Sweden Facts

Placing keys on a table is considered unlucky in Sweden, a superstition rooted in historical social contexts.

At the 1912 Olympics, a marathon runner quit and went home to Japan without telling officials and was considered a missing person in Sweden for 50 years. In 1966, he was invited to complete the marathon. His time: 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes and 20.379 seconds.

The founder of IKEA was worth $50 billion. He drove a 1993 Volvo. He flew economy. He ate at IKEA. He bought his clothes at flea markets because "it's a waste to throw out good things." His employees were embarrassed to ride in his car. Ingvar Kamprad built the world's largest furniture empire and lived like he was furnishing his first apartment from it.

In Sweden, a common Christmas decoration is the Julbukk, a small figurine of a goat. It is usually made of straw. Scandinavian Christmas festivities feature a variety of straw decorations in the form of stars, angels, hearts and other shapes, as well as t

Sweden has more telephones per capita than any country on earth.

Americans buying a Volvo can get a free holiday to Sweden to test drive their new car. All costs, including airfare and shipment of the car, are covered by the Volvo Overseas Delivery program.

There's a Swedish power metal band called Sabaton who teach history through their music, including multiple albums devoted to World War II battles and heroes.

Sweden is so good at recycling, it has run out of garbage and now must import garbage from Norway to fuel its energy programs.

There's a competition in Sweden called Kaninhoppning, or rabbit show jumping.

In 2012, Swedish artist Fredrik Saker created a super-detailed self portrait and successfully submitted it as his driver’s license picture.

There is a Swedish religion called Kopimism whose sole tenet is that all knowledge should be available to everyone - and thus, using CTRL+C and CTRL+V are sacred acts.

In Sweden, blood donors receive a text message whenever their blood is used to save someone's life.

In 2009, thieves arrived by helicopter on a cash depot roof in Stockholm. They had placed a fake bomb at the police helicopter hangar. Scattered caltrops on every access road. Stole $5.3 million and escaped clean. Police caught them months later through DNA on a piece of duct tape someone had licked.

Since 1966, the Swedish city of Gavle has built a giant straw Christmas goat in the town square. Arsonists have burned it down 43 out of 60 years. The city tried guards, CCTV, fences, and fireproofing. In 2005, attackers dressed as Santa and a Gingerbread Man shot it with flaming arrows. In 1976, an American tourist burned it down and told police he thought it was a tradition.