1 Jul 2009
At 450,295 km², Sweden is the third largest country in the European Union in terms of area, and it has a total population of about 9.2 million. Sweden has a low population density of 21 inhabitants per square kilometre (54 /sq mi), but with a considerably higher density in the southern half of the country. About 85% of the population live in urban areas, and it is expected that these numbers will gradually rise as a part of the ongoing urbanization. Sweden's capital is Stockholm, which is also the largest city in the country (population of 1.3 million in the urban area and with 2 million in the metropolitan area). The second largest city is Gothenburg with 500,000 inhabitants in the urban area and approximately 1 million in the metropolitan area. The third largest city is Malmö.