Query: Scandinavia includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden as of 1902.

Relevant passages:
Sweden <=SEP=> Sweden ( Konungariket Sverige ) , is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe . It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east , and is connected to Denmark in the southwest by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund . At 450295 km2 , Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area , with a total population of 10.0 million . Sweden consequently has a low population density of 22 PD/km2 , with the highest concentration in the southern half of the country . Approximately 85 % of the population lives in urban areas .   Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times , emerging into history as the Geats/G ötar and Swedes/Svear and constituting the sea peoples known as the Norsemen . Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural , while the north is heavily forested . Sweden is part of the geographical area of Fennoscandia . The climate is in general very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence , that in spite of this still retains warm continental summers . Today , Sweden is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy , with a monarch as head of state . The capital city is Stockholm , which is also the most populous city in the country . Legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag . Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister . Sweden is a unitary state , currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities .   Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages . In the 17th century , it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire , which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century . Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries , ending with the annexation of present-day Finland by Russia in 1809 . The last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814 , when Norway was militarily forced into personal union . Since then , Sweden has been at peace , maintaining an official policy of neutrality in foreign affairs . The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905 , leading to Sweden 's current borders . Though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars , Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts , such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe .   After the end of the Cold War , Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 , but declined NATO membership , as well as Eurozone membership following a referendum . It is also a member of the United Nations , the Nordic Council , Council of Europe , the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ( OECD ) . Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides universal health care and tertiary education for its citizens . It has the world 's eighth-highest per capita income and ranks highly in numerous metrics of national performance , including quality of life , health , education , protection of civil liberties , economic competitiveness , equality , prosperity and human development .

Scandinavia <=SEP=> Scandinavia -LSB- ˌskændɪˈneɪviə -RSB- is a historical and cultural region in Northern Europe characterized by a common ethnocultural North Germanic heritage and mutually intelligible North Germanic languages .   The term Scandinavia always includes the three kingdoms of Denmark , Norway , and Sweden . The remote Norwegian islands of Svalbard and Jan Mayen are usually not seen as a part of Scandinavia , nor is Greenland , an overseas territory of Denmark . However , the Faroe Islands , also a Danish overseas territory , are sometimes included , as sometimes are Iceland , Finland , and the Finnish autonomous region of the Åland Islands , because of their historical association with the Scandinavian countries and the Scandinavian peoples and languages . This looser definition almost equates to that of the Nordic countries . In Nordic languages , only Denmark , Norway and Sweden are commonly included in the definition of Scandinavia .   In English usage , Scandinavia sometimes refers to the geographical area , also known as the Scandinavian Peninsula . The name Scandinavia originally referred vaguely to the formerly Danish , now Swedish , region Scania . The terms Scandinavia and Scandinavian entered usage in the late 18th century as terms for Denmark , Norway and Sweden , their Germanic majority peoples and associated language and culture , the term being introduced by the early linguistic and cultural Scandinavist movement .   The majority of the population of Scandinavia are descended from several ( North ) Germanic tribes who originally inhabited the southern part of Scandinavia and spoke a Germanic language that evolved into Old Norse . Icelanders and the Faroese are to a significant extent descended from the Norse , and are therefore often seen as Scandinavian . Finland is mainly populated by Finns , with a minority of approximately 5 % of Swedish speakers . A small minority of Sami people live in the extreme north of Scandinavia .   The Danish , Norwegian and Swedish languages form a dialect continuum and are known as the Scandinavian languages -- all of which are considered mutually intelligible with one another . Faroese and Icelandic , sometimes referred to as insular Scandinavian languages , are intelligible in continental Scandinavian languages only to a limited extent . Finnish and Meänkieli are closely related to each other and more distantly to the Sami languages , but are entirely unrelated to the Scandinavian languages . Apart from these , German , Yiddish and Romani are recognized minority languages in Scandinavia .   The southern and by far most populous regions of Scandinavia have a temperate climate . Scandinavia extends north of the Arctic Circle , but has relatively mild weather for its latitude due to the Gulf Stream . Much of the Scandinavian mountains have an alpine tundra climate . There are many lakes and moraines , legacies of the last glacial period , which ended about ten millennia ago .