeover by television giants Canal+ in 1991 revitalised Paris Saint-Germain as they became one of the richest clubs in France. Canal+ wiped out PSG's huge debt and appointed Michel Denisot, journalist on the channel, as club president in place of Francis Borelli. Now enjoying serious investment, the Red and Blues were able to set their sights steadily higher: they had to qualify for European competitions in their first season and become French champions within three years. In consequence, Canal+ increased the club's budget from 90 to 120 million francs in order to build a strong squad for the 1991–92 season. The revolution began with the appointment of renowned coach Artur Jorge, famous for leading Porto to the 1986–87 European Cup trophy. The club then embarked on a spending spree, signing Brazilian stars Ricardo and Valdo as well as proven French players Paul Le Guen, Laurent Fournier, Patrick Colleter and prolific Liberian striker George Weah.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: The 1992–93 season also marked the beginning of "Le Classique", the rivalry between Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille, as both teams battled each other on the field for the 1992–93 French Division 1 crown. PSG finished runners-up after losing both games against Marseille. In the second match between the two clubs, only three days after winning the 1992–93 UEFA Champions League, league leaders Marseille welcomed closest challengers PSG in a match that would determine the title. After Marseille won their fifth consecutive championship, Bernard Tapie and Marseille were found guilty of match-fixing in what became known as the French football bribery scandal. The French Football Federation stripped Marseille of their title and offered it to second-placed PSG, who refused it because club owners Canal+ thought that claiming the trophy would anger their subscribers back in Marseille. As a result, the 1992–93 title remained unattributed, with Canal+ even refused letting the capital club participate in next year's UEFA Champions League after UEFA excluded Marseille from the competition. Instead, Monaco, who finish third in Ligue 1 took the Champions League spot instead.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: Considered the club's golden era, the Parisians won nine trophies and reached five consecutive European semi-finals during the 1990s, including their first UEFA Champions League last-four appearance and two at the same stage of the UEFA Cup. PSG's crowning glory came in the 1996 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final with legend Luis Fernandez now as coach. Bruno Ngotty scored the only goal of the match to defeat Rapid Wien and make Paris the second French club to ever clinch a major European tournament and the youngest club in history to win a European title at 26 years of existence. The following season, PSG finished runners-up in the 1996 UEFA Super Cup and 1997 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final. On the domestic scene, results were just as satisfying, with Paris celebrating a second league title, three French Cups, two French League Cups and just as many French Super Cup wins.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: PSG then went into decline following years of mismanagement. In the summer 2000, PSG spent heavily on new players signing Nicolas Anelka, Peter Luccin and Stéphane Dalmat as part of the "PSG Banlieue" project of its shareholder Canal+, with the goal of winning Ligue 1 and performing a solid UEFA Champions League campaign but it was a failure. In 2003, the club faced a massive financial loss with a deficit of €65 million, leading Canal+ to fire Luis Fernandez as coach and Laurent Perpère as president and replacing them with Vahid Halilhodžić, who became the new coach and Francis Graille the new president. The club's form dwindled as they slipped further down the table and eventually, a split from owners Canal+ became inevitable.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: At the start of the 21st century, PSG struggled to rescale the heights despite the magic of Ronaldinho and the goals of Pauleta. Five more trophies arrived in the form of three French Cups (including one against "Le Classique" arch-rivals Marseille in 2006), one French League Cup and one UEFA Intertoto Cup, but the club became better known for lurching from one high-profile crisis to another. Following years of mismanagement, the club's form dwindled as they slipped further down the table and a split from Canal+ became inevitable.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: The French premium television channel sold the club to Colony Capital in 2006. The situation, however, only got worse and PSG spent the 2006–07 and 2007–08 campaigns staving off relegations. The latter was the most dramatic. Marred by poor results and fan violence, Paris avoided the drop on the final match after a 2–1 win at Sochaux. The hero was Ivorian striker Amara Diané who scored both goals that night. Despite not enjoying the star status of other current or past PSG greats, Diané is still considered a legend by most Parisian fans.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: After two years of solid progress and stability under the stewardship of manager Antoine Kombouaré and president Robin Leproux, the fortunes of Paris Saint-Germain changed dramatically when Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) purchased the club in 2011. The takeover made PSG not only the richest club in France but one of the wealthiest in the world. Club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi pledged to form a team capable of winning the UEFA Champions League and making the club France's biggest name.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: Club legend Leonardo was brought back in a sporting director capacity and oversaw a spending spree in summer 2011 that has so far been unprecedented in Ligue 1 history, including the signings of Blaise Matuidi, Salvatore Sirigu, Maxwell, Kevin Gameiro and Javier Pastore. As a result, the Parisians have dominated French football, despite finishing behind Montpellier in 2011–12, the elusive league crown was finally brought back to Paris in 2012–13 driven by star player Zlatan Ibrahimović, team captain Thiago Silva and famous manager Carlo Ancelotti. During the season, ahead of the winter transfer deadline it was announced that David Beckham signed a five-month deal with the club. Zlatan's 30-goal haul almost single-handedly led the capital side to its first Ligue 1 title in 19 years, and third overall. They also became a regular in the knockout stages of the Champions League, being eliminated from the UEFA Champions League on away goals by Barcelona in the quarter-finals after drawing both games. Big money signings continued with the arrivals of Edinson Cavani in 2013 for a league record of €64 million, making it the sixth largest transfer in history and David Luiz in 2014 for a £50 million transfer fee, a world-record transfer for a defender. Despite the departure of Carlo Ancelotti, PSG kept its winning ways under Laurent Blanc. The club secured a maiden domestic treble (Ligue 1, Coupe de la Ligue and Trophée des Champions) in the 2013–14 season, before claiming an unprecedented national quadruple (Ligue 1, Coupe de France, Coupe de la Ligue and Trophée des Champions) twice in a row in 2014–15 and 2015–16, winning the latter with a record-breaking 96 points, becoming the only first French men's team to achieve that feat.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: Fresh from three consecutive UEFA Europa League titles with Sevilla, Unai Emery was hired by PSG for his European pedigree. But with star player Zlatan Ibrahimović gone, the club endured a disappointing 2016–17 season. Paris were pipped to the Ligue 1 title by Monaco, missing out on top spot for the first time in five years. Meanwhile, in the UEFA Champions League, the club suffered several disappointing nights, including arguably the club's most painful continental defeat in the infamous and controversial "La Remontada" ("The Comeback") against Barcelona, losing 6–1 in the second leg of the round of sixteen, despite winning the first leg in France by a score of 4–0.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: In response, PSG signed Neymar for a world-record fee of €222 million and French prodigy Kylian Mbappé on an initial loan, which was made permanent in 2018 in a transfer worth €180 million plus add ons, making him both the second-most expensive player and most expensive teenager. The capital club reclaimed the Ligue 1 title and also won the Trophée des Champions, the Coupe de la Ligue and the Coupe de France, clinching the domestic quadruple for the third time in four seasons. Despite their massive expenditure, in the Champions League, PSG lost to Real Madrid in the round of 16, leading manager Unai Emery to leave the club at the end of the season.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: In May 2018, Thomas Tuchel signed a two-year contract with PSG, replacing Unai Emery. Paris Saint-Germain again fell in the Champions League round of 16 in 2018–19, suffering a shock 3–1 defeat at home to Manchester United after winning the first leg 2–0 at Old Trafford. This season, they also won the Ligue 1 for the 8th time in their history, but lost in the Coupe de France Final against Rennes. PSG were eliminated from the Coupe de la Ligue in embarrassing fashion, as they lost 2–1 at home to Guingamp in the quarterfinals. In the 2019–20 season, PSG won the Ligue 1 for the 9th time in their history, despite the season ending prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and also reclaimed the Coupe de France defeating Saint-Étienne in the final and won the last-ever Coupe de la Ligue defeating Lyon in a penalty shootout. In the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League, PSG reached the semi-finals for the second time since 1995, after a last minute 2–1 win over Atalanta, before losing to Bayern Munich 1–0 in the finals in Lisbon, with former PSG player Kingsley Coman scoring the winning goal.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: Tuchel's tenure at Paris Saint-Germain was marred by a fractured relationship with the club's hierarchy, leading him to be dismissed on 24 December, despite placing top of their Champions League group. On 2 January 2021, former PSG player Mauricio Pochettino was appointed as the new head coach. PSG's good form in the Champions League continued in 2021 with a second consecutive UCL semi-final appearance, a first for the club. Domestically, PSG won the Coupe de France, but failed to retain the Ligue 1 title, finishing one point behind Lille, losing the league for the second time in four years.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: During the 2021 summer transfer season, PSG completed one of the most historic transfer windows in football history, exercising the option to buy Danilo Pereira and signing Achraf Hakimi from Inter Milan for a reported fee of €60 million. In addition, the club registered the free transfers of Georginio Wijnaldum, Sergio Ramos, and Gianluigi Donnarumma. PSG concluded their transfer window with the signing of one of the greatest players of all time and record Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi, who unexpectedly left Barcelona following the expiration of his contract, and promising defender Nuno Mendes on an initial loan, which was made permanent in 2022. Later in the season, PSG went on to reclaim the Ligue 1 title for the record 10th time, but fell short in the Champions League at the hands of Real Madrid in the round of 16, a tie amplified by the uncertainty surrounding Kylian Mbappé's future. However, on 21 May 2022, Mbappé extended his contract with PSG until 2025, despite speculations of a possible transfer to Real Madrid, which prompted La Liga officials to file a complaint to UEFA regarding accumulating losses of PSG in the previous years.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: Unsatisfied with the club direction and lack of European success club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi promised mega-changes heading into next season and stated the team would not win the UEFA Champions League as currently constructed. This was in an interview with "Le Parisien." Changes were needed at the club on a very deep level and as such during the pre season for the 2022–23 season the club embarked on an ambitious rebuild. This began with the hiring of transfer market expert Luís Campos who made his name at Monaco first and then Lille. A change in club ethos was noted, and was followed by the sacking of first team coach Pochettino, while an announcement for the hiring of Christophe Galtier was made in quick succession. A busy pre-season followed with a new transfer policy of "no bling-bling", the club quickly signed Nuno Mendes, Vitinha, Hugo Ekitike and Nordi Mukiele. Meanwhile a lot of older players who were not committed to the project were transfer listed.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: Since their foundation, Paris Saint-Germain have represented both the city of Paris and the nearby royal town of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. As a result, red, blue and white are the club's traditional colours. The red and blue are Parisian colours, a nod to revolutionary figures Lafayette and Jean Sylvain Bailly, and the white is a symbol of French royalty and Saint-Germain-en-Laye.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: On the club's crest, the Eiffel Tower in red and the blue background represent Paris, while the fleur de lys in white is a hint to the coat of arms of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The fleur de lys is a royal symbol as well and recalls that French King Louis XIV was born in the town. Throughout its history, PSG have brandished several crests, but all of them have featured the club's three historical colours.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: Likewise, PSG's most iconic shirts have been predominantly red, blue or white, with the remaining two colours included as well. The club's official mascot, Germain the Lynx, also sports PSG's traditional colours. It was unveiled during the 2010 Tournoi de Paris in commemoration of the club's 40th anniversary, and can be seen entertaining kids in the stands of the Parc des Princes or near the pitch with the players during the warm-up.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: "Allez Paris!," recorded by Belgian actress and singer Annie Cordy in 1971, was the club's first official anthem. A PSG fan from the start, she was part of an association of hundreds of celebrities who contributed to the club's foundation in 1970. The club's second anthem, "Allez Paris-Saint-Germain!" by Les Parisiens, was recorded in 1977, replacing Cordy's version. An initiative of historical PSG leader and music producer Charles Talar, he produced and released it under his homonym record label. The song's chorus became a popular chant among PSG supporters during games. A new version, also called "Allez Paris-Saint-Germain!," was recorded in 2010 as part of the club's 40th anniversary celebrations. Sung to the tune of "Go West" by Village People, the lyrics were rewritten with suggestions made by fans. This is the club's current official anthem.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: "Ô Ville Lumière" ("Oh City of Light"), to the tune of "Flower of Scotland," is another veritable club anthem for PSG supporters. Other notable chants from supporters' groups in the Boulogne and Auteuil stands include "Le Parc est à nous" ("The Parc is ours"), "Ici, c'est Paris!" ("This is Paris!"), and "Paris est magique!" ("Paris is magical!"). Both stands began exchanging these chants during PSG matches in the 1990s. "Ici, c'est Paris!" and "Paris est magique!" are also the club's most iconic mottos. "Who Said I Would" by Phill Collins is also a traditional anthem for the fans. The song has accompanied the players' entry into the field since 1992.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: During their first three seasons of existence, the home shirt of Paris Saint-Germain was red with blue and white details in its sleeves and neck to bring together the three colours of the club: the red and blue of Paris, and the white of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. During the 2010–11 season, PSG wore a red shirt during home matches to commemorate their 40th anniversary.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: The connection between Paris Saint-Germain and the city's fashion houses is a longstanding one. French fashion designer Daniel Hechter became PSG president in 1973 and designed the club's traditional home look that same year: a blue shirt with a red vertical stripe flanked by two thinner white stripes (blue-white-red-white-blue). First worn in the 1973–74 season, the so-called "Hechter shirt" has remained the classic home identity of PSG ever since.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: The famous jersey made its debut during a home Ligue 2 game against Red Star on November 10, 1973. This was also the club's maiden match at the Parc des Princes. PSG won 3–1 as Othniel Dossevi scored the club's first goal at the stadium as well as the first with the Hechter shirt. PSG stars from the 1990s and 2000s like Raí, Ronaldinho and Pauleta are associated with this kit. While wearing it, the capital club reached five European semi-finals in a row between 1993 and 1997, claimed the 1995–96 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and achieved eight consecutive wins against "Le Classique" arch-rivals Olympique de Marseille between 2002 and 2004.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: The general belief is that Hechter based his creation on the red-and-white jersey worn by Ajax, the dominant team in Europe at the time, but with the French flag in mind. Hechter himself has denied this, though, instead claiming he was inspired by the Ford Mustang. He transposed the car's hood stripes on the shirt and employed the three colours of the club. The Hechter shirt has two alternate versions: the "reversed Hechter" (red-white-blue-white-red), introduced in the 1974–75 season, and the "white Hechter" (white-blue-red-blue-white), which premiered in the 1994–95 season.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: It was with the club's most iconic away outfit, though, that fans saw the first big PSG team which won their maiden Coupe de France titles in 1982 and 1983, experienced their first European campaign in 1983 and claimed their maiden league crown in 1986. The shirt was white with blue and red vertical stripes on the left. Like the Hechter jersey, it debuted in the 1973–74 season as the away kit. Promoted by PSG president Francis Borelli, the white shirt was the club's home identity from 1981 to 1990. Now known as the "Borelli shirt," it is synonym with PSG legends from the 1980s like Safet Sušić, Luis Fernández and Dominique Bathenay.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: The club's first crest was basically the same as the original Paris FC (PFC) logo. Having to merge and give birth to PSG using Stade Saint-Germain's stadium, the PFC crest kept its original design but the name below it changed from "Paris FC" to "Paris Saint-Germain Football Club." This badge consisted of a blue football with a red vessel inside it. The latter is a historic symbol of Paris and is present in the city's coat of arms. The name of the club was written below in red.


title: Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: PSG, however, split from PFC in 1972 and thus needed a new crest. Representing both Paris and Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the club's second crest became the basis of the one the fans know today. The round logo featured the Eiffel Tower in red against a blue background and, underneath it, two Saint-Germain symbols in white: a fleur de lys and Louis XIV's cradle. Created by Christian Lentretien, former PSG board member and publicist by profession, this crest was first used in 1972 and lasted until 1982. The Parc des Princes, the club's home stadium, appeared below it between 1982 and 1990.