The Northern European country, Sweden, borders Norway to the west; Finland to the northeast; and the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Bothnia to the south and east. At 450,295 km2 (173,860 sq mi), Sweden is the largest country in Northern Europe, the fifth largest in Europe, and the 55th largest country in the world. Sweden has a 3,218 km (2,000 mi) long coastline on its east, and the Scandinavian mountain chain (Scanderna) on its western border, separating it from Norway. It has coastal borders with Denmark, Germany, Poland, Russia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, and it is also linked to Denmark (southwest) by the Öresund bridge. It has an Exclusive Economic Zone of 160,885 km2 (62,118 sq mi). Much of Sweden is heavily forested, with 69% of the country being forest and woodland, while farmland constitutes only 8% of land use. Sweden consists of 39,960 km2 of water area, constituting around 95,700 lakes. The lakes are sometimes used for water power plants, especially the large northern rivers and lakes. Most of northern and western central Sweden consists of vast tracts of hilly and mountainous land called the Norrland terrain. South of the Norrland terrain lies the Central Swedish lowland which forms a broad east-west trending belt from Gothenburg to Stockholm. This is the traditional heartland of Sweden due to its large population and agricultural resources. The region forms a belt of fertile soils suitable for agriculture that interrupts the forested and till-coated lands to the north and south. This is the traditional heartland of Sweden due to its large population and agricultural resources. The region forms a belt of fertile soils suitable for agriculture that interrupts the forested and till-coated lands to the north and south.
To the south of the Central Swedish lowland lies the South Swedish highlands which except for a lack of deep valleys is similar to the Norrland terrain found further north in Sweden. The highest point of the highlands lies at 377 m. Southernmost Sweden contains a varied landscape with both plains and hilly terrain. A characteristic chain of elongated hills runs across Scania from northwest to southeast. These hills are horsts located along the Tornquist Zone.
The plains of Scania and Halland make up 10% of Sweden’s cultivated lands and are the country’s main agricultural landscape. The natural vegetation is made up of broadleaf forest although conifer plantations are common. Southern Sweden has Sweden’s greatest animal and plant diversity. The two largest islands are Gotland and Öland in the southeast. They differ from the rest of Sweden by being made up of limestone and marl with an alvar vegetation adapted to the island’s calcareous soils. Gotland and Öland have landforms that are rare or absent in mainland Sweden. These include active cliffs seen in segments of their western coasts, sea stacks called rauks and large cave systems.
The land slopes gently from the high mountains along the Norwegian frontier eastward to the Baltic Sea. Geologically, it is one of the oldest and most stable parts of the Earth’s crust.
Sweden has 25 provinces or landskap (“landscapes’ ‘), based on culture, geography and history. The provinces are usually grouped together in three large lands (landsdeler): the northern Norrland, the central Svealand and southern Götaland. The sparsely populated Norrland encompasses almost 60% of the country.
