Natural resources:
zinc, iron ore, lead, copper, silver, timber, uranium, hydropower
Land use: arable land: 6.8% permanent crops: 0% other: 93.2% (1998 est.)
Irrigated land:
1,150 sq km (1998 est.)
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:
8,878,085 (July 2003 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 17.7% (male 804,296; female 763,213)
15-64 years: 65% (male 2,933,183; female 2,835,835)
65 years and over: 17.3% (male 654,575; female 886,983) (2003 est.)