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Sweden (Sverige (IPA: / 'sv?æ??? /) in Swedish)," Kingdom of Sweden "for official purposes, (Konungariket SverigeKonungariket Sverige [ko:. N?.?a. ? ri:. K?t svær:. J?]) is a country in northern Europe as part of Scandinavia. Its capital is Stockholm and 9 223 766 inhabitants are called Swedes. The language is Swedish. Finnish and Sami are spoken mainly in northern the country. The regional variations are common. Sweden has a border with Norway in the west and another with Finland in the north-east. To the south, Denmark, which the country is connected by the Øresund Bridge is located 4 km offshore. Northern Sweden is served by the Lapland Sápmi called by its inhabitants, the Sami, who were the original inhabitants of northern Scandinavia. Sweden is part of the European Union since 1995, but not in the euro area. With its 449 964 km2, Sweden is the third largest country in Western Europe. Sweden has low population densities, except in metropolitan areas. The urbanization rate is 84% while cities cover only 1.3% of the territory. Safeguarding the environment and the problem of renewable energy are generally a priority for politicians and a majority of the people. Sweden has long been a major exporter of iron, copper and wood. Industrialization, which started in the 1890s, helped Sweden to develop, and constantly get nowadays a good place in the European charts on the Human Development Index (HDI). Sweden has large reserves of drinking water, but lack of fossil energy resources such as coal or oil. Modern Sweden emerged from the Kalmar Union, founded in 1397. The country was unified in the sixteenth century by King Gustav Vasa. In the seventeenth century, Sweden conquers new territories. The Swedish Empire is formed. However, most of these territories will be abandoned in the eighteenth century. In the early nineteenth century, Finland and other territories are lost. After its last war in 1814, Sweden is at peace, adopting a policy of non-alignment in peacetime and neutrality in wartime. According democracy index of The Economist, Sweden in 2008 is the most democratic country in the world with an index of 9.88 / 10.