Life in Örebro and Sweden
The city of Örebro is situated in the heart of Sweden, about halfway between Stockholm and Gothenburg. It is easily accessible by major roads, railways and by air. From the Örebro region, everything Scandinavia has to offer is within easy reach. The population of about 150,000 makes it the seventh largest town in Sweden.
Sweden is large in terms of geographic area, about 450,000 km2 (174,000 square miles), which ranks it among the five largest countries in Europe. Sweden is a rather long country. The distance from its southernmost to its northernmost point is nearly 1,600 km (1,000 miles). Sweden's borders face Norway to the west and Finland to the east. A bridge connecting Sweden to its south-western neighbour, Denmark, was opened in the summer of 2000.
Despite its large area, Sweden has a population of only nine million. The three largest cities are: Stockholm with 881,000 inhabitants, Gothenburg with 526,000 and Malmö with 308,000. Örebro is Sweden's seventh largest city with 150,000 inhabitants.
Sweden is a monarchy. The monarch, King Carl XVI Gustaf, is the head of state but lacks political power. The duties connected with this position are essentially ceremonial.
Since the end of World War II, Swedish politics has been dominated by a power struggle between two rather evenly matched political groupings. In Sweden they are often referred to as the "socialist" and "non-socialist" blocs.
