Stockholm

Detail of engraving of Stockholm from Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna by Erik Dahlbergh and Willem Swidde, printed in 1693

Panorama over Stockholm c. 1868 as seen from a hot air balloon

Stockholm in 1917

After the Ice Age, around 8000 BC, there were already many people living in what is today the Stockholm area, but as temperatures dropped, inhabitants moved south. Thousands of years later, as the ground thawed, the climate became tolerable and the lands became fertile, people began to migrate back to the North. At the intersection of the Baltic Sea and lake Mälaren is an archipelago site where the Old Town of Stockholm was first built from about 1000 CE by Vikings. They had a positive trade impact on the area because of the trade routes they created.

Stockholm's location appears in Norse sagas as Agnafit, and in Heimskringla in connection with the legendary king Agne. The earliest written mention of the name Stockholm dates from 1252, by which time the mines in Bergslagen made it an important site in the iron trade. The first part of the name (stock) means log in Swedish, although it may also be connected to an old German word (Stock) meaning fortification. The second part of the name (holm) means islet and is thought to refer to the islet Helgeandsholmen in central Stockholm. According to the Eric Chronicles the city is said to have been founded by Birger Jarl to protect Sweden from sea invasions made by Karelians after the pillage of Sigtuna on Lake Mälaren in the summer of 1187.^[31]

Stockholm's core, the present Old Town (Gamla Stan) was built on the central island next to Helgeandsholmen from the mid-13th century onward. The city originally rose to prominence as a result of the Baltic trade of the Hanseatic League. Stockholm developed strong economic and cultural linkages with Lübeck, Hamburg, Gdańsk, Visby, Reval, and Riga during this time.^[32] Between 1296 and 1478 Stockholm's City Council was made up of 24 members, half of whom were selected from the town's German-speaking burghers.

The strategic and economic importance of the city made Stockholm an important factor in relations between the Danish Kings of the Kalmar Union and the national independence movement in the 15th century. The Danish King Christian II was able to enter the city in 1520. On 8 November 1520, a massacre of opposition figures called the Stockholm Bloodbath took place and set off further uprisings that eventually led to the breakup of the Kalmar Union. With the accession of Gustav Vasa in 1523 and the establishment of royal power, the population of Stockholm began to grow, reaching 10,000 by 1600.

The 17th century saw Sweden grow into a major European power, reflected in the development of the city of Stockholm. From 1610 to 1680 the population multiplied sixfold. In 1634, Stockholm became the official capital of the Swedish empire. Trading rules were also created that gave Stockholm an essential monopoly over trade between foreign merchants and other Swedish and Scandinavian territories. In 1697, Tre Kronor (castle) burned and was replaced by Stockholm Palace.

Throughout Sweden's history, walls were created in Stockholm to defend the city from attacks. These defensive walls were modified throughout the 13th to the 16th century. In 1625, the Great Stockholm Fire of 1625 destroyed the southwestern section of Stadsholmen, an island in the centre of Stockholm.^[33] The amount of destruction led to the beginning of the demolition of the Stockholm walls. Today, most of the younger city walls cannot be found anywhere above ground. However, parts of the northern city walls are preserved in the Museum of Medieval Stockholm.

In 1710, a plague killed about 20,000 (36 percent) of the population.^[34] After the end of the Great Northern War the city stagnated. Population growth halted and economic growth slowed. The city was in shock after having lost its place as the capital of a Great power. However, Stockholm maintained its role as the political centre of Sweden and continued to develop culturally under Gustav III.

Stockholm City Centre after the 1960s

By the second half of the 19th century, Stockholm had regained its leading economic role. New industries emerged and Stockholm was transformed into an important trade and service centre as well as a key gateway point within Sweden. The population also grew dramatically during this time, mainly through immigration. At the end of the 19th century, less than 40% of the residents were Stockholm-born. Settlement began to expand outside the city limits. The 19th century saw the establishment of a number of scientific institutes, including the Karolinska Institutet. The General Art and Industrial Exposition was held in 1897. From 1887 to 1953 the Old Stockholm telephone tower was a landmark; originally built to link phone lines, it became redundant after these were buried, and it was later used for advertising.

Stockholm became a modern, technologically advanced, and ethnically diverse city in the latter half of the 20th century. Many historical buildings were torn down during the modernist era, including substantial parts of the historical district of Klara, and replaced with modern architecture. However, in many other parts of Stockholm (such as in Gamla stan, Södermalm, Östermalm, Kungsholmen and Vasastan), many "old" buildings, blocks and streets built before the modernism and functionalism movements took off in Sweden (around 1930–35) survived this era of demolition. Throughout the century, many industries shifted away from industrial activities into more high-tech and service industry areas.

Stockholm's metropolitan area is one of the fastest-growing regions in Europe, and its population is expected to number 2.5 million by 2024. In 2020 alone, Stockholm's population increased by 1,477.^[35] As a result of this massive population growth, there has been a proposal to build densely packed high-rise buildings in the city centre connected by elevated walkways.^[36]

Discover more about History and name related topics

History of Stockholm

History of Stockholm

The history of Stockholm, capital of Sweden, for many centuries coincided with the development of what is today known as Gamla stan, the Stockholm Old Town. Stockholm's raison d'être always was to be the Swedish capital and by far the largest city in the country.

Erik Dahlbergh

Erik Dahlbergh

Count Erik Jönsson Dahlbergh was a Swedish military engineer, Governor-general and Field marshal. He rose to the level of nobility through his military competence. As an architect and draftsman, he was renowned for fortification works. He is most known for his collection of engravings Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna, a collection of engravings of topographical research.

Hot air balloon

Hot air balloon

A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket, which carries passengers and a source of heat, in most cases an open flame caused by burning liquid propane. The heated air inside the envelope makes it buoyant, since it has a lower density than the colder air outside the envelope. As with all aircraft, hot air balloons cannot fly beyond the atmosphere. The envelope does not have to be sealed at the bottom, since the air inside the envelope is at about the same pressure as the surrounding air. In modern sport balloons the envelope is generally made from nylon fabric, and the inlet of the balloon is made from a fire-resistant material such as Nomex. Modern balloons have been made in many shapes, such as rocket ships and the shapes of various commercial products, though the traditional shape is used for most non-commercial and many commercial applications.

Gamla stan

Gamla stan

Gamla stan, until 1980 officially Staden mellan broarna, is the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Gamla stan consists primarily of the island Stadsholmen. Officially, but not colloquially, Gamla stan includes the surrounding islets Riddarholmen, Helgeandsholmen and Strömsborg. It has a population of approximately 3,000.

Agnafit

Agnafit

Agnafit or Agnefit was the name of a location where Lake Mälaren met the Baltic Sea. In the 14th century, an addition to the Historia Norwegiae described Agnafit as being where Stockholm had been founded. Some say that it was a fishing village located on the island Stadsholmen, before Stockholm was founded in 1252.

Heimskringla

Heimskringla

Heimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson (1178/79–1241) c. 1230. The name Heimskringla was first used in the 17th century, derived from the first two words of one of the manuscripts.

Agne

Agne

Agne, Hogne or Agni Skjálfarbondi was a semi-legendary king of Sweden, of the House of Yngling.

Bergslagen

Bergslagen

Bergslagen is a historical, cultural, and linguistic region located north of Lake Mälaren in northern Svealand, Sweden, traditionally known as a mining district. In Bergslagen, the mining and metallurgic industries have been important since the Middle Ages although Malmfälten, the mining district of northernmost Sweden centred at the towns of Kiruna and Malmberget, has been of greater importance during the 20th century.

Fortification

Fortification

A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin fortis ("strong") and facere.

Helgeandsholmen

Helgeandsholmen

Helgeandsholmen is a small island in central Stockholm, Sweden. It is located north of Stadsholmen, and east of Strömsborg, with which, together with Riddarholmen, it forms Gamla stan, the old town of Stockholm. Helgeandsholmen contains the Riksdag Building and the Museum of Medieval Stockholm, and is connected to neighbouring islands through three bridges: Riksbron, Stallbron, and Norrbro.

Birger Jarl

Birger Jarl

Birger Jarl, also known as Birger Magnusson, was a Swedish statesman, jarl, and a member of the House of Bjelbo, who played a pivotal role in the consolidation of Sweden. Birger also led the Second Swedish Crusade, which established Swedish rule in Finland. Additionally, he is traditionally attributed to have founded the Swedish capital, Stockholm, around 1250. Birger used the Latin title of Dux Sweorum, and the design of his coronet combined those used by continental European and English dukes.

Hanseatic League

Hanseatic League

The Hanseatic League was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German towns in the late 12th century, the League between the 13th and 15th centuries ultimately encompassed nearly 200 settlements, across seven modern-day countries ranging from Estonia in the north and east to the Netherlands in the west and Kraków, Poland, in the south.

A 360-degree panorama of Stockholm inner quarters taken from the City Hall tower. From left to right: Riddarfjärden with Södermalm in the background, Kungsholmen, Klara sjö, Norrmalm with the central station in the foreground, Stockholms ström, Riddarholmen with the Old Town, and again Riddarfjärden with Södermalm.

Location

Stockholm is located on Sweden's east coast, where the freshwater Lake Mälaren — Sweden's third-largest lake — flows out into the Baltic Sea. The central parts of the city consist of fourteen islands that are continuous with the Stockholm archipelago. The geographical city centre is situated on the water, in Riddarfjärden bay. Over 30% of the city area is made up of waterways and another 30% is made up of parks and green spaces.

Positioned at the eastern end of the Central Swedish lowland, the city's location reflects the early orientation of Swedish trade toward the Baltic region.^[37]

Stockholm belongs to the Temperate deciduous forest biome, which means the climate is very similar to that of the far northeastern area of the United States and coastal Nova Scotia in Canada. The average annual temperature is 7.9 °C (46 °F). The average rainfall is 531 mm (21 in) per year. The deciduous forest has four distinct seasons, spring, summer, autumn, and winter. In the autumn the leaves change color. During the winter months, the trees lose their leaves.

For details about the other municipalities in the Stockholm area, see the pertinent articles. North of Stockholm Municipality: Järfälla, Solna, Täby, Sollentuna, Lidingö, Upplands Väsby, Österåker, Sigtuna, Sundbyberg, Danderyd, Vallentuna, Ekerö, Upplands-Bro, Vaxholm, and Norrtälje. South of Stockholm: Huddinge, Nacka, Botkyrka, Haninge, Tyresö, Värmdö, Södertälje, Salem, Nykvarn and Nynäshamn.

Satellite image of Stockholm in 2018 by ESA

Stockholm Municipality

Stockholm Municipality is an administrative unit defined by geographical borders. The semi-official name for the municipality is City of Stockholm (Stockholms stad in Swedish).^[38] As a municipality, the City of Stockholm is subdivided into district councils, which carry responsibility for primary schools, social, leisure and cultural services within their respective areas. The municipality is usually described in terms of its three main parts: Innerstaden (Stockholm City Centre), Söderort (Southern Stockholm) and Västerort (Western Stockholm). The districts of these parts are:

Stockholm City Centre

Söderort

Västerort

The modern centre Norrmalm (concentrated around the town square Sergels torg) is the largest shopping district in Sweden.^[39] It is the most central part of Stockholm in business and shopping.

Climate

Stockholm has a humid continental climate in the 0 °C isotherm (Köppen: Dfb)^[40][41] and an oceanic climate (Cfb) in the -3 °C isotherm. Although winters are cold, average temperatures generally remain above 0 °C for much of the year. Summers are pleasantly warm, and precipitation occurs throughout the year.^[42]

Due to the city's high northerly latitude, the length of the day varies widely from more than 18 hours around midsummer to only around 6 hours in late December. The nights from late May until mid-July are bright even when cloudy. Stockholm has relatively mild weather compared to other locations at a similar latitude, or even farther south. With an average of 1900 hours of sunshine per year, it is also one of the sunniest cities in Northern Europe, receiving more sunshine than Paris, London and a few other major European cities of a more southerly latitude. Because of the urban heat island effect and the prevailing wind travelling overland rather than sea during summer months, Stockholm has the warmest July months of the Nordic capitals. Stockholm has an annual average snow cover between 75 and 100 days.^[43]

Despite its mild climate, Stockholm is located further north than parts of Canada that are above the Arctic tree line at sea level.^[44]

Summers average daytime high temperatures of 20–25 °C (68–77 °F) and lows of around 13 °C (55 °F), but temperatures can reach 30 °C (86 °F) on some days. Days above 30 °C (86 °F) occur on average 1.55 days per year (1992–2011).^[45] Days between 25 °C (77 °F) and 30 °C (86 °F) are relatively common especially in July and August. Night-time lows of above 20 °C (68 °F) are rare, and hot summer nights vary from 17 to 18 °C (63 to 64 °F). Winters generally bring cloudy weather with the most precipitation falling in December and January (as either rain or snow). The average winter temperatures range from −3 to −1 °C (27 to 30 °F), and occasionally drop below −20 °C (−4 °F) in the outskirts of the city. Spring and autumn are generally cool to mild.

The climate table below presents weather data from the years 1991–2020. According to ongoing measurements, the temperature has increased during the years 1991–2020 as compared with the last series, from 1961 to 1990. This increase averages about 1.0 °C (1.8 °F) over all months. Warming is most pronounced during the winter months, with an increase of more than 2.0 °C (3.6 °F) in January.^[46] For the 2002–2014 measurements some further increases have been found, although some months such as June have been relatively flat.

The highest temperature ever recorded in Stockholm was 36 °C (97 °F) on 3 July 1811; the lowest was −32 °C (−26 °F) on 20 January 1814.^[47] The temperature has not dropped to below −25.1 °C (−13.2 °F) since 10 January 1987.^[48][49]

The warmest month ever recorded was July 2018 with a mean temperature of 22.5 °C (72.5 °F) which is also the nationwide record.

Annual precipitation is 546.4 mm (21.51 in) with around 170 wet days and light to moderate rainfall throughout the year. The precipitation is not uniformly distributed throughout the year. The second half of the year receives 50% more than the first half. Snowfall occurs mainly from December through March. Snowfall may occasionally occur in late October as well as in April.

In Stockholm, the aurora borealis can occasionally be observed.

Daylight hours

Stockholm's location just south of the 60th parallel north means that the number of daylight hours is relatively small during winter – about six hours – while in June and the first half of July, the nights are relatively short, with about 18 hours of daylight. Around the summer solstice the sun never reaches further below the horizon than 7.3 degrees.^[56] This gives the sky a bright blue colour in summer once the sun has set because it does not get any darker than nautical twilight. Also, when looking straight up towards the zenith, few stars are visible after the sun has gone down. This is not to be confused with the midnight sun, which occurs north of the Arctic Circle, around 7 degrees farther north.

Discover more about Geography related topics

Geography of Stockholm

Geography of Stockholm

The City of Stockholm is situated on fourteen islands and on the banks to the archipelago where Lake Mälaren meets the Baltic Sea. The city centre is virtually situated on the water.

Riddarfjärden

Riddarfjärden

Riddarfjärden is the easternmost bay of Lake Mälaren in central Stockholm. Stockholm was founded in 1252 on an island in the stream where Lake Mälaren drains into the Baltic Sea ; today the island is called Stadsholmen and constitutes Stockholm's Old Town.

Kungsholmen

Kungsholmen

Kungsholmen is an island in Lake Mälaren in Sweden, part of central Stockholm, Sweden. It is situated north of Riddarfjärden and considered part of the historical province Uppland. Its area is 3.9 km2 (1.5 sq mi) with a perimeter of 8.9 km (5.5 mi). The highest point is at Stadshagsplan at 47 metres (154 ft). The total population is 71,542.

Klara Sjö

Klara Sjö

Klara Sjö is a canal in central Stockholm, Sweden.

Stockholms ström

Stockholms ström

Stockholms ström, also known as Strömmen, in Stockholm is the innermost part of Saltsjön, a bay of the Baltic Sea. It continues into Lake Mälaren through Norrström and Söderström.

Riddarholmen

Riddarholmen

Riddarholmen is a small islet in central Stockholm, Sweden. The island forms part of Gamla Stan, the old town, and houses a number of private palaces dating back to the 17th century. The main landmark is the church Riddarholmskyrkan, used as Sweden's royal burial church from the 17th century to 1950, and where a number of earlier Swedish monarchs also lie buried.

Central Swedish lowland

Central Swedish lowland

The Central Swedish lowland is a large region of low relief and altitude in Sweden spanning from the Swedish West Coast at Bohuslän to Stockholm archipelago and Roslagen at the Baltic Sea. The Central Swedish lowland forms a broad east-west trending belt north of the South Swedish highlands and south of the Norrland terrain. Traditionally the heartland of Sweden due to its large population and agricultural resources the region benefits additionally from the proximity of hydropower, forest and mineral resources. The lowland is also at a good position for trade with the Baltic region. These advantages are reflected in the location of Sweden's capital, Stockholm, at the eastern end of the lowlands. Most of Sweden's manufacturing industries lies in this region.

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".

Canada

Canada

Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's second-largest country by total area with the world's longest coastline. Its southern and western border with the United States is the world's longest binational land border. Canada's capital is Ottawa and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.

Järfälla Municipality

Järfälla Municipality

Järfälla Municipality is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden, and is considered a suburb of Stockholm. Its seat is located in Jakobsberg, part of the Stockholm urban area.

Solna Municipality

Solna Municipality

Solna Municipality is a primary settlement and a municipality in Stockholm, Sweden, located just north of Stockholm City Centre. Its seat is located in the town of Solna, which is a part of the Stockholm urban area. Solna is one of the richest municipalities in Sweden.

Sollentuna Municipality

Sollentuna Municipality

Sollentuna Municipality is a municipality in Stockholm County in east-central Sweden, north of Stockholm. Its seat of local government is located in Tureberg, which is a part of Sollentuna urban area.

The municipal council chamber (Swedish: Rådssalen), inside Stockholm City Hall

The Stockholm Municipal Council (Swedish: Stockholms kommunfullmäktige) is the name of the local assembly. Its 101 councillors are elected concurrently with general elections, held at the same time as the elections to the Riksdag and county councils. The Council convenes twice every month at Stockholm City Hall, and the meetings are open to the public. The matters on which the councillors decide have generally already been drafted and discussed by various boards and committees. Once decisions are referred for practical implementation, the employees of the City administrations and companies take over.^[57]

The elected majority has a Mayor and eight Vice Mayors. The Mayor and each majority Vice Mayor is the head of a department, with responsibility for a particular area of operation, such as City Planning. The opposition also has four Vice Mayors, but they hold no executive power. Together the Mayor and the 12 Vice Mayors form the Council of Mayors, and they prepare matters for the City Executive Board. The Mayor holds a special position among the Vice Mayors, chairing both the Council of Mayors and the City Executive Board.^[57]

The City Executive Board (Swedish: Kommunstyrelsen) is elected by the City Council and is equivalent to a cabinet. The City Executive Board renders an opinion in all matters decided by the council and bears the overall responsibility for follow-up, evaluation and execution of its decisions. The Board is also responsible for financial administration and long-term development. The City Executive Board consists of 13 members, who represent both the majority and the opposition. Its meetings are not open to the public.^[57]

Following the 2018 Stockholm municipal election a majority of seats in the municipal council is at present held by a centre/right-wing majority and the Mayor of Stockholm (Swedish: Finansborgarråd) is Anna Konig Jerlmyr from the Moderate Party.

Victoria Tower is one of the tallest buildings in Stockholm, located in Kista.

Headquarters of Ericsson

The vast majority of Stockholm residents work in the service industry, which accounts for roughly 85% of jobs in Stockholm. The almost total absence of heavy industry (and fossil fuel power plants) makes Stockholm one of the world's cleanest metropolises. The last decade has seen a significant number of jobs created in high technology companies. Large employers include IBM, Ericsson, and Electrolux. A major IT centre is located in Kista, in northern Stockholm.

Stockholm is Sweden's financial centre. Major Swedish banks, such as Swedbank, Handelsbanken, and SEB, are headquartered in Stockholm, as are the major insurance companies Skandia, Folksam and Trygg-Hansa. Stockholm is also home to Sweden's foremost stock exchange, the Stockholm Stock Exchange (Stockholmsbörsen). Additionally, about 45% of Swedish companies with more than 200 employees are headquartered in Stockholm.^[58] Noted clothes retailer H&M is also headquartered in the city. In recent years, tourism has played an important part in the city's economy. Stockholm County is ranked as the 10th largest visitor destination in Europe, with over 10 million commercial overnight stays per year. Among 44 European cities, Stockholm had the 6th highest growth in the number of nights spent in the period 2004–2008.^[59]

The largest companies in Stockholm, by number of employees (2017):^[60]

Discover more about City governance related topics

Stockholm City Hall

Stockholm City Hall

Stockholm City Hall is the seat of Stockholm Municipality in Stockholm, Sweden. It stands on the eastern tip of Kungsholmen island, next to Riddarfjärden's northern shore and facing the islands of Riddarholmen and Södermalm. It houses offices and conference rooms as well as ceremonial halls. It is the venue of the Nobel Prize banquet and is one of Stockholm's major tourist attractions.

Municipal council (Sweden)

Municipal council (Sweden)

A municipal council is the decision-making body governing each of the 290 municipalities of Sweden. Though the Swedish Local Government Act uses the term "municipal assembly" in an English translation of the Act, "municipal council" and even "city council" are used as well, even in official contexts in English by several of Sweden's largest municipalities, including Stockholm, Malmö, and Gothenburg.

Elections in Sweden

Elections in Sweden

Elections in Sweden are held once every four years. At the highest level, all 349 members of Riksdag, the national parliament of Sweden, are elected in general elections. Elections to the 20 county councils and 290 municipal assemblies – all using almost the same electoral system – are held concurrently with the legislative elections on the second Sunday in September.

Riksdag

Riksdag

The Riksdag is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members, elected proportionally and serving, since 1994, fixed four-year terms. The 2022 Swedish general election is the most recent general election.

Cabinet (government)

Cabinet (government)

A cabinet is a body of high-ranking state officials, typically consisting of the executive branch's top leaders. Members of a cabinet are usually called cabinet ministers or secretaries. The function of a cabinet varies: in some countries, it is a collegiate decision-making body with collective responsibility, while in others it may function either as a purely advisory body or an assisting institution to a decision-making head of state or head of government. Cabinets are typically the body responsible for the day-to-day management of the government and response to sudden events, whereas the legislative and judicial branches work in a measured pace, in sessions according to lengthy procedures.

List of municipal commissioners for finance of Stockholm

List of municipal commissioners for finance of Stockholm

This is a list of municipal commissioners for finance of Stockholm (finansborgarråd). In English, the title is often translated as Mayor of Stockholm.

Moderate Party

Moderate Party

The Moderate Party, commonly referred to as the Moderates, is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free market, civil liberties and economic liberalism. Internationally, it is a full member of the International Democrat Union and the European People's Party.

Kista

Kista

Kista is a district in the borough of Rinkeby-Kista, Stockholm, Sweden. It has a strategic position located in between Sweden's main airport, the Stockholm-Arlanda International Airport and central Stockholm, and alongside the main national highway E4 economic artery. Kista comprises residential and commercial areas, the latter in the highly technological telecommunication and information technology industry. There are large research efforts in this entire area, which therefore is dubbed Kista Science City. It is the research park of KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

Ericsson

Ericsson

Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in information and communications technology for telecommunications service providers and enterprises, including, among others, 3G, 4G, and 5G equipment, and Internet Protocol (IP) and optical transport systems. The company employs around 100,000 people and operates in more than 180 countries. Ericsson has over 57,000 granted patents.

Metropolis

Metropolis

A metropolis is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural area for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications.

High tech

High tech

High technology, also known as advanced technology or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or the newest technology on the market. The opposite of high tech is low technology, referring to simple, often traditional or mechanical technology; for example, a slide rule is a low-tech calculating device. When high tech becomes old, it becomes low tech, for example vacuum tube electronics.

IBM

IBM

The International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American multinational technology corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York and present in over 175 countries. It specializes in computer hardware, middleware, and software, and provides hosting and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology. IBM is the largest industrial research organization in the world, with 19 research facilities across a dozen countries, and has held the record for most annual U.S. patents generated by a business for 29 consecutive years from 1993 to 2021.

The city-owned company Stokab started in 1994 to build a fibre-optic network throughout the municipality as a level playing field for all operators (City of Stockholm, 2011). Around a decade later, the network was 1.2 million kilometres (0.7 million miles) long, making it the longest optical fibre network in the world and now has over 90 operators and 450 enterprises as customers. 2011 was the final year of a three-year project which brought fibre to 100% of public housing, meaning an extra 95,000 houses were added. (City of Stockholm, 2011)

Stockholm School of Economics

Research and higher education in the sciences started in Stockholm in the 18th century, with education in medicine and various research institutions such as the Stockholm Observatory. The medical education was eventually formalized in 1811 as Karolinska Institutet. KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Swedish: Kungliga Tekniska högskolan) was founded in 1827 and is Scandinavia's largest higher education institute of technology with 13,000 students. Stockholm University, founded in 1878 with university status granted in 1960, has 52,000 students as of 2008^[update]. It also incorporates historical institutions, such as the Observatory, the Swedish Museum of Natural History, and the botanical garden Bergianska trädgården. The Stockholm School of Economics, founded in 1909, is one of the few private institutions of higher education in Sweden.

In the fine arts, educational institutions include the Royal College of Music, which has a history going back to the conservatory founded as part of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 1771, the Royal University College of Fine Arts, which has a similar historical association with the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts and a foundation date of 1735, and the Swedish National Academy of Mime and Acting, which is the continuation of the school of the Royal Dramatic Theatre, once attended by Greta Garbo. Other schools include the design school Konstfack, founded in 1844, the University College of Opera (founded in 1968 but with older roots), the University College of Dance, and the Stockholms Musikpedagogiska Institut (the University College of Music Education).

The Södertörn University College was founded in 1995 as a multi-disciplinary institution for southern Metropolitan Stockholm, to balance the many institutions located in the northern part of the region.

Other institutes of higher education are:

• Military Academy Karlberg, the world's oldest military academy to remain in its original location, inaugurated in 1792 and housed in Karlberg Palace.
• Ersta Sköndal University College
• University College Stockholm (Enskilda Högskolan Stockholm)
• Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences
• Swedish Defence University

The biggest complaints from students of higher education in Stockholm are the lack of student accommodations, the difficulty in finding other accommodations and the high rent.^[61][62]

Discover more about Education related topics

Education in Stockholm

Education in Stockholm

Education in Stockholm goes back to 1583, when the small college Collegium Regium Stockholmense was founded in by King John III in Stockholm, Sweden.

Stockholm Observatory

Stockholm Observatory

The Stockholm Observatory is an astronomical observatory and institution in Stockholm, Sweden, founded in the 18th century and today part of Stockholm University. In 1931, the new Stockholm Observatory, nicknamed "Saltis", was inaugurated on the Karlsbaderberget at Saltsjöbaden, near Stockholm, and operated until 2001.

Karolinska Institute

Karolinska Institute

The Karolinska Institute is a research-led medical university in Solna within the Stockholm urban area of Sweden. The Karolinska Institute is consistently ranked amongst the world's best medical schools, ranking 6th worldwide for medicine in 2021. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The assembly consists of fifty professors from various medical disciplines at the university. The current rector of Karolinska Institute is Ole Petter Ottersen, who took office in August 2017.

KTH Royal Institute of Technology

KTH Royal Institute of Technology

The KTH Royal Institute of Technology, abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technology and is Sweden's largest technical university. Currently, KTH consists of five schools with four campuses in and around Stockholm.

Bergianska trädgården

Bergianska trädgården

The Bergianska trädgården, the Bergian Garden or Hortus Bergianus, is a botanical garden located in the Frescati area on the outskirts of Stockholm, close to the Swedish Museum of Natural History and the main campus of Stockholm University. The director of the garden is known as Professor Bergianus.

Fine art

Fine art

In European academic traditions, fine art is made primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork. In the aesthetic theories developed in the Italian Renaissance, the highest art was that which allowed the full expression and display of the artist's imagination, unrestricted by any of the practical considerations involved in, say, making and decorating a teapot. It was also considered important that making the artwork did not involve dividing the work between different individuals with specialized skills, as might be necessary with a piece of furniture, for example. Even within the fine arts, there was a hierarchy of genres based on the amount of creative imagination required, with history painting placed higher than still life.

Royal College of Music, Stockholm

Royal College of Music, Stockholm

The Royal College of Music, Stockholm is the oldest institution of higher education in music in Sweden, founded in 1771 as the conservatory of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. The institution was made independent of the Academy in 1971, and is now a public authority directly under the Ministry of Education and Research. Vice-Chancellor from June 2019 is Helena Wessman, former general manager of Berwaldhallen.

Royal Swedish Academy of Music

Royal Swedish Academy of Music

The Royal Swedish Academy of Music, founded in 1771 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden. At the time of its foundation, only one of its co-founder was a professional musician, Ferdinand Zellbell the Younger. The Academy is an independent organization, which acts to promote the artistic, scientific, educational and cultural development of music. Fredrik Wetterqvist is director of the Academy.

Royal Institute of Art

Royal Institute of Art

The Royal Institute of Art is an institution in Stockholm, Sweden for higher education in art, founded in 1735. The school was part of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts, until 1978 when it was made independent. It is under the supervision of the Ministry of Education and Research.

Royal Dramatic Theatre

Royal Dramatic Theatre

The Royal Dramatic Theatre is Sweden's national stage for "spoken drama", founded in 1788. Around one thousand shows are put on annually on the theatre's five running stages.

Greta Garbo

Greta Garbo

Greta Garbo was a Swedish-American actress. Regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses, she was known for her melancholic, somber persona, her film portrayals of tragic characters, and her subtle and understated performances. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Garbo fifth on its list of the greatest female stars of classic Hollywood cinema.

Konstfack

Konstfack

Konstfack, or University of Arts, Crafts and Design, is a university college for higher education in the area of art, crafts and design in Stockholm, Sweden.

The Stockholm region is home to around 22% of Sweden's total population, and accounts for about 29% of its gross domestic product.^[63] The geographical notion of "Stockholm" has changed over time. By the turn of the 19th century, Stockholm largely consisted of the area today known as City Centre, roughly 35 km² (14 sq mi) or one-fifth of the current municipal area. In the ensuing decades several other areas were incorporated (such as Brännkyrka Municipality in 1913, at which time it had 25,000 inhabitants, and Spånga in 1949). The municipal border was established in 1971; with the exception of Hansta, in 1982 purchased by Stockholm Municipality from Sollentuna Municipality and today a nature reserve.^[64]

The population was 975,551 in 2020 and is projected to reach 1,079,213 by 2030. 482,982 of the inhabitants were men and 492,569 women The average age is 39 years; 40.1% of the population is between 20 and 44 years. 411 273 people, or 42.2% of the population, over the age 15 were unmarried. 268,291 people, or 27.5% of the population, were married. 104,099 or 10.7% of the population, had been married but divorced.^[66]

As of December 2021, there were 252,750 foreign-born people in Stockholm, making up 25.8% of the population. Around 57.5% of them (143,167) immigrated to Sweden when they were at least 10 years old. 109,213 (43.9%) of them were foreign citizens. The largest nationality groups among the foreign-born people were the Iraqis (16,137), followed by Finns (15,693), Iranians (12,329) and Poles (11,569). 336,275 residents of Stockholm had a foreign-background, 34.4% of the population.^[67]

Residents of Stockholm are known as Stockholmers ("stockholmare"). Languages spoken in Greater Stockholm outside of Swedish include Finnish, one of the official minority languages of Sweden; and English, as well as Albanian, Bosnian, Syriac, Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish, Persian, Somali, Dutch, Spanish, Serbian and Croatian.

Stockholm has been home to a significant Finnish-minority since the 13th century. At the end of the 15th century up to 20% of the population in Stockholm consisted of Finns.^[68] The Finska församlingen [sv] has offered church services since the 16th century, and in 1725 the Finnish Church was opened. 74,000 people in Stockholm have a Finnish-background, which makes Stockholm home to the largest Finnish population in Sweden.^[69] Finnish, alongside with Meänkieli and the Sami languages have a protected minority status in Stockholm. This gives the right to use their language when contacting authorities, as well as the right to child and elderly care in their languages. Romani chib and Yiddish are also recognized minority languages, and have a strengthened right to their language in education.^[70]

The entire Stockholm metropolitan area, consisting of 26 municipalities, has a population of over 2.2 million,^[71] making it the most populous region in the Nordic countries.^[72] The Stockholm urban area, defined only for statistical purposes, had a total population of 1,630,738 in 2015. In the following municipalities some of the districts are contained within the Stockholm urban area, though not all:^[5][6]

Stockholm urban area municipalities Municipality Population (Year) Stockholm 984,748 (2022)  Botkyrka 95,383 (2022)  Danderyd 32,692 (2022)  Haninge 97,683 (2022)  Huddinge 114,504 (2022)  Järfälla 85,460 (2022)  Nacka 109,486 (2022)  Sollentuna 76,237 (2022)  Solna 85,450 (2022)  Sundbyberg 54,070 (2022)  Tyresö 49,214 (2022)

Stockholm Municipality population development years 1570–2012[73]

Religion

The Swedish church consists of 27 parishes in Stockholm with almost 50 churches, but also a large number of churches belonging to the free church.

Stockholm has six mosques.^[74]

There are three active synagogues and a community of 4,300 members in Stockholm, which corresponds to 0.4% of Stockholm's population.^[75] It is the largest Jewish community in Scandinavia.

Discover more about Demographics related topics

Gross domestic product

Gross domestic product

Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold in a specific time period by a country or countries, generally "without double counting the intermediate goods and services used up to produce them". GDP is most often used by the government of a single country to measure its economic health. Due to its complex and subjective nature, this measure is often revised before being considered a reliable indicator. GDP (nominal) per capita does not, however, reflect differences in the cost of living and the inflation rates of the countries; therefore, using a basis of GDP per capita at purchasing power parity (PPP) may be more useful when comparing living standards between nations, while nominal GDP is more useful comparing national economies on the international market. Total GDP can also be broken down into the contribution of each industry or sector of the economy. The ratio of GDP to the total population of the region is the per capita GDP.

Brännkyrka

Brännkyrka

Brännkyrka is a parish in South Stockholm, Sweden. The population as of 2004 is 36,572.

Iraqis

Iraqis

Iraqis are people who originate from the country of Iraq. Iraq consists largely of most of ancient Mesopotamia, the native land of the indigenous Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian civilizations, which was subsequently conquered, invaded and ruled by foreigners for centuries after the fall of the indigenous Mesopotamian empires. As a direct consequence of this long history, the contemporary Iraqi population comprises a significant number of different ethnicities. However, recent studies indicate that the different ethno-religious groups of Iraq (Mesopotamia) share significant similarities in genetics, likely due to centuries of assimilation between invading populations and the indigenous ethnic groups. Iraqi Arabs are the largest ethnic group in Iraq, while Kurds are the largest ethnic minority, Turkmens are the third largest ethnic group, while other ethnic groups include Yazidis, indigenous Assyrians, Mandaeans, Armenians, and Marsh Arabs.

Finns

Finns

Finns or Finnish people are a Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland.

Polish people

Polish people

Poles, or Polish people, are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Central Europe. The preamble to the Constitution of the Republic of Poland defines the Polish nation as comprising all the citizens of Poland, regardless of heritage or ethnicity. The majority of Poles adhere to Roman Catholicism.

Official minority languages of Sweden

Official minority languages of Sweden

In 1999, the Minority Language Committee of Sweden formally declared five official minority languages: Finnish, Sami, Romani, Yiddish, and Meänkieli.

Finnish Church, Stockholm

Finnish Church, Stockholm

The Finnish Church is a church building in Gamla stan in Stockholm, Sweden. Belonging to the Stockholm Finnish Parish of the Church of Sweden, it was opened in 1725 after the Lilla Bollhuset building had been rebuilt into a church.

Finnish language

Finnish language

Finnish is a Uralic language of the Finnic branch, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official languages of Finland. In Sweden, both Finnish and Meänkieli are official minority languages. The Kven language, which like Meänkieli is mutually intelligible with Finnish, is spoken in the Norwegian county Troms og Finnmark by a minority group of Finnish descent.

Meänkieli

Meänkieli

Meänkieli is a group of distinct Finnish dialects or a Finnic language spoken in the northernmost part of Sweden along the valley of the Torne River. Its status as an independent language is disputed, but in Sweden it is recognized as one of the country's five minority languages.

Nordic countries

Nordic countries

The Nordic countries are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden; the autonomous territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland; and the autonomous region of Åland.

Municipalities of Sweden

Municipalities of Sweden

The municipalities of Sweden are its lower-level local government entities. There are 290 municipalities which are responsible for a large proportion of local services, including schools, emergency services and physical planning.

Botkyrka Municipality

Botkyrka Municipality

Botkyrka Municipality is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden, not far from the capital Stockholm. Its seat is located in the town of Tumba.

Apart from being Sweden's capital, Stockholm houses many national cultural institutions. The Stockholm region is home to three of Sweden's World Heritage Sites – spots judged as invaluable places that belong to all of humanity: The Drottningholm Palace, Skogskyrkogården (The Woodland Cemetery) and Birka.^[30][76][77] In 1998, Stockholm was named European Capital of Culture.

Literature

Authors connected to Stockholm include the poet and songwriter Carl Michael Bellman (1740–1795), novelist and dramatist August Strindberg (1849–1912), and novelist Hjalmar Söderberg (1869–1941), all of whom made Stockholm part of their works.

Martin Beck is a fictional Swedish police detective from Stockholm, who is the main character in a series of 10 novels by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, collectively titled The Story of a Crime, and often based in Stockholm.

Other authors with notable heritage in Stockholm were the Nobel Prize laureate Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976) and the popular poet and composer Evert Taube (1890–1976). The novelist Per Anders Fogelström (1917–1998) wrote a popular series of historical novels depicting life in Stockholm from the mid-18th to the mid-20th century.

Astrid Lindgren lived and worked in Stockholm. Her work Karlson on the Roof is situated close to where she lived in Vasastan, near Vasaparken.

Architecture

Strandvägen as seen from the island of Djurgården

Djurgårdsbron bridge

Stockholm Public Library, designed by architect Gunnar Asplund

View of Stockholm from Avicii Arena

The city's oldest section is Gamla stan (Old Town), located on the original small islands of the city's earliest settlements and still featuring the medieval street layout. Some notable buildings of Gamla Stan are the large German Church (Tyska kyrkan) and several mansions and palaces: the Riddarhuset (the House of Nobility), the Bonde Palace, the Tessin Palace and the Oxenstierna Palace.

The oldest building in Stockholm is the Riddarholmskyrkan from the late 13th century. After a fire in 1697 when the original medieval castle was destroyed, Stockholm Palace was erected in a baroque style. Storkyrkan Cathedral, the episcopal seat of the Bishop of Stockholm, stands next to the castle. It was founded in the 13th century but is clad in a baroque exterior dating to the 1730-40s.

As early as the 15th century, the city had expanded outside of its original borders. Some pre-industrial, small-scale buildings from this era can still be found in Södermalm. Norrmalm, now the central part of the shopping district of Stockholm, was originally a separate city but was incorporated in Stockholm (now Old Town) during the early 17th century.

Stockholm's oldest preserved building permit drawing from 1713

Stockholm has had a tradition of applying for building permits in order to erect a building from the early 18th century, with the oldest building permit from 1713. The building permit application tradition is still ongoing which means you can follow a newly built house from 2022 and see all previous buildings all the way back to 1713. Several of the building permits from the early 18th century was renovations and add-ons to older buildings from the 17th century. Today the Stockholm City Building committee is in charge of the building permit process and their old archive, from 1713-1978, is maintained by Stockholm City Archives. All drawings of old buildings from 1713-1874 are digitized and available through the website of Stockholms City Archives.

At the age of industrialization and at the end of the 19th century and Stockholm grew rapidly, with plans and architecture inspired by the large cities of the continent such as Berlin and Vienna. Notable works of this time period include public buildings such as the Royal Swedish Opera and private developments such as the luxury housing developments on Strandvägen.

In the 20th century, a nationalistic push spurred a new architectural style inspired by medieval and renaissance ancestry as well as influences of the Jugend/Art Nouveau style. A key landmark of Stockholm, the Stockholm City Hall, was erected 1911–1923 by architect Ragnar Östberg. Other notable works of these times are the Stockholm Public Library by Gunnar Asplund and the World Heritage Site Skogskyrkogården by Asplund and celebrated architect Sigurd Lewerentz.^[77]

Söder Torn, an 86-metre-tall (282-foot) building in Södermalm

In the 1930s modernism characterized the development of the city as it grew. New residential areas sprang up such as the development on Gärdet while industrial development added to the growth, such as the KF manufacturing industries on Kvarnholmen located in the Nacka Municipality. In the 1950s, suburban development entered a new phase, that had already started in the early 1930s, with the introduction of the Stockholm metro. The modernist developments of Vällingby and Farsta were internationally praised. In the 1960s this suburban development continued but with the aesthetic of the times, the industrialized and mass-produced blocks of flats received a large amount of criticism.

At the same time that this suburban development was taking place, the most central areas of the inner city were being redesigned, known as Norrmalmsregleringen. Sergels Torg, with its five high-rise office towers was created in the 1960s, followed by the total clearance of large areas to make room for new development projects. The most notable buildings from this period include the ensemble of the House of Culture, City Theatre and the Riksbank at Sergels Torg, designed by architect Peter Celsing. Other celebrated works from the 1960s was S:t Görans Gymnasium (originally built as a school for women, the School of House work and Sewing) by Leonie Geisendorf.

In the 1980s, the planning ideas of modernism were starting to be questioned, resulting in suburbs with denser planning, such as Skarpnäck. In the 1990s this idea was taken further with the development of an old industrial area close to the inner city, resulting in a sort of mix of modernistic and urban planning in the new area of Hammarby Sjöstad.

The municipality appointed an official "board of beauty" called "Skönhetsrådet" in 1919 to protect and preserve the beauty of the city, still an active part of the city planning, and architecture debate in the city.^[78]

Stockholm's architecture (along with Visby, Gotland^[79]) provided the inspiration for Japanese anime director Hayao Miyazaki as he sought to evoke an idealized city untouched by World War. His creation called Koriko, draws directly from what Miyazaki felt was Stockholm's sense of well-established architectural unity, vibrancy, independence, and safety.^[80]

Museums

The main hall of the Vasa Museum with a scale model of Vasa as it might have looked on its maiden voyage to the left and the preserved ship itself to the right

Moragården, one of many historical homesteads at the Skansen open-air museum

Stockholm is one of the most crowded museum-cities in the world with around 100 museums, visited by millions of people every year.^[81]

The Vasa Museum (Swedish: Vasamuseet) is a maritime museum on Djurgården which displays the only almost fully intact 17th century ship that has ever been salvaged, the 64-gun warship Vasa that sank on her maiden voyage in 1628.

The Nationalmuseum houses the largest collection of art in the country: 16,000 paintings and 30,000 objects of art handicraft. The collection dates back to the days of Gustav Vasa in the 16th century, and has since been expanded with works by artists such as Rembrandt, and Antoine Watteau, as well as constituting a main part of Sweden's art heritage, manifested in the works of Alexander Roslin, Anders Zorn, Johan Tobias Sergel, Carl Larsson, Carl Fredrik Hill and Ernst Josephson. From the year 2013 to 2018 the museum was closed due to a restoration of the building.^[82]

Moderna Museet (Museum of Modern Art) is Sweden's national museum of modern art. It has works by noted modern artists such as Picasso and Salvador Dalí.

Skansen (in English: the Sconce) is a combined open-air museum and zoo, located on the island of Djurgården. It was founded in 1891 by Artur Hazelius (1833–1901) to show the way of life in the different parts of Sweden before the industrial era.

Other notable museums (in alphabetical order):

• ABBA: The Museum, an interactive exhibit about the pop-group ABBA
• Swedish Army Museum, Swedish history, from 1500 to the present day with historical objects and realistic scenes
• Fotografiska, museum of photography
• Birka, The Viking City of Birka Swedish sites on the World Heritage List
• Livrustkammaren, the royal armoury, located at Stockholm Palace
• Maritime Museum (Stockholm), museum for naval history, merchant shipping and shipbuilding.
• Medelhavsmuseet, focused on the ancient cultures around the Mediterranean
• Millesgården, home of the sculptor Carl Milles and now a museum of his works
• Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, exciting mix of art and culture from China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia
• Swedish National Museum of Science and Technology
• Nobel Museum, devoted to the Nobel Prize, Nobel laureates, and the founder of the prize, Alfred Nobel (1833–1896)
• Nordic Museum, dedicated to the cultural history and ethnography of Sweden
• Royal Coin Cabinet, dedicated to the history of money and economic history in general
• Skansen, The world’s first open-air museum with 150 historic buildings, zoo with Nordic wild and domestic animals
• Stockholm City Museum
• Swedish History Museum magnificent medieval art and The History of Sweden exhibition which offers encounters
• Swedish Museum of Natural History
• Toy Museum Stockholm a museum of toys and collectables

Art galleries

Stockholm has a vibrant art scene with a number of internationally recognized art centres and commercial galleries. Amongst others, privately sponsored initiatives such as Bonniers Konsthall, Magasin 3, and state-supported institutions such as Tensta Konsthall and Index all show leading international and national artists. In the last few years, a gallery district has emerged around Hudiksvallsgatan where leading galleries such as Andréhn-Schiptjenko, Brändström & Stene have located. Other important commercial galleries include Nordenhake, Milliken Gallery and Galleri Magnus Karlsson.

The City of Stockholm also has their own art gallery and museum, Liljevalchs konsthall, with a well visited spring salon every year with works of art from professionals and amateurs. The art showed every spring is sent in anonymously and picked by a committee.

Suburbs

The Stockholm suburbs are places with diverse cultural background. Some areas in the inner suburbs, including those of Skärholmen, Tensta, Jordbro, Fittja, Husby, Brandbergen, Rinkeby, Rissne, Kista, Hagsätra, Hässelby, Farsta, Rågsved, Flemingsberg, and the outer suburb of Södertälje, have high percentages of immigrants or second generation immigrants. These mainly come from the Middle East (Assyrians, Syriacs, Turks and Kurds) also Bosnians and Serbs, but there are also immigrants from Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America.^[83][84] Other parts of the inner suburbs, such as Täby, Danderyd, Lidingö, Solna, Nacka and, as well as some of the suburbs mentioned above, have a majority of ethnic Swedes.

Theatre and music

Royal Dramatic Theatre, one of Stockholm's many theatres

Distinguished among Stockholm's many theatres are the Royal Dramatic Theatre (Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern), one of Europe's most renowned theatres, and the Royal Swedish Opera, inaugurated in 1773.

Other notable theatres are the Stockholm City Theatre (Stockholms stadsteater), the Peoples Opera (Folkoperan), the Modern Theatre of Dance (Moderna dansteatern), the China Theatre, the Göta Lejon Theatre, the Mosebacke Theatre, and the Oscar Theatre.

Premises for orchestral music and concerts include Stockholm Concert Hall where for example the yearly awarding ceremony for the Nobel prize is held, and The Berwald hall, home to the National Radio Orchestra.

Pioneer of cloud rap Yung Lean, alongside affiliated Drain Gang and Sadboys music collective all are from Stockholm.

Stockholm has hosted the Eurovision Song Contest three times, in 1975 at Stockholmsmässan, and in 2000 and 2016 at Globe Arena.^[85][86][87]

Amusement park

Gröna Lund is an amusement park located on the island of Djurgården. This amusement park has over 30 attractions and many restaurants. It is a popular tourist attraction and visited by thousands of people every day. It is open from the end of April to the middle of September. Gröna Lund also serves as a concert venue.

Media

Bookpublisher, Norstedt Building, seen from Vasabron, in Riddarholmen

Stockholm is the media centre of Sweden. It has four nationwide daily newspapers and is also the central location of the publicly funded radio (SR) and television (SVT). In addition, all other major television channels have their base in Stockholm, such as: TV3, TV4 and TV6. All major magazines are also located to Stockholm, as are the largest literature publisher, the Bonnier group. The world's best-selling video game Minecraft was created in Stockholm by Markus 'Notch' Persson in 2009, and its company Mojang is headquartered there.

Sports

Friends Arena

Scenes after Hammarby won their first national bandy title in 2010

The most popular spectator sports are football and ice hockey. The three most popular football clubs in Stockholm are AIK, Djurgårdens IF and Hammarby IF, who all play in the first tier, Allsvenskan. AIK play at Sweden's national stadium for football, Friends Arena in Solna, with a capacity of 54,329. The 2017 UEFA Europa League Final was played on 24 May between AFC Ajax and Manchester United at the Friends Arena. Manchester United won the trophy after a 2–0 victory.

Djurgårdens IF and Hammarby play at Tele2 Arena in Johanneshov, with a capacity of 30,000 spectators.

All three clubs are multi-sport clubs, which have ice hockey teams; AIK and Djurgårdens IF play in the second tier and Hammarby in the third tier, as well as teams in bandy, basketball, floorball and other sports, including individual sports.

Historically, the city was the host of the 1912 Summer Olympics. From those days stem the Stockholms Olympiastadion which has since hosted numerous sports events, notably football and athletics. Other major sports arenas are Friends Arena, the new national football stadium, Avicii Arena, a multi-sport arena and one of the largest spherical buildings in the world and the nearby indoor arena Hovet.

Besides the 1912 Summer Olympics, Stockholm hosted the 1956 Summer Olympics Equestrian Games and the UEFA Euro 1992. The city was also second runner up in the 2004 Summer Olympics bids. Stockholm hosted the 1958 FIFA World Cup. Stockholm recently bid jointly with Åre for the 2026 Winter Olympics but lost out to the joint bid of Milan/Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, if awarded it would have been the second city to host both Summer and Winter Olympics after Beijing and for the 2026 Winter Paralympics and with Åre it would have also be to host all three winter event including Winter Olympic Games, Winter Paralympic Games and the Special Olympics World Winter Games in which Åre would have host in 2021 along with Östersund, however Sweden pulled out host the Special Olympic World Winter Games 2021 due to lack of funding instead it moved to Kazan, Russia and was delayed to 2022. Stockholm first bid for the Winter Olympics for 2022 Winter Olympics, but withdrew its bid in 2014 due to financial matters.

Stockholm also hosted all but one of the Nordic Games, a winter multi-sport event that predated the Winter Olympics.

In 2015, the Stockholms Kungar Rugby league club was formed. They are Stockholm's first Rugby league team and will play in Sweden's National Rugby league championship.

Every year Stockholm is host to the ÖTILLÖ Swimrun World Championship.^[88]

Stockholm has hosted the Stockholm Open, an ATP World Tour 250 series professional tennis tournament annually since 1969. Each year since 1995, the tournament has been hosted at the Kungliga tennishallen.^[89]

Cuisine

There are over 1,000 restaurants in Stockholm.^[90] As of 2019^[update] Stockholm boasts a total of ten Michelin star restaurants, two with two stars and one with three stars.

Yearly events and festivals

Stockholm Marathon, near Kungsträdgården in 2008

• Stockholm Jazz Festival is one of Sweden's oldest festivals. The festival takes place at Skeppsholmen in July.^[91]
• Stockholm Early Music Festival, the largest international event for historical music in the Nordic countries. First week in June since 2002.^[92]
• The Stockholm Culture Festival (Swedish: Stockholms kulturfestival) is a free recurring cultural festival in August, which is held by the City of Stockholm. Runs in parallel with We Are Stockholm.^[93]
• We Are Stockholm is a free youth festival people between 13 and 19 years. Runs in parallel with the Stockholm Culture Festival in August and is held by the City of Stockholm. Between 2001 -2013, the festival went by the name Ung08.
• Stockholm Pride is the largest Pride event in the Nordic countries and takes place in the last week of July every year. The Stockholm Pride festival always ends with a parade and in 2007, 50,000 people marched with the parade and about 500,000 watched.
• The Stockholm Marathon takes place on a Saturday in early June each year.
• The Nobel Banquet takes place at Stockholm City Hall every year on 10 December.
• The Stockholm Water Festival (Swedish: Vattenfestivalen) was a popular summer festival held annually in Stockholm between 1991 and 1999.
• Manifestation, a yearly ecumenical Christian festival with up to 25,000 participants.
• Summerburst Music festival
• The Stockholm International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Stockholm each year since 1990.

Discover more about Culture related topics

Culture in Stockholm

Culture in Stockholm

Apart from being a large city with an active cultural life, Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, houses many national cultural institutions. There are two UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Stockholm County area: the Royal Palace Drottningholm and the Skogskyrkogården.

Drottningholm Palace

Drottningholm Palace

The Drottningholm Palace is the private residence of the Swedish royal family. Drottningholm is near the capital Stockholm. Built on the island Lovön, it is one of Sweden's Royal Palaces. It was originally built in the late 16th century, and it served as a regular summer residence of the Swedish royal court for most of the 18th century. Apart from being the private residence of the Swedish royal family, the palace is a popular tourist attraction.

Birka

Birka

Birka listen (help·info), on the island of Björkö in present-day Sweden, was an important Viking Age trading center which handled goods from Scandinavia as well as many parts of the European continent and the Orient. Björkö is located in Lake Mälaren, 30 kilometers west of contemporary Stockholm, in the municipality of Ekerö.

European Capital of Culture

European Capital of Culture

A European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union (EU) for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong pan-European dimension. Being a European Capital of Culture can be an opportunity for a city to generate considerable cultural, social and economic benefits and it can help foster urban regeneration, change the city's image and raise its visibility and profile on an international scale. Multiple cities can be a European Capital of Culture simultaneously.

Carl Michael Bellman

Carl Michael Bellman

Carl Michael Bellman was a Swedish songwriter, composer, musician, poet and entertainer. He is a central figure in the Swedish song tradition and remains a powerful influence in Swedish music, as well as in Scandinavian literature, to this day. He has been compared to Shakespeare, Beethoven, Mozart, and Hogarth, but his gift, using elegantly rococo classical references in comic contrast to sordid drinking and prostitution—at once regretted and celebrated in song—is unique.

August Strindberg

August Strindberg

Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty plays and more than thirty works of fiction, autobiography, history, cultural analysis, and politics during his career, which spanned four decades. A bold experimenter and iconoclast throughout, he explored a wide range of dramatic methods and purposes, from naturalistic tragedy, monodrama, and history plays, to his anticipations of expressionist and surrealist dramatic techniques. From his earliest work, Strindberg developed innovative forms of dramatic action, language, and visual composition. He is considered the "father" of modern Swedish literature and his The Red Room (1879) has frequently been described as the first modern Swedish novel. In Sweden, Strindberg is known as an essayist, painter, poet, and especially as a novelist and playwright, but in other countries he is known mostly as a playwright.

Hjalmar Söderberg

Hjalmar Söderberg

Hjalmar Emil Fredrik Söderberg was a Swedish novelist, short story writer, playwright and journalist. His works often deal with melancholy and lovelorn characters, and offer a rich portrayal of contemporary Stockholm through the eyes of the flaneur. Söderberg is regarded as one of the greatest writers in Swedish literature. His works are translated to more than twenty languages.

Eyvind Johnson

Eyvind Johnson

Eyvind Johnson was a Swedish novelist and short story writer. Regarded as the most groundbreaking novelist in modern Swedish literature he became a member of the Swedish Academy in 1957 and shared the 1974 Nobel Prize in Literature with Harry Martinson with the citation: for a narrative art, far-seeing in lands and ages, in the service of freedom.

Evert Taube

Evert Taube

Axel Evert Taube was a Swedish author, artist, composer and singer. He is widely regarded as one of Sweden's most respected musicians and the foremost troubadour of the Swedish ballad tradition in the 20th century.

Astrid Lindgren

Astrid Lindgren

Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren was a Swedish writer of fiction and screenplays. She is best known for several children's book series, featuring Pippi Longstocking, Emil of Lönneberga, Karlsson-on-the-Roof, and the Six Bullerby Children, and for the children's fantasy novels Mio, My Son, Ronia the Robber's Daughter, and The Brothers Lionheart. Lindgren worked on the Children's Literature Editorial Board at the Rabén & Sjögren publishing house in Stockholm and wrote more than 30 books for children. In January 2017, she was calculated to be the world's 18th most translated author, and the fourth most translated children's writer after Enid Blyton, Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm. Lindgren has so far sold roughly 167 million books worldwide. In 1994, she was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for "her unique authorship dedicated to the rights of children and respect for their individuality."

Djurgården

Djurgården

Djurgården or, more officially, Kungliga Djurgården, is an island in central Stockholm, Sweden. Djurgården is home to historical buildings and monuments, museums, galleries, the amusement park Gröna Lund, the open-air museum Skansen, the small residential area Djurgårdsstaden, yacht harbours, and extensive stretches of forest and meadows. It is one of the Stockholmers' favorite recreation areas and tourist destinations alike, attracting over 10 million visitors per year, of which some 5 million come to visit the museums and amusement park. The island belongs to the National City park founded in 1995. Since the 15th century the Swedish monarch has owned or held the right of disposition of Royal Djurgården. Today, this right is exercised by the Royal Djurgården Administration which is a part of the Royal Court of Sweden.

Djurgårdsbron

Djurgårdsbron

Djurgårdsbron is a bridge in central Stockholm, Sweden. Designed by Carl Fraenell and built for the Stockholm World's Fair 1897, the present bridge forms a southern extension to the boulevard Narvavägen, thus connecting mainland Östermalm to the island Djurgården. It is one of four bridges stretching from Djurgården, the others being Djurgårdsbrunnsbron, Beckholmsbron, and Lilla Sjötullsbron.

Park on the island of Djurgården in central Stockholm

Green city with a national urban park

Stockholm is one of the cleanest capitals in the world.^[94] The city was granted the 2010 European Green Capital Award by the EU Commission; this was Europe's first "green capital".^[95] Applicant cities were evaluated in several ways: climate change, local transport, public green areas, air quality, noise, waste, water consumption, waste water treatment, sustainable utilisation of land, biodiversity and environmental management.^[96] Out of 35 participant cities, eight finalists were chosen: Stockholm, Amsterdam, Bristol, Copenhagen, Freiburg, Hamburg, Münster, and Oslo.^[97] Some of the reasons why Stockholm won the 2010 European Green Capital Award were: its integrated administrative system, which ensures that environmental aspects are considered in budgets, operational planning, reporting, and monitoring; its cut in carbon dioxide emissions by 25% per capita in ten years; and its decision towards being fossil fuel free by 2050.^[96] Stockholm has long demonstrated concern for the environment. The city's environmental program is the fifth since the first one was established in the mid-1970s.^[98] In 2011, Stockholm passed the title of European Green Capital to Hamburg, Germany.^[97]

Role model

At the beginning of 2010, Stockholm launched the program Professional Study Visits^[99] in order to share the city's green best practices. The program provides visitors with the opportunity to learn how to address issues such as waste management, urban planning, carbon dioxide emissions, and sustainable and efficient transportation system, among others.^[95]

According to the European Cities Monitor 2010,^[100] Stockholm is the best city in terms of freedom from pollution. Surrounded by 219 nature reserves, Stockholm has around 1,000 green spaces, which corresponds to 30% of the city's area.^[101] Founded in 1995, the Royal National City Park is the world's first legally protected "national urban park".^[102][103] For a description of the formation process, value assets and implementation of the legal protection of The Royal National Urban Park, see Schantz 2006 The water in Stockholm is so clean that people can dive and fish in the centre of the city.^[101] The waters of downtown Stockholm serve as spawning grounds for multiple fish species including trout and salmon, though human intervention is needed to keep populations up.^[104] Regarding CO₂ emissions, the government's target is that Stockholm will be CO₂ free before 2050.^[101]

Air quality

Stockholm used to have problematic levels of particulates (PM10) due to studded winter tires, but by the 2010s they were below limits, after street-specific bans.^[105] Nitrogen oxides emitted by diesel vehicles were a problem in the 2010s, but by 2021 they were again below limits, after electric cars had started to replace diesel-driven ones, and pollution regulations for lorries had tightened. As of 2021, the pollutant that exceeds limits is ozone, due to global pollution. In 2021 the average levels for urban background (roof of Torkel Knutssonsgatan on Södermalm) were: NO₂ 9.7 μg/m³, PM10 9.5 μg/m³, PM2.5 5.1 μg/m³, soot 0.36 μg/m³, ultrafine particles 6100/cm³, SO₂ 0.4 μg/m³, ozone 53 μg/m³. For urban street level (the densely trafficked Hornsgatan on Södermalm) the average levels were: NO₂ 23 μg/m³, PM10 17 μg/m³, PM2.5 6.0 μg/m³, soot 0.55 μg/m³.^[106]

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Djurgården

Djurgården

Djurgården or, more officially, Kungliga Djurgården, is an island in central Stockholm, Sweden. Djurgården is home to historical buildings and monuments, museums, galleries, the amusement park Gröna Lund, the open-air museum Skansen, the small residential area Djurgårdsstaden, yacht harbours, and extensive stretches of forest and meadows. It is one of the Stockholmers' favorite recreation areas and tourist destinations alike, attracting over 10 million visitors per year, of which some 5 million come to visit the museums and amusement park. The island belongs to the National City park founded in 1995. Since the 15th century the Swedish monarch has owned or held the right of disposition of Royal Djurgården. Today, this right is exercised by the Royal Djurgården Administration which is a part of the Royal Court of Sweden.

European Green Capital Award

European Green Capital Award

The European Green Capital Award is an award for a European city based on its environmental record. The award was launched on 22 May 2008 and the first award was given to Stockholm for the year 2010. The European Commission has long recognised the important role that local authorities play in improving the environment, and their high level of commitment to genuine progress. The European Green Capital Award has been conceived as an initiative to promote and reward these efforts.

European Commission

European Commission

The European Commission (EC) is part of the executive of the European Union (EU), together with the European Council. It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission headed by a President. It includes an administrative body of about 32,000 European civil servants. The Commission is divided into departments known as Directorates-General (DGs) that can be likened to departments or ministries each headed by a Director-General who is responsible to a Commissioner.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 921,402 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the urban area and 2,480,394 in the metropolitan area. Located in the Dutch province of North Holland, Amsterdam is colloquially referred to as the "Venice of the North", for its large number of canals, now designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in South West England. The wider Bristol Built-up Area is the eleventh most populous urban area in the United Kingdom.

Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of around 1.4 million in the urban area, and more than 2 million in the wider Copenhagen metropolitan area. The city is on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the Øresund strait. The Øresund Bridge connects the two cities by rail and road.

Freiburg im Breisgau

Freiburg im Breisgau

Freiburg im Breisgau, commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000, Freiburg is the fourth-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim, and Karlsruhe. The Freiburg built-up area had a population of 354,500 (2021). The population of the greater Freiburg metropolitan area ("Einzugsgebiet") was 656,753 in 2018. In the south-west of the country, it straddles the Dreisam river, at the foot of the Schlossberg.

Münster

Münster

Münster is an independent city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state district capital. Münster was the location of the Anabaptist rebellion during the Protestant Reformation and the site of the signing of the Treaty of Westphalia ending the Thirty Years' War in 1648. Today it is known as the bicycle capital of Germany.

Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of 709,037 in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022, and the metropolitan area had an estimated population of 1,546,706 in 2021.

Nitrogen dioxide

Nitrogen dioxide

Nitrogen dioxide is a chemical compound with the formula NO2. It is one of several nitrogen oxides. NO2 is an intermediate in the industrial synthesis of nitric acid, millions of tons of which are produced each year for use primarily in the production of fertilizers. At higher temperatures it is a reddish-brown gas. It can be fatal if inhaled in large quantities. Nitrogen dioxide is a paramagnetic, bent molecule with C2v point group symmetry.

Particulates

Particulates

Particulates – also known as atmospheric aerosol particles, atmospheric particulate matter, particulate matter (PM) or suspended particulate matter (SPM) – are microscopic particles of solid or liquid matter suspended in the air. The term aerosol commonly refers to the particulate/air mixture, as opposed to the particulate matter alone. Sources of particulate matter can be natural or anthropogenic. They have impacts on climate and precipitation that adversely affect human health, in ways additional to direct inhalation.

Ozone

Ozone

Ozone is an inorganic molecule with the chemical formula O3. It is a pale blue gas with a distinctively pungent smell. It is an allotrope of oxygen that is much less stable than the diatomic allotrope O2, breaking down in the lower atmosphere to O2 (dioxygen). Ozone is formed from dioxygen by the action of ultraviolet (UV) light and electrical discharges within the Earth's atmosphere. It is present in very low concentrations throughout the latter, with its highest concentration high in the ozone layer of the stratosphere, which absorbs most of the Sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

Public transportation

A southbound full-length (3 car) C20 metrotrain departing from the Gamla stan station

Stockholm has an extensive public transport system. It consists of the Stockholm Metro (Swedish: Tunnelbanan), which consist of three colour-coded main systems (green, red and blue) with seven lines (10, 11, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19); the Stockholm commuter rail (Swedish: Pendeltåget) which runs on the state-owned railroads on six lines (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 48); four light rail/tramway lines (7, 12, 21, and 22); the 891 mm narrow-gauge railway Roslagsbanan, on three lines (27, 28, 29) in the northeastern part; the local railway Saltsjöbanan, on two lines (25, 26) in the southeastern part; a large number of bus lines, and the inner-city Djurgården ferry. The overwhelming majority of the land-based public transport in Stockholm County (save for the airport buses/airport express trains and other few commercially viable bus lines) is organized under the common umbrella of Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (SL), an aktiebolag wholly owned by Stockholm County Council. Since the 1990s, the operation and maintenance of the SL public transport services are contracted out to independent companies bidding for contracts, such as MTR, which operate the Metro. The archipelago boat traffic is handled by Waxholmsbolaget, which is also wholly owned by the County Council.

An A34 tram on line 7 at Djurgårdsbron

SL has a common ticket system in the entire Stockholm County, which allows for easy travel between different modes of transport. The tickets are of two main types, single ticket and travel cards, both allowing for unlimited travel with SL in the entire Stockholm County for the duration of the ticket validity. On 1 April 2007, a zone system (A, B, C) and price system was introduced. Single tickets were available in forms of cash ticket, individual unit pre-paid tickets, pre-paid ticket slips of 8, SMS-ticket and machine ticket. Cash tickets bought at the point of travel were the most expensive and pre-paid tickets slips of 8 are the cheapest. A single ticket costs SEK 32 with the card and SEK 45 without and is valid for 75 minutes. The duration of the travel card validity depended on the exact type; they were available from 24 hours up to a year. As of 2018, a 30-day card costs SEK 860. Tickets of all these types were available with reduced prices for students and persons under 20 and over 65 years of age. On 9 January 2017, the zone system was removed, and the cost of the tickets was increased.^[107]

The City Line Project

With an estimated cost of SEK 16.8 billion (January 2007 price level), which equals 2.44 billion US dollars, the City Line, an environmentally certified project, comprises a 6 km (3.7 mi)-long commuter train tunnel (in rock and water) beneath Stockholm, with two new stations (Stockholm City and Stockholm Odenplan), and a 1.4 km (0.87 mi)-long railway bridge at Årsta. The City Line was built by the Swedish Transport Administration in co-operation with the City of Stockholm, Stockholm County Council, and Stockholm Transport, SL. As Stockholm Central Station is overloaded, the purpose of this project was to double the city's track capacity and improve service efficiency. Operations began in July 2017.^[108][109]

Between Riddarholmen and Söder Mälarstrand, the City Line runs through a submerged concrete tunnel.^[108] As a green project, the City Line includes the purification of waste water; noise reduction through sound-attenuating tracks; the use of synthetic diesel, which provides users with clean air; and the recycling of excavated rocks.^[108]

Roads

Norra länken (North link) motorway in Stockholm

Stockholm is at the junction of the European routes E4, E18 and E20. A half-completed motorway ring road exists on the south, west and north sides of the City Centre. The northern section of the ring road, Norra Länken, opened for traffic in 2015 while the final subsea eastern section is being discussed as a future project. A bypass motorway for traffic between Northern and Southern Sweden, Förbifart Stockholm, is being built. The many islands and waterways make extensions of the road system both complicated and expensive, and new motorways are often built as systems of tunnels and bridges.

Congestion charges

A control point for the congestion charge leading up to Essingeleden

Stockholm has a congestion pricing system, the Stockholm congestion tax,^[110] in use on a permanent basis since 1 August 2007,^[111][112] after having had a seven-month trial period in the first half of 2006.^[113] The City Centre is within the congestion tax zone. All the entrances and exits of this area have unmanned control points operating with automatic number plate recognition. All vehicles entering or exiting the congestion tax affected area, with a few exceptions, have to pay 10–20 SEK (1.09–2.18 EUR, 1.49–2.98 USD) depending on the time of day between 06:30 and 18:29. The maximum tax amount per vehicle per day is SEK 60 (EUR 6.53).^[114] Payment is done by various means within 14 days after one has passed one of the control points; one cannot pay at the control points.^[115]

After the trial period was over, consultative referendums were held in Stockholm Municipality and several other municipalities in Stockholm County. The then-reigning government (Persson Cabinet) stated that they would only take into consideration the results of the referendum in Stockholm Municipality. The opposition parties (Alliance for Sweden) stated that if they were to form a cabinet after the general election—which was held the same day as the congestion tax referendums—they would take into consideration the referendums held in several of the other municipalities in Stockholm County as well. The results of the referendums were that the Stockholm Municipality voted for the congestion tax, while the other municipalities voted against it. The opposition parties won the general election and a few days before they formed government (Reinfeldt Cabinet) they announced that the congestion tax would be reintroduced in Stockholm, but that the revenue would go entirely to road construction in and around Stockholm. During the trial period and according to the agenda of the previous government the revenue went entirely to public transport.

Ferries

Viking Grace, one of many cruiseferries on the routes to Finland and Åland

Stockholm has regular ferry lines to Helsinki and Turku in Finland (commonly called "Finlandsfärjan"); Mariehamn, Åland; Tallinn, Estonia; Riga, Latvia, and to Saint Petersburg in Russia. The large Stockholm archipelago is served by the archipelago boats of Waxholmsbolaget (owned and subsidized by Stockholm County Council). Additionally, there are many for-profit private companies offering tours and regular service in the archipelago.

City bikes

Between April and October, during the warmer months, it is possible to rent Stockholm City Bikes by purchasing a bike card online or through retailers.^[116] Cards allow users to rent bikes from any Stockholm City Bikes stand spread across the city and return them in any stand.^[117] There are two types of cards: the Season Card (valid from 1 April to 31 October) and the 3-day card. When their validity runs out they can be reactivated and are therefore reusable.^[118] Bikes can be used for up to three hours per loan and can be rented from Monday to Sunday from 6 am to 10 pm.^[117]

Airports

ARN

BMA

NYO

VST

class=notpageimage|

Map showing the locations of airports around Stockholm

• International and domestic:
  • Stockholm Arlanda Airport (IATA: ARN, ICAO: ESSA) is the largest and busiest airport in Sweden with 27 million passengers in 2017. It is located about 40 km (25 mi) north of Stockholm and serves as a hub for Scandinavian Airlines.
  • Stockholm Bromma Airport (IATA: BMA, ICAO: ESSB) is located about 8 km (5.0 mi) west of Stockholm.
• Only international:
  • Stockholm Skavsta Airport (IATA: NYO, ICAO: ESKN) is located 108 km (67 mi) south of Stockholm. It is located 5 km (3 mi) away from Södermanland County capital Nyköping.
  • Stockholm Västerås Airport (IATA: VST, ICAO: ESOW) is located 103 km (64 mi) west of Stockholm, in the city of Västerås.

The Arlanda Express airport rail link runs between Arlanda Airport and Stockholm Central Station. With a journey of 20 minutes, the train ride is the fastest way of travelling to the city centre. Arlanda Central Station is also served by commuter, regional and intercity trains.

Additionally, there are also bus lines, Flygbussarna, that run between central Stockholm and all the airports.

As of 2010^[update] there are no airports specifically for general aviation in the Stockholm area.

Inter-city trains

Stockholm Central Station

Stockholm Central Station has train connections to many Swedish cities as well as to Oslo, Norway and Copenhagen, Denmark. The popular X 2000 service to Gothenburg takes three hours. Most of the trains are run by SJ AB.

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Gamla stan metro station

Gamla stan metro station

Gamla stan is a station on the Green and Red lines of the Stockholm metro. It is located on the western side of the Gamla stan district of central Stockholm, and is at ground level, although partly under the Centralbron bridge that carries road and mainline rail across the waterways that define the centre of the city. The same waterways are responsible for the ground level location of the station, unusual for a city centre metro station, as the lines cross between the islands of Stadsholmen and Södermalm by a bridge immediately south of the station.

Public transport

Public transport

Public transport is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typically managed on a schedule, operated on established routes, and that charge a posted fee for each trip. There is no rigid definition; the Encyclopædia Britannica specifies that public transportation is within urban areas, and air travel is often not thought of when discussing public transport—dictionaries use wording like "buses, trains, etc." Examples of public transport include city buses, trolleybuses, trams and passenger trains, rapid transit and ferries. Public transport between cities is dominated by airlines, coaches, and intercity rail. High-speed rail networks are being developed in many parts of the world.

Stockholm commuter rail

Stockholm commuter rail

Stockholm commuter rail is the commuter rail system in Stockholm County, Sweden. The system is an important part of the public transport in Stockholm, and is controlled by Storstockholms Lokaltrafik. The tracks are state-owned and administered by the Swedish Transport Administration, while the operation of the Stockholm commuter rail services itself has been contracted to MTR Nordic since December 2016.

Spårväg City

Spårväg City

Spårväg City is a tram line in central Stockholm, inaugurated in 2010. It is the first tram line in regular traffic in central Stockholm since 1967. The service is run by AB Stockholms Spårvägar for Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (SL), using the name "Route 7".

Nockebybanan

Nockebybanan

Nockebybanan is a tram line between Nockeby and Alvik in the western suburbs of Stockholm, Sweden. The 5.6 kilometers (3.5 mi) long line is part of the Storstockholms Lokaltrafik public transport network, and connects with the Stockholm metro and Tvärbanan tram at Alvik metro station. The Nockebybanan, also known as line 12, is operated by Arriva.

Lidingöbanan

Lidingöbanan

Lidingöbanan is a Light-railway line in Stockholm, Sweden, between Ropsten and Gåshaga brygga, serving the southern half of Lidingö island.

Narrow-gauge railway

Narrow-gauge railway

A narrow-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard 1,435 mm. Most narrow-gauge railways are between 600 mm and 1,067 mm.

Roslagsbanan

Roslagsbanan

Roslagsbanan is a narrow gauge commuter railway system in Roslagen, Stockholm County, Sweden. Its combined route length is 65 kilometres and there are 38 stations. It is built to the Swedish three foot gauge. The Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (SL) classifies it as "light rail" in its maps.

Saltsjöbanan

Saltsjöbanan

Saltsjöbanan is an electrified suburban rail system between Stockholm and Saltsjöbaden in Nacka, Sweden. It is 18.5 kilometres (11.5 mi) in length and has eighteen stations in use. An average of 17,200 boardings are made on an ordinary workday (2019). The line is mostly single-track, and is isolated from Sweden's national railway network, although both are built to compatible 1,435 mm standard gauge. The Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (SL) classifies it as "light rail" in its maps.

Djurgården ferry

Djurgården ferry

The Djurgården ferry is an inner city ferry route in Stockholm, Sweden. It runs from a terminal near Slussen, in the old town of Gamla Stan, to Allmänna gränd on the island of Djurgården, with an optional stop at the island of Skeppsholmen. The service is integrated into Stockholm's public transport system, as route 82, and accepts all the relevant tickets of Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (SL). It is operated on behalf of SL by Waxholmsbolaget and its sub-contractors, Djurgårdens Färjetrafik.

Arlanda Express

Arlanda Express

Arlanda Express is an airport rail link connecting Stockholm Central Station with the Stockholm Arlanda Airport outside Stockholm, Sweden. Operated by A-Train AB, the trip takes 18 minutes and runs four to six times per hour using seven X3 electric multiple units. The services operate over the East Coast and Arlanda Lines calling at Stockholm Central, Arlanda North and Arlanda South stations. The service was used by 2.7 million passengers in 2007 and by 3.3 million passengers in 2012.

Storstockholms Lokaltrafik

Storstockholms Lokaltrafik

Storstockholms Lokaltrafik, or more formally Aktiebolaget Storstockholms Lokaltrafik, is the organisation running all of the land based public transport systems in Stockholm County. It was previously known as Stockholms Lokaltrafik and is commonly referred to as SL.

Stockholm often performs well in international rankings, some of which are mentioned below:

• In the book The Ultimate Guide to International Marathons (1997), written by Dennis Craythorn and Rich Hanna, Stockholm Marathon is ranked as the best marathon in the world.^[119]
• In the 2006 European Innovation Scoreboard, prepared by the Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT) and the Joint Research Centre's Institute for the Protection and the Security of the Citizen of the European Commission, Stockholm was ranked as the most innovative city in Europe.^[120]
• In the 2008 World Knowledge Competitiveness Index, published by the Centre for International Competitiveness, Stockholm was ranked as the sixth most competitive region in the world and the most competitive region outside the United States.^[121]
• In the 2006 European Regional Growth Index (E-REGI), published by Jones Lang LaSalle, Stockholm was ranked fifth on the list of European cities with the strongest GDP growth forecast. Stockholm was ranked first in Scandinavia and second outside Central and Eastern Europe.^[122]
• In the 2007 European Cities Monitor, published by Cushman & Wakefield, Stockholm was ranked as the best Nordic city to locate a business. In the same report, Stockholm was ranked first in Europe in terms of freedom from pollution.^[123]
• In a 2007 survey performed by the environmental economist Matthew Kahn for the Reader's Digest magazine, Stockholm was ranked first on its list of the "greenest" and most "livable" cities in the world.^[124]
• In a 2008 survey published by Reader's Digest magazine, Stockholm was ranked fourth in the world in its list of the "world's top ten honest cities".^[125]
• In a 2008 survey published by the National Geographic Traveler magazine, Gamla stan (the old town) in Stockholm was ranked sixth on its list of rated historic places.^[126]
• In a 2008 survey published by the Foreign Policy magazine, Stockholm was ranked twenty-fourth on its list of the world's most global cities.^[127]
• In 2009 Stockholm was awarded the title as European Green Capital 2010, as the first Green capital ever in the European Green Capital Award scheme.
• In 2013, Stockholm was named the 8th most competitive city in the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit.^[128]
• In 2016 Stockholm was one of the cities with the most unicorn companies in the world.^[129]
• In 2019 Stockholm was awarded the World Smart City Award in the city category for its leadership of the European Smart Cities and Communities project GrowSmarter.^[130]

Discover more about International rankings related topics

Marathon

Marathon

The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of 42.195 km, usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair divisions. More than 800 marathons are held throughout the world each year, with the vast majority of competitors being recreational athletes, as larger marathons can have tens of thousands of participants.

Joint Research Centre

Joint Research Centre

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is the European Commission's science and knowledge service which employs scientists to carry out research in order to provide independent scientific advice and support to European Union (EU) policy.

European Commission

European Commission

The European Commission (EC) is part of the executive of the European Union (EU), together with the European Council. It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission headed by a President. It includes an administrative body of about 32,000 European civil servants. The Commission is divided into departments known as Directorates-General (DGs) that can be likened to departments or ministries each headed by a Director-General who is responsible to a Commissioner.

Innovation

Innovation

Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entity realizing or redistributing value". Others have different definitions; a common element in the definitions is a focus on newness, improvement, and spread of ideas or technologies.

JLL (company)

JLL (company)

Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (JLL) is a global commercial real estate services company, founded in the United Kingdom with offices in 80 countries. The company also provides investment management services worldwide, including services to institutional and retail investors, and to high-net-worth individuals, as well as technology products through JLL Technologies, and VC investments via its PropTech fund, JLL Spark. The company is ranked 185 on the Fortune 500. It is one of the "Big Three" commercial real estate services companies, alongside Cushman & Wakefield and CBRE.

Gross domestic product

Gross domestic product

Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold in a specific time period by a country or countries, generally "without double counting the intermediate goods and services used up to produce them". GDP is most often used by the government of a single country to measure its economic health. Due to its complex and subjective nature, this measure is often revised before being considered a reliable indicator. GDP (nominal) per capita does not, however, reflect differences in the cost of living and the inflation rates of the countries; therefore, using a basis of GDP per capita at purchasing power parity (PPP) may be more useful when comparing living standards between nations, while nominal GDP is more useful comparing national economies on the international market. Total GDP can also be broken down into the contribution of each industry or sector of the economy. The ratio of GDP to the total population of the region is the per capita GDP.

Cushman & Wakefield

Cushman & Wakefield

Cushman & Wakefield plc is a global commercial real estate services firm. The company's corporate headquarters is located in Chicago, Illinois.

Matthew Kahn

Matthew Kahn

Matthew E. Kahn is a leading American educator in the field of environmental economics. He is the Provost Professor of Economics at the University of Southern California. Between 2019 and 2021, he served on the faculty of Johns Hopkins University as a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Economics and Business, with appointments at both Carey Business School and Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.

Gamla stan

Gamla stan

Gamla stan, until 1980 officially Staden mellan broarna, is the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Gamla stan consists primarily of the island Stadsholmen. Officially, but not colloquially, Gamla stan includes the surrounding islets Riddarholmen, Helgeandsholmen and Strömsborg. It has a population of approximately 3,000.

Foreign Policy

Foreign Policy

Foreign Policy is an American news publication, founded in 1970 and focused on global affairs, current events, and domestic and international policy. It produces content daily on its website and app, and in four print issues annually.

European Green Capital Award

European Green Capital Award

The European Green Capital Award is an award for a European city based on its environmental record. The award was launched on 22 May 2008 and the first award was given to Stockholm for the year 2010. The European Commission has long recognised the important role that local authorities play in improving the environment, and their high level of commitment to genuine progress. The European Green Capital Award has been conceived as an initiative to promote and reward these efforts.

Economist Intelligence Unit

Economist Intelligence Unit

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) is the research and analysis division of the Economist Group, providing forecasting and advisory services through research and analysis, such as monthly country reports, five-year country economic forecasts, country risk service reports, and industry reports. The EIU provides country, industry, and management analysis worldwide and incorporates the former Business International Corporation, a UK company acquired by its parent company in 1986. The EIU has its main offices in four cities—London, New York, Hong Kong and Dubai.

Stockholm does not have any twin cities.^[131]