Stockholm

Stockholm (Swedish: [ˈstɔ̂kː(h)ɔlm] (listen)) is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 990,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.5 million in the metropolitan area. The city stretches across fourteen islands where Lake Mälaren flows into the Baltic Sea. Outside the city to the east, and along the coast, is the island chain of the Stockholm archipelago. The area has been settled since the Stone Age, in the 6th millennium BC, and was founded as a city in 1252 by Swedish statesman Birger Jarl. It is also the county seat of Stockholm County. For several hundred years, Stockholm was the capital of Finland as well (Finnish: Tukholma), which was then a part of Sweden. The population of the municipality of Stockholm is expected to reach one million people in 2024.Stockholm is the cultural, media, political, and economic centre of Sweden. The Stockholm region alone accounts for over a third of the country's GDP, and is among the top 10 regions in Europe by GDP per capita. Ranked as an alpha-global city, it is the largest in Scandinavia and the main centre for corporate headquarters in the Nordic region.