Natural hazards: ice floes in the surrounding waters, especially in the Gulf of Bothnia, can interfere with maritime traffic
Environment - current issues: acid rain damage to soils and lakes; pollution of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea
Environment - international agreements: party to: Air Pollution,
Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic
Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air
Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol,
Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate
Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification,
Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone
Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94,
Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
Geography - note: strategic location along Danish Straits linking Baltic and North Seas
People Sweden
Population: 8,876,744 (July 2002 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 18% (male 817,688; female 776,018) 15-64 years: 64.7% (male 2,922,095; female 2,824,770) 65 years and over: 17.3% (male 651,120; female 885,053) (2002 est.)
Population growth rate: 0.02% (2002 est.)
Birth rate: 9.81 births/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Death rate: 10.6 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.)