Sweden (pronounced /ˈswiːdən/ ( listen) SWEE-dən, Swedish: Sverige pronounced [ˈsværjɛ--> ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: Konungariket Sverige (help·info)), is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe which evolved into a Middle Ages monarchy by its own path from Viking warlords — it is denoted as a "kingdom" due to territorial unification between 970–995− under Eric the Victorious by conquest, but his son Olof Skötkonung was the first ruler documented to have been accepted both by the Svear around Lake Mälaren and by the Götar around Lake Vättern. The monarchy's governmental organisation has achieved much modernisation since it began.

Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and water borders with Denmark, Germany, and Poland to the south, and Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Russia to the east. Sweden is also connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund.

At 450,295 square kilometres (173,860 sq mi), Sweden is the third largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of about 9.4 million. Sweden has a low population density of 21 inhabitants per square kilometre (54 /sq mi) but a considerably higher density in the southern half of the country. About 85% of the population live in urban areas, and it is expected that these numbers will gradually rise as a part of the ongoing urbanisation. Sweden's capital is Stockholm, which is also the largest city in the country (population of 1.3 million in the urban area and with 2 million in the metropolitan area).

After its unification in the High Middle Ages, paganism and old political forms gradually diminished and changed so Sweden emerged as an independent and unified Christian country during the Late Middle Ages. In the 17th century, the country embraced the Protestant Reformation and took a central part in the Thirty Years' War emerging so that it had expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire. The empire grew to be one of the great powers of Europe in the mid-and-later 17th and early 18th century, and its kings developed a enviable martial history and record.

Many of the conquered territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were lost after Peter the Great modernised Russia and larger states were consolidated together in Germany during the 18th century and lost most of rest in the Napoleonic Wars in the early 19th century. The eastern half of Sweden, present-day Finland, was lost to Russia in 1809. The last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Sweden by military means forced Norway into a personal union which lasted until 1905. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, adopting a non-aligned foreign policy in peacetime and neutrality in wartime.

Today, Sweden is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy of government and a highly developed economy. It ranks first in the world in The Economist's Democracy Index and ninth in the United Nations' Human Development Index. Sweden has been a member of the European Union since 1 January 1995 and is a member of the OECD.

1.^ The kingdom's formation:
by historic convention, kingdom is said to have come into existence with the united rule of Eric the Victorious (Old Norse: Eiríkr inn sigrsæli, Modern Swedish: Erik Segersäll) (945? – c. 995) who was the first Swedish king (reigned 970–995) about whom anything definite is known. Whether he actually qualifies as King of Sweden has been debated, as his son Olof Skötkonung was the first ruler documented to have been accepted both by the Svear around Lake Mälaren and by the Götar around Lake Vättern. The rule of both regions is 'the convention' by which historians have decided to date a unified kingdom.
2.^ The historians divide as to whether to account Eric the Victorious or his son as the first king.
Etymology
Main article: Etymology of Sweden
The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod, which meant "people of the Swedes" (Old Norse Svíþjóð, Latin Suetidi). This word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas (Old Norse Sviar, Latin Suiones). The Swedish name Sverige (a conjunction of the words Svea and Rike – the latter is still spelt with the letter g, "rige", in modern Danish) literally means "Kingdom of the Swedes", excluding the Geats in Götaland.

Variations of the name Sweden are used in most languages, with the exception of Danish and Norwegian using Sverige, Icelandic Svíþjóð, and the more notable exception of some Finno-Ugric languages where Ruotsi (Finnish) and Rootsi (Estonian) are used, names commonly considered etymologically related to the English name for Russia, referring to the people, Rus', originally from the coastal areas of Roslagen, Uppland.

The etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning "one's own", referring to one's own Germanic tribe.