SE-11589
Stockholm mailing address: American Embassy Stockholm, Department of
State, Washington, DC 20521-5750 (pouch) telephone: [46] (08) 783 53 00
FAX: [46] (08) 661 19 64

Flag description: blue with a golden yellow cross extending to the edges
of the flag; the vertical part of the cross is shifted to the hoist side
in the style of the Dannebrog (Danish flag)

Economy Sweden

Economy - overview: Aided by peace and neutrality for the whole 20th
century, Sweden has achieved an enviable standard of living under a
mixed system of high-tech capitalism and extensive welfare benefits. It
has a modern distribution system, excellent internal and external
communications, and a skilled labor force. Timber, hydropower, and
iron ore constitute the resource base of an economy heavily oriented
toward foreign trade. Privately owned firms account for about 90% of
industrial output, of which the engineering sector accounts for 50%
of output and exports. Agriculture accounts for only 2% of GDP and 2%
of the jobs. The government's commitment to fiscal discipline resulted
in a substantive budgetary surplus in 2001, but is expected to shrink
somewhat in 2002, due to the global economic slowdown, tax cuts, and
spending increases. The Swedish central bank (the Riksbank) is focusing
on price stability with an inflation target of 2% for 2002.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $219 billion (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 1.6% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $24,700 (2001 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 2% industry: 28.7% services:
69.3% (2000)

Population below poverty line: NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 3.7%
highest 10%: 20.1% (1992)

Distribution of family income - Gini index: 25 (1992)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.7% (2001 est.)

Labor force: 4.4 million (2000 est.)

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 2%, industry 24%, services 74%
(2000 est.)

Unemployment rate: 3.9% (2001 est.)

Budget: revenues: $119 billion expenditures: $110 billion, including
capital expenditures of $NA (2001 est.)

Industries: iron and steel, precision equipment (bearings, radio and
telephone parts, armaments), wood pulp and paper products, processed
foods, motor vehicles

Industrial production growth rate: 4.5% (2001 est.)

Electricity - production: 144.621 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: