Amusing facts about Sweden, Swedish Culture, and Swedish Governance, compiled by an American.

Taken from: http://cva.stanford.edu/people/davidbbs/swedish_facts.html

1. •As of 2004 you can pay your Swedish taxes by sending an SMS message from your cell phone.
   

2. •The government sends you a completely filled out tax form and if it looks good you just go online and click okay to pay your taxes.
   

3. •Taxes are generally between 50 and 70% of your income. (Of course your employer already pays the full amount of your salary to the government in taxes before you even get anything.)
   

4. •You can take sick leave during your vacation if you are ill.
   

5. •Parents get a total of 13 months of paid maternity leave and the father is required to take at least 1 month of it. (There has been a discussion about changing this to 15 months and requiring the father and mother to each take 5 and then split the last 5 as they feel appropriate.)
   

6. •Parental leave can be used to take off time for parenting classes before your child is born.
   

7. •Parents can save up their maternity leave for more than 5 years (i.e., use it for doctor's appointments, school visit days, etc.).
   

8. •All employees (including graduate students) get 5 weeks of paid vacation a year.
   

9. •All employers (as of 2004) are required to provide free massage.
   

10. •The government installs elk fences along the sides of large roads to prevent elk from wandering into traffic.
    

11. •The sun rises at 3.30am in the summer.
    

12. •The sun sets at 3.30pm in the winter.
    

13. •Swedish university students are required to pay a membership fee in the student union, but no tuition.
    

14. •In Sweden IKEA is a cheap store, not a trendy store. (And they are only open until 8pm on special days.)
    

15. •Recycling is taken so seriously that one company (FTI) is trying to put up video cameras to make sure people sort their recyclables correctly. (June 2006)
    

16. •Learning to speak Swedish is frustrating because everyone in Sweden already speaks better English than you will ever speak Swedish.
    

17. •St. Lucia is a nationally celebrated saint (complete with baked goods and TV shows), and despite the fact that she is a saint because she tore out her own eyes to avoid being seduced by a man, little children dress up like her every winter.