Economy and Infrastructure
Sweden is industrially advanced and has a rich economy based on engineering, services and exports. The private sector owns about 90% of the industries and The State owns Mines, Energy and Public Transportation.
Industry represents 31% of GDP, while services industry accounts for 65% and agriculture only 4% in Sweden. There are the richest deposits of iron ore in the world and mostly are exported, it represents 8% of global production in addition to copper, gold, lead and silver.
In Sweden the value of exports exceeds the value of imports. Most important exports is paper and does not import any of them and the most important imports are oil and agricultural products.
The main trading of Sweden is with Germany, United Kingdom, United States, Norway and Denmark.
Forests are an important economic resource of Sweden and contribute about 45% of its exports where exporting wood products manufactured locally, such as paper pulp, cellulose, charcoal, paints and some chemicals. This pattern of economic activity can be found in the Northern Territory where there are wood workshops along the valleys and Agricultural lands occupy one tenth of the country.
Sweden has made the highest rates of economic growth as an industrialized country in the first place as the rate of annual growth in 2006 to 3% and unemployment reached 4% in the same year, the inflation rate reaching 2.2%. The government provides everyone in the Swedish society with social service programs, health care and pensions for the elderly and the unemployed as well as scholarships, free education, program for dental care and meals. Also a free school transportation and educational materials free. The Government pays great and distinctive amounts in excess of millions of koronas and the budget allocated to culture is one of the highest budgets compared with other Western countries.
Sweden comes within the first countries in terms of receiving foreign direct investment in the world.