Sweden is one of the most developed countries in the world. The basis for its rapid development in the 20th century – the so-called “Swedish economic miracle” – was the enormous natural wealth of northern Sweden, a number of revolutionary inventions and a policy of strict neutrality throughout the century.

The leading sectors of the Swedish economy are mining, forestry and timber processing, metallurgy, mechanical engineering and energy. The economy is mainly export-oriented.

Sweden is characterized by a high concentration of capital. Thus, at the beginning of the 1990s, about 90% of all production was accounted for by 14 corporations, with almost 2/3 of all private sector workers and 2/3 of its income concentrated in the hands of only three corporations.

The mining industry in Sweden has a long history. Iron and copper have been mined here since ancient times (for example, the Falun copper mine was developed for more than 650 years). To this day, Sweden is one of the world leaders in iron ore mining, which, among other things, is famous for its high purity. Sweden also supplies the world market with a significant amount of zinc. In the Skellefteälven River basin, there are deposits of gold, silver, lead, nickel, as well as significant uranium deposits.

Sweden’s forestry and wood processing industry are quite comparable to those in Finland. Almost 50% of the country’s area is covered by forests, both coniferous and broad-leaved. Wood is the most important raw material in Sweden, used not only for processing into cellulose, paper production and a wide range of chemical products, but also as fuel and building materials.

In the energy sector, a third of Sweden’s needs are met by imported energy sources – oil, coal and natural gas. The remaining 2/3 are provided by local sources: primarily hydroelectric resources, as well as nuclear fuel and wood.

Metallurgy, the center of which is Bergslagen, is one of the main branches of Swedish industry, tracing its history back to the 16th-17th centuries. At present, the basis of Swedish metallurgy is the production of steel in electric furnaces using coking coal. The largest of the metallurgical plants is located in Domnarvet.

About 45% of export revenues to the Swedish budget come from mechanical engineering, in particular, the automobile industry. The whole world knows such brands of Swedish cars as Saab and Volvo. The largest consumer of the Swedish auto industry is the United States, which accounts for about 1/3 of all Swedish cars exported. It is also worth noting the high development of Swedish shipbuilding, precision instrument making, production of household appliances and cellular communication equipment.

Despite the fact that agriculture provides only 2% of GDP, it is quite well developed and organized.

The future of the Swedish economy lies in the development of knowledge-intensive industries, which is greatly facilitated by the developed infrastructure, the high general level of education of the population and advanced technological developments. Sweden is already one of the world leaders in such high-tech areas as biomedicine and information technology.

Sweden’s main trading partners according to 2009 data: Norway (10.6% of exports, 8.7% of imports), Germany (10.2% of exports, 17.9% of imports), Great Britain (7.5% of exports, 5.6% of imports), Denmark (7.4% of exports, 8.9% of imports).