Sweden in numbers - some facts about Sweden

When someone asks you something about Sweden, it's good to have these numbers in the back of your mind so that you don't seem completely ignorant about the country you live in. We list some interesting facts about Sweden.

Sweden's Area

Sweden ranks 57th in the world and 6th in Europe in terms of size. Sweden covers an area of 410,000 km², with:

68% of it being forest
7% arable land
3% built-up areas
22% is open wetland and other land.

GDP per capita

Sweden ranks 12th in the world with $55,873 per inhabitant (2022). The top three countries are Luxembourg with $126,426, Norway with $106,149, and Ireland with $104,039.

Sweden's Largest Lakes

Sweden has over 100,000 lakes, and the largest ones are:

Lake Vänern: 5,519 km²
Lake Vättern: 1,886 km²
Lake Mälaren: 1,090 km²
Lake Hjälmaren: 477 km²
Lake Storsjön: 456 km²

Sweden's Largest Cities according to the latest statistics

All the cities (urban areas) have a population of 9,088 million. Here are the biggest cities in Sweden.

Stockholm: 1,617,407 inhabitants
Gothenburg: 607,882 inhabitants
Malmö: 325,069 inhabitants
Uppsala: 166,698 inhabitants
Upplands Väsby and Sollentuna: 149,701 inhabitants
Västerås: 128,660 inhabitants
Örebro: 126,604 inhabitants
Linköping: 115,682 inhabitants
Helsingborg: 113,828 inhabitants
Jönköping: 100,579 inhabitants

Sweden's Population

Sweden's population has increased from 10,057,698 in 2017 to 10,536,632 in 2023, which is an increase of approximately 4.8% over five years. Sweden is expected to have 11 million inhabitants by 2028. Historical population:

1767: 2 million inhabitants
1863: 4 million inhabitants
1923: 6 million inhabitants
1969: 8 million inhabitants
2017: 10 million inhabitants