Natural resources: zinc, iron ore, lead, copper, silver, timber,
uranium, hydropower potential
Land use:
arable land: 7%
permanent crops: 0%
meadows and pastures: 2%
forest and woodland: 64%
other: 27%
Irrigated land: 1,120 sq km (1989 est.)
Environment:
current issues: acid rain damaging soils and lakes; pollution of the
North Sea and the Baltic Sea
natural hazards: ice floes in the surrounding waters, especially in
the Gulf of Bothnia, can interfere with maritime traffic
international agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Air
Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air
Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds,
Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity,
Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental
Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban,
Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83,
Wetlands; signed, but not ratified - Law of the Sea
Geographic note: strategic location along Danish Straits linking
Baltic and North Seas
People ———
Population: 8,900,954 (July 1996 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 19% (male 860,940; female 815,967)
15-64 years: 64% (male 2,884,687; female 2,794,593)
65 years and over: 17% (male 654,439; female 890,328) (July 1996
est.)
Population growth rate: 0.56% (1996 est.)
Birth rate: 11.55 births/1,000 population (1996 est.)