With 450,295 square kilometers, Sweden is the largest Nordic country by area size, followed by Finland and Norway. This makes it the fifth largest country in Europe. Meanwhile, Denmark is the smallest of the five Nordic countries with only 43,094 square kilometers, however, the Danish autonomous region of Greenland is significantly larger than any of the Nordic countries, and is almost double the size of the other five combined.

Population

Sweden is also the Nordic country with the largest population. 10.45 million people live in the country. Denmark, Finland, and Norway all have between five and six million inhabitants, whereas only 370,000 people live in Iceland. Meanwhile, Denmark has the highest population density of the five countries. Greenland is the most sparsely populated permanently-inhabited country in the world, followed by the regions of Svalbard and Jan Mayen.

Geography

The five Nordic countries vary geographically. While Denmark is mostly flat, its highest point only stretching around 170 meters above sea level, Norway's highest peak is nearly 2,500 meters high. Moreover, Finland is known for its many lakes and is often called the land of a thousand lakes, whereas Iceland is famous for its volcanoes.

The largest of the three Scandinavian countries is Norway, with a surface of 625,222 square kilometers, when including the arctic islands of Svalbard and Jan Mayen. Without these, Norway's total area size amounts to 385,207 square kilometers. Its neighboring country Sweden has a size of approximately 447,000 square kilometers, whereas Denmark is significantly smaller at around 43,000 square kilometers. Greenland, an autonomous area under the Kingdom of Denmark, has an ice-free surface of 410,450 km2, but its total area amounts to 2.67 million km2, making it the largest island in the world.

In the Nordic countries, Sweden has the largest population with over ten million inhabitants in 2023. Denmark, Finland, and Norway all have between 5.5 and six million inhabitants, whereas Iceland clearly has the lowest number with only 390,000 people. The population increased in all five Nordic countries over the past 20 years. Aging population In all five Nordic countries, the average age of the population is increasing. In all countries except Iceland, people aged 70 years or more make up the largest age groups. Hence, one of the issues facing the Nordic countries in the coming decades is that of a shrinking working stock, while there will be more elderly people in need of daily care. Births, deaths, and migration The two reasons behind the constantly increasing population in the Nordic countries are that more people are born than people dying, and a positive net migration. Except for Finland, the death rate decreased in all Nordic countries over the past 20 years. However, the fertility rate has also fallen in all five countries in the recent years, meaning that an increasing immigration play an important role in sustaining the population growth.

The largest of all Nordic countries is Sweden with a size of approximately 447,000 square kilometers. Finland follows in second with a surface area of more than 338,000 square kilometers. The mainland area of Norway amounts to 324,000 square kilometers, but if the islands of Svalbard and Jan Mayen are included, it reaches 625,000 square kilometers. The ice-free area of Greenland, which is an autonomous region under the Kingdom of Denmark, is 410,000 square kilometers, but in total, it has a land area of 2.67 million square kilometers, making it the largest island in the world.

From 2011 to 2022, Sweden had the highest gross domestic product (GDP) of the Nordic countries. In 2022, it was estimated to be at 591 billion U.S. dollars, and is expected to reach almost 720 billion in 2027. Norway had the second highest GDP in this time period, but it dropped significantly after the fall in the oil price in 2014. Denmark has consistently been the third largest Nordic economy in this time. Iceland has the lowest GDP in the region, with just 28 billion U.S. dollars in 2022; around 10 percent the size of Finland's.

In both Denmark, Finland, and Sweden, people aged 70 years or more made up the largest age group in 2023. This is especially the case in Finland and Sweden, with 960,000 and 1.6 million people in this age group, respectively. Meanwhile, people between 30 and 39 years formed the largest age group in Iceland. Sweden is the Nordic country with the largest total population.

In the Nordic countries, there were more women than men in Denmark and Finland, while there were more men than women in Iceland, Norway and Sweden. Sweden has the largest population of the five countries, while Iceland has the smallest. In 2024, there were 5.31 million men and 5.24 million women living in Sweden, compared to 200,000 men and 190,000 women in Iceland.

The Swedish capital Stockholm has the largest population of the five Nordic capitals with 2.46 million inhabitants. This is unsurprising as Sweden also is the Nordic country with the largest population. The capital area of Copenhagen is slightly larger than that of Helsinki, whereas Iceland's capital Reykjavik had the smallest population with 244,000 inhabitants. Oslo's rapid population decline in 2024 is explained by only the numbers for Oslo municipality being reported.

Sweden was the Nordic country that received the highest number of immigrants from 2001 to 2021. In 2021, nearly 91,000 people immigrated to Sweden, but was overtaken by Denmark in 2022. Sweden was also the country in the region with the highest net migration over the last years. Iceland, which also has the smallest population of the five, had the lowest number of immigrants. Migration to Sweden As the Nordic country with the highest number of migrants, nearly 44 percent of survey respondents consider immigration an important issue for Swedish society, more than other European countries. In 2023, most immigrants to Sweden were Swedes returning to the country, followed by India, Poland, and Germany. The need for migration in Nordic nations Migrants often fill in gaps within labor markets that local populations cannot fill. In Nordic nations, these gaps are becoming more apparent as fertility rates decrease. Over the past decade, crude birth rates have decreased in all Nordic countries. Meanwhile, those aged 70 years and older are becoming larger portions of Nordic societies. Declining birth rates combined with aging societies mean that labor markets will be challenged to have enough workers.

Until 2014, Norway's gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was a lot higher than the other Nordic countries'. However, after the fall of the oil price in 2014, Norway's GDP per capita decreased, but is still the highest in the region, and it increased to over 105,000 U.S. dollars in 2022. Moreover, while Iceland had the lowest GDP per capita together with Finland in 2015, it had the second highest in 2023 ahead of Denmark. The Nordic countries have some of the highest GDPs per capita in the world.

Denmark has, by far, the highest population density of the Nordic countries. This is related to the fact that it is the smallest Nordic country in terms of land area. Meanwhile, Iceland, which has the smallest population of the five countries, also has the lowest population density. As the total population increased in all five countries over the past decade, the population density also increased.

Iceland had the highest employment rate of the Nordic countries from 2012 to 2022. In 2022, it was 83 percent among the adult population between 15 and 64 years in Iceland, whereas it was between 74 and 78 percent in the other four Nordic countries. The employment rate decreased in all five countries from 2019 to 2020 after the outbreak of COVID-19. The fall was most dramatic in Iceland, where the rate fell by four percentage points. Finland had the lowest employment rate of the countries. Moreover, the employment rates were higher in all five Nordic countries than the EU average.

The highest employment rates in Europe Comparing all European countries with each other, the Nordic countries had some of the highest employment rates in Europe in 2022. In the EU, the Netherlands had the highest employment rate.

Higher unemployment rates in Sweden and Finland Of the Nordic countries, Sweden had the highest unemployment rate in 2021. However, all five countries had an unemployment rate below eight percent. As of October 2022, Spain had the highest unemployment rate in the European Union, whereas Czechia had the lowest.

In the Nordic countries, the largest number of people emigrated from Denmark in 2022. Nearly 70,000 people emigrated from Denmark that year, even though its neighbor Sweden has a population that is nearly twice as large. Iceland, on the other hand, had the lowest number of emigrants that year. Meanwhile, the highest number of immigrants over the last years arrived in Sweden.

In 2023, Iceland had the highest annual average net earnings among single persons without children earning 100 percent of the average earnings in the Nordic countries, with approximately 53,900 euros annually. Meanwhile, Sweden and Finland had the lowest average earnings in the region with 34,000 and 36,000 euros annually, respectively. Average earnings in the Nordic countries are significantly higher than the EU average.

In 2022, Denmark had the highest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita index of the Nordic countries. Denmark's GDP per capita index was at 113, with an index equaling 100 in 2015. The index of all five Nordic countries dropped in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it fell below 2015 levels in Iceland that year.

Finland was the Nordic country with the highest death rate in 2023, reaching 11 per 1,000 population. Until 2011, the death rate in Finland was lower than in the Nordic neighbors Denmark and Sweden, but it has since passed them. Norway's death rate decreased steadily from 2002 to 2020, showing a decrease of 2.2 percentage points. However, Iceland is the Nordic country with the lowest death rate, with 7,3 in 2022.

In 2024, Finland had the highest debt rate of the Nordic countries, followed by Iceland. In 2011, Iceland's debt rate was over 138 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), but it had decreased to 59 percent in 2024. Finland's debt rate, on the other hand, increased from 50 percent in 2010 to 80 percent in 2024. Debt rates of the three other Nordic countries were more stable, and were between 29 and 38 percent in 2024.

In 2022, Denmark's exports of goods and services made up the largest share of its gross domestic product (GDP) of the Nordic countries. The value of Denmark's export consistently amounted to over 70 percent of its GDP in 2022. Iceland had similar values to Denmark at the beginning of the decade, but by 2022, it had decreased below 50 percent of the country's GDP. Sweden exported goods and services for a value of 53 percent of its GDP in 2022.

The value of exported goods and services from the Nordic countries were highest in Sweden between 2010 and 2021, but Norway overtook its neighbor in 2022. In 2022, Norway's exports totaled at 322.5 billion U.S. dollars. Sweden had the second highest export value, reaching 312 billion U.S. dollars. Iceland had the lowest export values of the five Nordic countries.

In the first half of the last decade, Norway had the lowest unemployment rates of the Nordic countries, whereas Iceland had the lowest rates at the second half of the decade. However, in 2020, after the outbreak of COVID-19, Iceland's unemployment rate rose sharply, overtaking both Norway and Denmark. Since 2013, Finland had the highest unemployment rates in the Nordic region, but were overtaken by Sweden in 2020. In 2023, Sweden had an unemployment rate of close to nine percent.