Unemployment is low and the economy strong.

OVERVIEW

Sweden, where the Social Democrats have been in government for most of the last 70 years, developed "the Swedish model" - a mixed economy founded on public-private partnership. It traditionally featured centralised wage negotiations and a heavily tax-subsidised social security network.

 The Swedes still enjoy an advanced welfare system, and their standard of living and life expectancy are almost second to none. The country is also a common destination for refugees and asylum seekers - over 10% of its population are immigrants.

Sweden is known throughout the world for its neutrality. This policy has led to a number of Swedish politicians taking on international roles, often mediating between conflicting groups or ideologies. With the ending of the Cold War, Sweden felt able to join the European Union in 1995 although it still declines to become a Nato member.

 Sweden was one of three EU countries not to join the single European currency. In the first referendum on membership after the euro's introduction in 12 of 15 EU countries, Swedish voters rejected it by a clear majority in September 2003.

 The vote went ahead despite the shocking death just days before of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh who had spearheaded the government's pro-euro campaign. She was stabbed as she shopped in Stockholm without bodyguards. A man was subsequently convicted of her murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

FACTS

• Population: 8.9 million (UN, 2005)
• Capital: Stockholm
• Area: 449,964 sq km (173,732 sq miles)
• Major language: Swedish
• Major religion: Christianity
• Life expectancy: 78 years (men), 83 years (women)(UN)
• Monetary unit: 1 Swedish krona = 100 ore
• Main exports: Machinery and transport equipment, paper products, chemicals
• GNI per capita: US $28,840 (World Bank, 2003)
• Internet domain: .se
• International dialling code: +46

LEADERS

King: Carl XVI Gustaf

Prime minister: Goran Persson

Social Democrat Party leader Goran Persson continued into a third term as prime minister in a minority government following elections in September 2002. He campaigned on a ticket of support for the welfare state and generous funding for education and health care.

Contrary to some expectations, the elections saw the Social Democrats increase their presence to 144 seats in the 349-member parliament. The Left won 30 seats and the Greens gained the balance of power with 17. Mr Persson refused to enter into any formal coalition arrangement with either, largely because of their opposition to EU membership. However, their support is needed to keep the prime minister in office.

 Although the country and his own cabinet were divided on the issue, Mr Persson declared support for the euro and called a referendum in September 2003. He suffered a double blow when voters rejected membership just days after the murder of his popular foreign minister, Anna Lindh, who had led the "Yes" campaign.

• Foreign minister: Laila Freivalds
• Finance minister: Paer Nuder

MEDIA

Swedish audiences enjoy a wide variety of public and commercial broadcast services, though until relatively recently public TV and radio had a near-monopoly of the airwaves.

Public television is run by Sveriges Television (SVT). Its main competitor is TV4, a commercial station which launched in 1992 and which broadcasts terrestrially. The country is home to the regional media giants Bonnier and the Modern Times Group (MTG).

 Around 66% of households have cable or satellite TV and can choose from among dozens of channels. Digital terrestrial broadcasting was launched by SVT in 1999; pay-TV channels are also broadcast in the format. The government aims to complete the digitisation of TV broadcasting by 2008.

 Public radio is run by Sveriges Radio. Commercial radio began in 1993, and there are nearly 100 stations on the air. Some of the main stations have consolidated into near-national networks.

Most Swedish households take a daily newspaper and the country is among the top consumers of newspapers in the world. Many titles have a regional readership. The government provides subsidies to newspapers regardless of their political affiliation.

The press

• Aftonbladet - Stockholm-based daily
• Dagens Nyheter - Stockholm-based daily
• Expressen - Stockholm-based daily
• Svenska Dagbladet - Stockholm-based daily
• Goteborgs Posten - Gothenburg-based daily
• Sydsvenska Dagbladet - Malmo-based daily
• The Local - English-language online news

Television

• Sveriges Television (SVT) - public, operates terrestrial networks SVT 1 and SVT 2, news channel SVT24, European satellite channel SVT Europa
• TV4 - commercial, terrestrial
• TV3 - commercial, via satellite and cable
• Kanal 5 - commercial, via satellite and cable
• ZTV - commercial, via satellite and cable

Radio

• Sveriges Radio - public, operates news and public affairs station P1, classical music station P2, youth station P3 and regionally-based news and music station P4
• Radio Sweden International - external service run by Sveriges Radio, broadcasts in a number of languages including English
• Rix FM - commercial, national pop music network
• NRJ - commercial, national pop music network
• Mix Megapol - commercial, national music network
• Radio Match - commercial network

News agency

TT - owned by several media groups .