Norway and Sweden Compared

Norway and Sweden Or, officially… The Kingdom of Norway and the Kingdom of Sweden Two magnificent, bordering countries in Northern Europe. Both are Nordic countries. Heck, both are in Scandinavia.

Wait, what's the difference between Nordic and Scandinavian? Well these parts of the world are all considered Nordic, while just these countries are considered part of Scandinavia, although you could also just say “Scandinavia” is made up of the countries located on the Scandinavian Peninsula. Well would you look at that.

Norway and Sweden make up the vast majority of the Scandinavian Peninsula. Huh Anyway, yes, both Sweden and Norway have a long shared history with strong cultural and linguistic ties. Both are separated by a 1,630 km border that meets up in the north, believe it or not, with Finland’s border at a point called the Three-Country Cairn.

No, not Karen. Cairn. A cairn is a human pile of rocks meant to mark something, but this one is special.

It’s basically a little monument, made of concrete, and it is now on my bucket list to visit it dad gomit. Anyway, Norway and Sweden are two of the wealthiest countries in the world. Both rank really high on nearly every quality of life ranking list.

Both have very low poverty. In fact, even low compared to much of the rest of Europe. That’s probably a big reason why both consistently rank high on the World Happiness Report each year.

By the way, this year Sweden ranks number seven and Norway ranks number eight on it. But how are they both so happy when both don’t get much sunlight for the half of the year? Well here may be a few reasons why.

First of all, both are generally safe places to be, although Norway has less crime overall. Related to this, both have high societal trust. Basically, most residents of both countries trust each other, man, whether they actually know each other or not.

Both have strong welfare systems. More specifically, both have versions of universal healthcare. Related to this, both have a really high life expectancy.

(N- 82. 8, N- 83. 2) Both have generous maternity and paternity leave policies.

Both countries offer free daycare, free preschool programs, and free college. Now, obviously, all of this great stuff isn’t technically “free. ” It’s paid for by taxes, and residents of both are taxed more than residents of most other countries in the world.

That said, Norway has lower taxes than Sweden, overall. In my opinion, high taxes are not a reason to be happy, but most in both countries seem ok paying those taxes. The cultural practices, as well as economic and social policies of both countries, are often called part of the “Nordic model,” which not only includes a broad guarantee of certain public services, but also includes having strong unions, collective bargaining, and social corporatism.

Social corporatism, aka social democratic corporatism, is basically a partnership between the workers and those who own the capital. It’s not so one sided like it is in most other countries, with the interests of capital having most of the power over the labor. Both countries have unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchies.

That was a mouthful. And yep, both have had royal families going back more than 1,000 years. Oh yeah!

Let’s get into some history, cool beans? Humans have lived on the Scandinavian Peninsula as far back as maybe 14,000 years ago. We have lots of artifacts that show the peninsula was thriving during the Bronze Age.

But then the climate started changing and many started migrating. After this many of them regularly interacted, in productive ways and uh, counterproductive ways with the Roman Empire to the south. By the Early Middle Ages, a group had emerged on the peninsula known as the Norse.

Yes, Vikings. No, there is no evidence that Vikings really wore horned helmets like that. And not all of them were warriors.

But yes, they took to the sea, out to explore and often conquer, becoming expert sailors and navigators in their longships. They raided, pirated, but also traded so it wasn’t all bad ok? What’s known as the Viking Age lasted approximately between the 700s and the Norman conquest of England in 1066.

By that time, the Kingdom of Norway was a thing. No one knows for sure when the Kingdom of Sweden was actually born. Beginning in the 1100s, the population of Scandinavia began to dramatically increase.

This lasted until, you guessed it, the Black Death, which killed at least a third of the population. Also a problem during this time were Christians coming up trying to convert the Norse into Christianity, but the Norse were generally not too keen on giving up their own religious traditions. A bunch of these unique stave churches were built during this time.

Most of the few that remain today are in Norway. In 1397, Sweden and Norway joined forces as part of the Kalmar Union. The two kingdoms shared a monarch, along with the Kingdom of Denmark, off and on until 1523.

Sweden broke away that year under the leadership of Gustav Vasa, who helped bring the Protestant Reformation to Sweden, breaking away from Roman Catholic rule and nationalizing their holdings. Today, he’s often considered the father of modern Sweden. Meanwhile, Norway stayed with Denmark.

During the Thirty Years’ War, Norway and Sweden found themselves fighting each other. Sweden played a significant role in that bloody war, famously under the leadership of Gustavus Adolphus. The Swedes basically saved the Protestant cause and weakened the Habsburg-Catholic coalition.

And there were also multiple direct wars between Denmark-Norway and Sweden throughout the 1600s. The last wars ended by 1660 and after some treaties, we got much of the modern borders of Norway and Sweden. For the rest of the 1600s and into the 1700s, Sweden was a great European power.

This is when they began to establish colonies around the world. That said, it had mostly an agricultural economy and ultimately lacked the resources to stay a world power for too long. Sweden and Norway once again found themselves at war with each other in the Great Northern War, which lasted from 1700 to 1721.

This war actually ended with the defeat of Sweden, and Sweden quickly lost its world power status, as well as some of its territory, after this. But at least this marked their sweet Age of Liberty, a time of increased civil rights and democracy and stuff. Jump ahead to the Napoleonic Wars, which also shook up things quite a bit in Scandinavia.

As a result of those wars, Sweden lost more land to Russia and Norway was forced into a union with Sweden. Norway and Sweden, together again! They shared a monarch for the next 91 years.

Throughout the rest of the 1800s, tough times led to hundreds of thousands of both Norwegians and Swedes moving to settle in the Midwestern United States, and you still see that legacy today, believe me. Still, by the early 1900s, both Sweden and Norway had begun modernizing, well…especially Sweden. Both countries stayed mostly neutral in both World War One and World War Two.

Germany invaded and occupied Norway during the second world war, but not Sweden. In fact, most of the refugees who fled the Nazis from Norway ended up in Sweden. Between the end of World War One and 1935, Norway had some uh…instability…with nine different governments.

After World War Two, Norway helped start the United Nations and Sweden was one of the earliest countries to join. During the Cold War, Norway joined NATO, Sweden did not. But after Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine, it’s looking like Sweden will in fact be joining NATO soon.

In recent years, oil discoveries and good investments have helped Norway’s economy zoom right past Sweden’s. Today, both are two of the most democratic countries in the world. In fact, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Norway ranks NUMBER ONE on the Democracy Index, and Sweden ranks NUMBER FOUR.

Most of both countries are sparsely populated. Most of the population of both live either in the southern portions or along the coasts. People live even way up here, yo.

The biggest cities in both are also the capital cities. Both are growing at about the same rate. (N- .

6%, S- . 7%) Both have areas north of the Arctic Circle, for crying out loud. 1/3 of Norway is actually north of the Arctic Circle.

Up here, they get the midnight sun in the summer, with daylight nearly at all hours of the day. But they also get the polar night in the winter, where it’s dark all day. But at least in the winter they have a great chance of seeing the northern lights, which holy crap look at that.

Yeah that’s also on my bucket list to one day see the northern lights. Both have milder climates compared to many other areas at similar latitudes. This is due to the temperate waters of the Gulf Stream.

Both have historically not had to worry about MAJOR natural disasters as much as most other countries in the world. Due to something called post-glacial rebound, the land in both countries is still rising. Therefore, both are continuously gaining land, rising from the sea.

The Klarälven River flows through both. Both have tens of thousands of islands. Sweden’s largest island is Gotland, right there in the Baltic Sea.

Norway’s largest island is Spitsbergen, which is part of its archipelago wayyy up here called Svalbard. Around 3,000 folks live up in this unincorporated area that’s pretty much near the top of the world. The biggest town there, Longyearbyen, is the world’s northernmost settlement with at least a population of 1,000.

Located there is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which will eventually store BILLIONS of seeds in case of, ya know, world catastrophe. By the way, if you want to really learn a lot about Svalbard, I highly recommend Cecilia Blomdah’s YouTube channel. She does a phenomenal job highlighting this amazing place.

Anyway, both Norway and Sweden have freedom to roam laws, which means you can camp wherever you want without asking permission as long as it’s not private property. Both are increasingly becoming more ethnically and religiously diverse in recent years. 1 out of 3 residents in Sweden have at least one parent born in a foreign country.

The biggest religion in both is Christianity. That said, a sizable portion of the population have no religion at all. In fact, both are highly secular countries overall.

That said, Sweden is the only Nordic country without a state church. Both countries spend a higher percentage of their GDP on education than most of the rest of the world. Both invest a lot in renewable energy.

In fact, almost all energy in Norway comes from renewable energy sources, with hydropower making up the bulk of it. In the northern parts of both countries is the Sapmi region, traditionally settled by the The Sámi people but now has a more diverse group living there. Sámi culture is actually quite a well known export out of both countries.

Residents of both tend to be taller, on average, than people in most other countries in the world. Both have what’s known as the Nordic model approach to prostitution, in which it’s illegal to buy sex but not to sell the use of one’s own body for such services. The minimum age to drink alcohol in both is 18, but not just any type of alcohol so it’s complicated.

And a lot of bars and nightclubs in Sweden won’t let you in until you’re at least 20. Both are big rivals when it comes to…cross country skiing apparently? But it’s probably no surprise to you that winter sports tend to be pretty big in both countries.

Ice hockey, skiing, biathlon (yeah the one that combines cross country skiing and RIFLE shooting). Norway has won more medals in the Winter Olympics than any other country in the world, but in 7th place on the medals list is good ol’ Sweden. That all said, football, or soccer as us dumb Americans call it, is probably the most popular sport in both countries.

And don’t forget floorball, baby! Both are known for their Scandinavian folklore. Ya know, stuff like trolls and elves, which apparently aren’t real I just found out.

Both are also known for their heavy metal bands. Specifically, in Norway, the influential black metal scene, and in Sweden, death metal baby. Oh yeah, both are even in the same time zone.

Dang that was a lot of similarities. For the rest of this video, let’s take a look at differences between the two. First of all, Sweden is bigger in land area.

Oh yeah? Well Norway has more coastline. A LOT more coastline.

Like, more than eight times as much. (N- 25,147 km, S- 3,218 km) Hey I remembered the coastline paradox, buddy. Also, according to various sources, Norway may have anywhere between the second and seventh longest coastline of all countries in the world.

To the north, Norway borders the Barents Sea. To the west, the Norwegian Sea. To the South, the North Sea.

Wait, that sounds weird. But yeah, just confirmed it. It’s true.

Sweden, meanwhile, borders the aforementioned Baltic Sea to the east. Oh and there’s the Gulf of Bothnia. Much of it is covered with sea ice in the winter.

Sweden has around twice as many people. (N- 5. 4 million, S- 10.

4 million) It also has a higher population density (N- 15 residents per km2, S- 25. 4 residents per km2) Sweden also has bigger cities. It has two metropolitan areas with more than a million people- Stockholm and Gothenburg.

Meanwhile, Norway has just one- Oslo. Now, this may surprise you a bit, but Swedes make up the biggest ethnic group in Sweden, and Norwegians make up the biggest ethnic group in Norway. This also might surprise you.

The most common language in Sweden is Swedish, and the most common language in Norway is…Norwegian. Yeah the two languages are similar. Norway goes further north.

In fact, it’s Europe’s most northern country, and it goes further east than Finland. Norway has overseas territories. Some of these are on the other side of the world.

Sweden has a slightly milder climate overall. That said, both have an oceanic climate in their southern portions and continental and subarctic climates throughout most of the rest of their countries. And yes, both have some tundra where there’s higher altitudes.

Norway has more mountains. While the Scandinavian Mountains run through both countries, most of the range runs through Norway, and this is where you get the highest and more dramatic peaks. Much of Sweden is actually just gently rolling lowlands.

Sweden has a lower cost of living. Yep, it’s generally cheaper to live there. But that makes sense, as Norway has both a higher GDP per capita (N- 67,294.

48 USD, S- 51,925. 71 USD) and higher average household income (N- 39,144 USD, S- 33,730 USD) Major industries in Norway include petroleum, natural gas, shipping, and fishing. Major industries in Sweden include machinery, motor vehicles, telecommunications, and pharmaceuticals.

Norway is well known for its beautiful fjords, which are long, narrow, and deep trenches between high cliffs filled with water. Most were formed by ancient glaciers. Dang look at that.

Nice. Uh yeah Norway has more fjords than any other country in the world. That said, Sweden has some fjords, too.

Look at THAT. Norway is also known for its dramatic waterfalls. Sweden is more forested and has more farmland.

Norway gets more precipitation, overall. Sweden spans 14 degrees of latitude. Norway 13 degrees.

Sweden has 25 provinces. Norway has 11 counties. The median age is higher in Sweden.

(N- 39. 8, S- 41. 1) Residents of Sweden tend to be less religious.

In fact, more than half of Swedes identify as non-religious. More people in Sweden live in cities. Norway generally has faster internet speeds.

Marijuana is legal for medicinal purposes in Norway, but completely illegal in Sweden. So as I briefly brought up earlier, Norway has huge oil reserves, and that’s a big reason why it's such a wealthy country, but it also has used that oil money to start a massive pension fund that benefits its citizens. Way to go, Norway.

One of my favorite stores…actually the largest furniture store in the world, IKEA, started in Sweden, and it’s actually a great place to get a small sample of Nordic culture. And make videos like this. (Zany Time clip) While nearly all residents of both countries celebrate Christmas, in Sweden many apparently have a tradition of watching Donald Duck cartoons on Christmas Eve.

Norway has the highest numbers of electric cars per person in the world. In fact, 9 in 10 cars currently sold in Norway are either electric or hybrid. And don’t get mad bro, but in my humble opinion, better music comes out of Sweden.

Before I do make any more of you mad, I better wrap this motion picture up. In conclusion, it’s obvious that Norway and Sweden are two of the most beautiful and prosperous countries on the planet. They’ve also both greatly influenced the rest of the world.

That said, uhh…maybe not enough? Perhaps the rest of us would benefit more if we paid MORE attention to them, and learned from their success. I guess that’s a big reason why I made this video.

Hey speaking of Norway, a Norwegian ship called Endurance sailed out of the country in 1912 for Antarctica. Unfortunately, a year later, it became trapped in pack ice and sank in the Weddell (weh duhl) Sea. You can learn all about the ship’s journey, as well as the recent discovery of the remains of the ship, in a new series called Endurance: Rediscovered, featured exclusively on History Hit.

In it, Dan Snow travels to Antarctica to retrace Sir Ernest Shackleton’s most celebrated voyage, to the point at which his ship, Endurance, was crushed and sunk and retracing his remarkable journey toward safety. But it’s not just this show! History Hit features hundreds of history shows…ACTUAL history shows.

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So which is better? Sweden or Norway? As always, if you are actually FROM one of these two amazing countries, I want to hear from you.

Thanks to my good friend Dan for looking over this script. Many of his ancestors came over from Norway to moved the Midwest as part of that wave I mentioned that happened in the 1800s. And finally, which two countries should I compare next?

Let me know. Thanks for watching!