Country Profile — Sweden
Sweden's position as one of the world's most highly developed post-industrial societies looks fundamentally secure.
Unemployment is low and the economy strong. Public-private partnership is at the core of "the Swedish model", which was developed by the Social Democrats, who governed for most of the last 70 years until 2006.
This mixed economy 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.
Facts
- Kingdom of Sweden
- Capital: Stockholm
- Population: 9.5 million
- Area: 449,964 sq km (173,732 sq miles)
- Major language: Swedish
- Major religion: Christianity
- Life expectancy: 80 years (men), 84 years (women)
- Currency: krona
Swedish audiences enjoy a wide variety of public and commercial broadcast services.
TV is the most-popular medium. Public Sveriges Television's (SVT) main competitor is commercial network TV4. Sweden is home to the regional media giants Bonnier and the Modern Times Group (MTG).
Most households have multichannel cable or satellite TV. Sweden has made the switch to digital terrestrial TV (DTT) and pay TV is broadcast in the format.
Public radio is run by Sveriges Radio. There are nearly 100 private radios; some are part of near-national networks.
Most Swedish homes take a daily paper and the country is among the world's top consumers of newspapers. Aftonbladet is the best-selling daily. Many titles have a regional readership. The government subsidises newspapers regardless of their political affiliation.
By December 2011, around 8.4 million Swedes were online - more than 92% of the population.
Source BBC
For more media information contact Yvonne Foster:
07752492816