What do you knowabout Sweden?

Did you know that ...

* Sweden is about the same size as Sumatra or California.

* The population of Sweden is approximately 8.9 million.

* Like Indonesia, Sweden is a country dense with forests. Over 50 percent of the area is covered by forests.

* It is not as cold as many people think, because the Gulf Stream brings warm water up to the northern parts of Europe. Stockholm, the capital, is at almost the same latitude as the ice-covered island of Greenland, but has average temperatures of +18 degrees Celsius in July and -3 degrees Celsius in January.

* Sweden is a monarchy, with King Carl XIV Gustaf as head of state, a function that nowadays is ceremonial.

* According to a large-scale study by the United Nations in 1998, Sweden is the world's most egalitarian nation -- both in terms of gender equality and economic redistribution between rich and poor. The Swedish Parliament has 40 percent female members, and half of the government appointees are women.

* Between 1850 and 1930, roughly 25 percent of the Swedish population left the country because of tough living conditions. Most of them went to America. For the last 20 years the trend has been the opposite; about one million people have immigrated to Sweden.