Economy of Sweden

The mining industry in Sweden has a history dating back 6,000 years. Historically, Sweden's most famous mine is the copper Falun Mine in Dalarna, which made a significant contribution to the Swedish economy for several centuries. Sweden today is one of the largest sources of iron ore in Europe, with approximately 90% of Europe's iron and 5% of the world's iron reserves.

Agriculture in Sweden differs by region. This is due to different soils and different climate zones, with many parts of the country being more suitable to forestry. It makes more economic sense to dedicate land to forestry than agriculture in the northern and mountainous parts of the country.The southern tip of Sweden is the most agriculturally productive. Sweden has quite short growing seasons in most parts of the country and that limits the species and productivity of agriculture. The south has the longest growing season, which in some parts of the south is in excess of 240 days. Wheat, rapeseed and other oil plants, together with sugar beet are common in southern Sweden, while barley and oat are more important further north.Barley and oats are grown mostly for animal feed, especially for pigs and poultry. The Central Swedish lowland is the traditional centre of agriculture in Sweden.Historically, agriculture has been one of the principal sectors of the Swedish economy.

Tourism in Sweden comprised a relatively small part of the Swedish economy in 2011 at 2.9% of the country's GDP; at this time, tourism generated 264 billion Swedish krona, 98.8 billion of which was foreign-visitor expenditure in Sweden. 7.1% of Swedish household income is spent on domestic tourism. One well-known tourist route is via train from southern to northern Sweden, viewing historical, natural and cultural attractions. This route is particularly popular among German tourists.

Renewables Directive, Sweden was working towards reaching a 49% share of renewable energy in gross final consumption of energy - electricity, heating/cooling, and transportation - by 2020.Eurostat reported that Sweden had already exceeded the Directive's 2020 target in 2014 reaching 52.6% of total final energy consumption provided by renewables, up from 38.7% in 2004.This makes Sweden the leading country within the EU-28 group in terms of renewable energy use by share, followed by Finland and Latvia at 38.7%, Austria at 33.1% and Denmark on 29.2%. The two other signatories of the directive, Iceland and Norway, remain ahead of Sweden at 77.1% and 69.2% respectively.