Sweden

Sweden is a Scandinavian country straddling both Norway and Finland. Traditionally a large producer of iron ore and timber, Sweden was an important military power in the seventeenth century until it was eclipsed by Peter the Great's Russia. Politically, Sweden is renowned for its welfare system, one of the most generous in the world today. Fiscal prudence in recent years has allowed it to weather various economic downturns, including high unemployment in the 1990's and a world economic downturn in 2000/2002. Sweden joined the European Union in 1995, but voted to reject the implementation of the common currency (the Euro) in a 2003 referendum of the people.