# Denmark and Sweden compared

Denmark and Sweden side by side: 42 shared sourced indicators across 9 domains, and the 15 events their chronicles record of each other.

Canonical: https://terralore.co/compare/dnk-vs-swe
Updated: 2026-08-10 (latest of the two dossiers' refreshes and the two chronicles' verification dates)

Two sourced records set beside each other — nothing on this page was written for the pair. Every figure is the same observation, with the same source, as on the two national dossiers; every event is the same record, with the same sources, as on its own chronicle. Figures are compared, never graded. A "—" is an absence in the source data, never a zero; each value shows its own observation year — vintages differ by indicator and nation.

## Formation

- Denmark: c. 965 — Harald Bluetooth's Denmark, declared on the Jelling stone
- Sweden: 6 June 1523 — Gustav Vasa is elected king and Sweden leaves the Kalmar Union

## Economy

| Metric | Denmark | Observed | Sweden | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GDP | $425 B | 2024 | $604 B | 2024 |
| GDP per capita | $71,026 | 2024 | $57,117 | 2024 |
| GDP growth | 3.5% | 2024 | 0.8% | 2024 |
| Inflation | 1.4% | 2024 | 2.8% | 2024 |
| Trade openness | 131.8% | 2024 | 105.9% | 2024 |

## Society

| Metric | Denmark | Observed | Sweden | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 6.0 m | 2024 | 11 m | 2024 |
| Life expectancy | 82.3 yrs | 2024 | 84.1 yrs | 2024 |
| Urban population | 88.7% | 2024 | 88.9% | 2024 |
| Fertility rate | 1.5 | 2024 | 1.4 | 2024 |

## Governance

| Metric | Denmark | Observed | Sweden | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voice & accountability | 90.0 | 2024 | 87.1 | 2024 |
| Political stability | 79.0 | 2024 | 76.2 | 2024 |
| Government effectiveness | 88.5 | 2024 | 85.8 | 2024 |
| Regulatory quality | 85.3 | 2024 | 81.2 | 2024 |
| Rule of law | 91.5 | 2024 | 86.7 | 2024 |
| Control of corruption | 94.2 | 2024 | 87.7 | 2024 |

## Health

| Metric | Denmark | Observed | Sweden | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health spending | 9.4% | 2024 | 11.2% | 2024 |
| Physicians | 4.50 | 2021 | 4.41 | 2021 |
| Under-5 mortality | 4.0 | 2024 | 2.4 | 2024 |
| Measles immunisation | 94.0% | 2024 | 93.0% | 2024 |
| Safe drinking water | 99.9% | 2024 | 99.8% | 2024 |

## Education

| Metric | Denmark | Observed | Sweden | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Education spending | 6.4% | 2022 | 7.3% | 2022 |
| Primary enrolment | 99.8% | 2024 | 114.9% | 2024 |
| Secondary enrolment | 125.6% | 2024 | 132.0% | 2024 |
| Tertiary enrolment | 79.0% | 2024 | 84.0% | 2024 |

## Technology

| Metric | Denmark | Observed | Sweden | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| R&D spending | 3.0% | 2023 | 3.6% | 2023 |
| Researchers (per million) | 8,838 | 2023 | 8,911 | 2023 |
| Internet users | 99.8% | 2024 | 95.8% | 2025 |
| Mobile subscriptions | 127 | 2024 | 141 | 2024 |
| High-tech exports | 17.6% | 2024 | 17.7% | 2024 |

## Geography

| Metric | Denmark | Observed | Sweden | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Land area | 40,000 km² | 2023 | 407,270 km² | 2023 |
| Forest area | 15.8% | 2023 | 68.7% | 2023 |
| Agricultural land | 65.5% | 2023 | 7.3% | 2023 |
| CO₂ per capita (t) | 4.3 | 2024 | 3.6 | 2024 |
| Renewable energy | 39.5% | 2021 | 57.9% | 2021 |

## Resources

| Metric | Denmark | Observed | Sweden | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resource rents | 0.3% | 2021 | 1.2% | 2021 |
| Oil rents | 0.3% | 2021 | 0.0% | 2021 |
| Mineral rents | 0.0% | 2021 | 1.0% | 2021 |
| Forest rents | 0.0% | 2021 | 0.2% | 2021 |
| Electricity access | 100.0% | 2023 | 100.0% | 2023 |
| Iron ore | — | — | 26 Mt | 2025 |
| Zinc (mined) | — | — | 230 kt | 2025 |

## Military

| Metric | Denmark | Observed | Sweden | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Military burden | 2.4% | 2024 | 2.0% | 2024 |
| Defense spending | $10.0 B | 2024 | $12 B | 2024 |
| Armed forces | 15,000 | 2020 | 15,000 | 2020 |

Each metric is also ranked across all nations: https://terralore.co/rankings (markdown twins at /rankings/<metric>.md). Full dossiers: https://terralore.co/country/DNK.md and https://terralore.co/country/SWE.md.

## Entangled histories (15 events)

Events in which either nation's sourced chronicle names the other — including under earlier names of the same state. Each is the record exactly as its own chronicle carries it, with that chronicle's sources.

- 1387–1412: **The rule of Margaret I** — Margaret I governed Denmark, Norway and Sweden as their effective ruler from the late 1380s until her death in 1412, the architect and guarantor of the Kalmar Union. (from the Denmark chronicle; sources: Margaret I, queen of Scandinavia; Denmark: Margaret I and the Kalmar Union)
- Jun 1397: **Formation of the Kalmar Union** — Queen Margaret united Denmark, Norway and Sweden under one monarch, her grandnephew Erik of Pomerania, creating a Scandinavian union intended to resist German power but soon dominated by Denmark. (from the Sweden chronicle; sources: Kalmar Union; Queen Margaret and the Union of Kalmar)
- 1397: **The Kalmar Union** — At Kalmar the magnates of Denmark, Norway and Sweden crowned Erik of Pomerania as common king under the regency of Margaret I, uniting the three Scandinavian kingdoms in a single monarchy. (from the Denmark chronicle; sources: Kalmar Union; Margaret I, queen of Scandinavia)
- 15th c.: **Swedish revolts and the Sture regents** — Resentment of Danish dominance and of taxes and offices given to royal favourites fuelled recurring Swedish risings, with regents of the Sture family ruling Sweden in defiance of the union crown. (from the Sweden chronicle; sources: Queen Margaret and the Union of Kalmar; Sweden: History)
- 1520: **The Stockholm Bloodbath** — King Christian II's execution of Swedish nobles after his coronation in Stockholm inflamed Swedish resistance and helped precipitate the collapse of the Kalmar Union. (from the Denmark chronicle; sources: Kalmar Union)
- 8–10 Nov 1520: **The Stockholm Bloodbath** — After capturing Stockholm and breaking his promise of amnesty, King Christian II of Denmark had some eighty-two Swedish nobles, clergy and citizens condemned as heretics and executed, including Gustav Vasa's father. (from the Sweden chronicle; sources: Stockholm Bloodbath; The Stockholm blood bath)
- 1521–1523: **The Swedish War of Liberation** — Gustav Vasa raised Dalarna in revolt against Christian II, leading a peasant army that expelled the Danes and was declared regent of Sweden, ending Danish control of the realm. (from the Sweden chronicle; sources: Gustav I Vasa; Sweden: The early Vasa kings (1523–1611))
- 1523: **Sweden leaves the union** — Gustav Vasa's rising drove out Danish rule and led to Sweden's secession from the Kalmar Union, leaving Denmark joined to Norway alone. (from the Denmark chronicle; sources: Kalmar Union; Denmark: Margaret I and the Kalmar Union)
- 1563–1720: **The long wars with Sweden** — From the Northern Seven Years' War onward, Denmark and Sweden fought repeatedly for control of the Baltic and the Sound, a rivalry that steadily eroded Danish power in the region. (from the Denmark chronicle; sources: Denmark: Reformation and war; Treaty of Roskilde (1658))
- 26 Feb 1658: **Treaty of Roskilde** — After Sweden's invasion across the frozen belts, Denmark ceded Scania, Halland, Blekinge, Bornholm and Trondheim; the loss of the eastern provinces was the largest in Danish history. (from the Denmark chronicle; sources: Treaty of Roskilde (1658); Treaty of Copenhagen)
- 26 Feb 1658: **Treaty of Roskilde** — After Charles X Gustav's invasion of Denmark, the Treaty of Roskilde forced Denmark to cede Scania, Blekinge, Halland and Bohuslän to Sweden, fixing its southern border and marking the empire's territorial peak. (from the Sweden chronicle; sources: Treaty of Roskilde)
- 1660–1661: **The establishment of absolutism** — In the crisis following defeat by Sweden, Frederick III secured a hereditary and absolute monarchy, a system later codified in the Royal Law (Kongeloven) of 1665. (from the Denmark chronicle; sources: Denmark: Reformation and war)
- 14 Jan 1814: **Treaty of Kiel and the union with Norway** — Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden by the Treaty of Kiel; Norwegian resistance produced not annexation but a personal union of the two kingdoms under one crown, lasting until 1905. (from the Sweden chronicle; sources: Treaty of Kiel; Norway: The union conflict, 1859–1905)
- 14 Jan 1814: **Treaty of Kiel: the loss of Norway** — Defeated alongside Napoleon, Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden, ending a four-century union, while keeping Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. (from the Denmark chronicle; sources: Treaty of Kiel)
- Oct 1943: **Rescue of the Danish Jews** — Warned of a German round-up, Danes spirited more than 7,000 Jews across the sound to neutral Sweden, saving the great majority of the country's Jewish population from deportation. (from the Denmark chronicle; sources: German occupation (1940-1945))

## Sources

- World Development Indicators — World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-06-14 · https://data.worldbank.org
- Worldwide Governance Indicators (via World Bank API) — Worldwide Governance Indicators / World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-08-10 · https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/worldwide-governance-indicators
- Global Health Observatory (WHO, via World Bank WDI) — WHO / World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-08-10 · https://www.who.int/data/gho
- Child mortality & immunisation estimates (UN IGME and WHO/UNICEF, via World Bank WDI) — UNICEF and WHO / World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-08-10 · https://childmortality.org
- R&D statistics (UNESCO UIS, via World Bank WDI) — UNESCO Institute for Statistics / World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-06-15 · https://uis.unesco.org
- ICT indicators (ITU, via World Bank WDI) — ITU / World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-06-15 · https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics
- Military Expenditure Database (via World Development Indicators) — SIPRI / World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · accessed 2026-06-14 · https://www.sipri.org/databases/milex
- Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 — U.S. Geological Survey · Public domain (U.S. Government work) · accessed 2026-08-10 · https://www.usgs.gov/centers/national-minerals-information-center

Chronicle references are cited inline above and resolve in full at https://terralore.co/country/DNK/chronicle.md and https://terralore.co/country/SWE/chronicle.md.

Citation template: Terralore, "Denmark and Sweden compared", terralore.co/compare/dnk-vs-swe, retrieved <YYYY-MM-DD>.