A country in northern Europe, and the most populated Scandanavian country. It is known for its low rate of violent crime, high standard of living, and competitive business sector. Sweden has low levels of poverty and extensive social programs. The country has not been involved in a war for well over a century.

Sweden is a country which many Americans don't know much about. One of the most common prejudice is that the entire population is blonde and tall (which is not even remotely true), others may believe that the country is run by communists and that ABBA is the only music arrived therefrom. Fact is that Sweden may have more blondes than e.g. Spain, but there's still at least 40% who aren't. The current government of the mentioned country is Social Democratic, which greatly differs from Marxism and Leninism.

The musical scene has of course developed since ABBA, and for a population of 9.000.000, Sweden has produced an awful lot of successful bands and artists. Some of these would be Millencollin, Hammerfall, The Hives, Ace of Base and The Cardigans.
Many songs in the U.S. pop-industry has been written by Swedes also.. among these you can find many songs performed by Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson, Backstreet Boys, N'Sync and such.

Some believe in the myth that Sweden has the highest rate of suicides... I've read about the myth, but I don't know where these "numbers" originated. As some wise person once said (disputed who) "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." :)

It does -not- snow 12 month per year. Actually, it snows barely 3 months every year in the capital city - you get more snow if you go North, less if you go South.
In the summers, many Swedes on holiday tend to go to their vacation houses in less populated societies. Yes, a big amount of middle-class to upper-class households have these second houses. And they can afford them, even though all their money is stolen through taxes by "the evil communist regime".

Sweden is aimed at being very equal country. Equality between genders is a highly valued issue and neo-feminism is one of the most popular ideologies (which has led many to believe that so called "feminazis" are running the country). All religions basicly has the same rights, and having the church involved in politics has been more or less banned for 300-400 years. The atheist population is also a vast majority. The schools serves alternative food for Muslims and others when the ordinary lunch collides with their relgious beliefs. Oh, and by the way, yes! They do have free school lunches :D Very good food too, even :)

Oh, and about schools... most of the swedish population is well educated. Some would say that swedes generally speak better english than most Americans, and this is caused by English being a standard subject with the same importance as Swedish. Also, Sweden does not dub films, videogames and such, but tend to use sub-titles.
The country has in fact no real "official language" though, and Swedish is legally regarded as a minority language.

A country that has really got their shit together. They have not been directly involved in a war for almost 200 years.

Say what you want about it being cold and dark but Sweden beats the United States it a lot.

Also proof that democratic socialism CAN work and is NOT evil. America could get a lot more done if people here were not scared of the word "socialism" and if the top 2% could quit complaining about paying taxes that they CAN EASILY AFFORD to pay, and realize that the tax money will go to things like health care and education that will improve life for everybody.

Quite possibly the most uninhabitable country since Canada (no, that's just a joke because I hate Canadians and Canada so much...).

Everything that sucks about Sweden:
1)The taxes are mind-blowing
2)It's run by a communist government
3)There is no other country on Earth that gives such power to feminazis
4)There is no other country on Earth that has so many brain dead politicians

And the list goes on and on! It doesn't ever seem to stop! I could probably write a novel on how many bad things there are about Sweden. However, to make things fair, here are all the good things about Sweden.

Everything that rocks about Sweden:
1)The landscape looks kind of nice
2)Not overpopulated

And that's pretty much all I can think of. I can probably count the number of good things about Sweden on my fingers. Basically, this country can be summarized in two categories, "too little of everything good" and "too much of everything bad".

A penis, derived from the map on the tails side of the 2006 euro, which has Norway removed, leaving Sweden to look like a penis and Finland the testicles.

Worse than hell

The greatest country in the world but no one seem to get that. If you call yourself a patriot, wear a swedish flag on your shirt or say something good about Sweden you're called a racist and you're considered a anti-immigrant somehow. I'm none of those but I'm proud of Sweden. so stfu

btw, this thing about Sweden having the most sucides in Europe is a load of bull. We consider things as suicide that you don't in other countries. also, studies have shown that doctors in other countries (when they have to confirm the cause of death) don't write what actually happened. If it's suicide they sometimes say it's something else. Not in Sweden though. I'm not kidding.

An awesome country in Northern Europe, with tall, beautiful blond men/women, or so the stereotype goes.

Hopefully, it is true...

A country in Northern Europe which, apparently, has been the target of inferiority complex-generated ridicule from its neighboring countries.