taken on December 31, 1890, and as estimated on December 31,

In 1894 there were 2,364,165 males and 2,509,018 females.
The growth of the population has been as follows:-

With the exception of (1890) 19,505 Finns, 6,846 Lapps, and some thousands others, the Swedish population is entirely of the Scandinavian branch of the Aryan family.

In 1890 the foreign-born population numbered 24,548, of whom 4,066 were born in Germany, 5,401 in Denmark, 6,287 in Norway, 4,609 in Finland, 1,195 in Russia, 598 in the United Kingdom, and 1,482 in the United States. According to civil condition the population was divided as follows in

The following table shows the leading occupations of the people in 1899, including the families and dependents of those directly employed :

The population of Sweden is mainly rural. In 1871 the town population numbered only 551,106, and in 1894, 957,783, showing an increase of 74 per cent., or more than five times the rate of the general average of the Kingdom.

The following towns had more than 10,000 inhabitants at the end of 1894: Stockholm, 264,585; Göteborg, 111,234; Malmö, 51,501; Norrköping, 34,816; Gefle, 25, 255; Karlskrona, 22, 407 Helsingborg, 21,681; Upsala, 21,147; Jönköping. 20,831; Örebro, 15,886; Lund, 15,484; Sundsvall, 13,930; Halmstad, 13,304; Linköping, 13,059; Landskrona, 12,962; Kalmar, 12,024; Eskilstuna, 11,580; Söderhamn, 10,137.

Religion.

The mass of the population adhere to the Lutheran Protestant Church, recognised as the State religion. There are 12 bishoprics, and 2,411 rural parish churches and chapels in 1894. At the census of 1890, the number of Evangelical Lutherans' was returned at 4,735,218, the Protestant Dissenters, Baptists, Methodists, and others numbering 44,378, including 23,307 unbaptized children. Of other creeds, there were 1,390 Roman Catholics, 46 Greek-Catholics, 313 Irvingites, 3,402 Jews, and 234 Mormons. No civil disabilities attach to those not of the national religion. The clergy are chiefly supported from the parishes and the proceeds of the Church lands.

Instruction.

The Kingdom has two universities, at Uppsala and Lund, the former frequented by 1,390 and the latter by 605 students in the spring of 1895. Education is well advanced in Sweden. In 1894 there were 75 public high schools, with 14,860 pupils; 25 people's high schools, 1,105 pupils; 12 normal schools for elementary school teachers, 1,099 pupils ; 2 high and 6 elementary technical schools; 10 navigation schools, 439 pupils; 19 institutions and schools for deaf mutes and blinds; besides medical schools, military schools, veterinary and other special schools. Public elementary instruction is gratuitous and compulsory, and children not attending schools under the supervision of the Government must furnish proofs of having been privately educated. In 1893 there were 10,889 elementary schools, with 14,293 teachers and 705,905 pupils. In 1893 the expenditure on elementary education was 14,758,236 kronor, of which more than one-fourth came from the national funds. Among the recruits (Beväring) of 1893 only 0.11 per cent. were unlettered, only 0.83 per cent. unable to write.

Justice and Crime.

The administration of justice is entirely independent of the Government. Two functionaries, the Justitie-Kansler, or Chancellor of Justice, and the Justitie-Ombudsman, or Attorney-General, exercise a control over the administration. The former, appointed by the King, acts also as a counsel for the Crown; while the latter, who is appointed by the Diet, has to extend a general supervision over all the courts of law. The Kingdom, which possesses one Supreme Court of Judicature, is divided into 3 high court districts and 207 district courts divisions, of which 90 are urban districts and 117 country districts.

In town these district courts (or courts of first instance) are held by the burgomaster and his assessors; in the country by a judge and 12 jurorspeasant proprietors-the judge alone deciding, unless the jurors unanimously differ from him, when their decision prevails. In Sweden trial by jury only exists for affairs of the press.

In 1893, 1,667 men and 285 women were sentenced for serious crimes; at the end of 1893, 1,792 hard-labour prisoners.

Pauperism.

Each commune is bound to assist children under 15 years of age, if their circumstances require it, and all who from age or disease are unable to support themselves. In other cases the communal poor board decides what course to take. Each commune and each town (which may be divided) constitutes a poor district, and in each is a board of public assistance. In 1893 these districts possessed workhouses and similar establishments to the number of 1,857, capable of lodging 44,149 people.

The number of paupers assisted in 1860 was 132,982; in 1870, 204,378; in 1880, 219,532; in 1893, 252,652. Of the last 78,230 were in the towns.

Finance.

The budgets of revenue and expenditure for the years 1895 and 1896 were as follows:

Of the extraordinary expenditure the army claims 2,675,030 kronor, the navy 1,739,760 kronor, the interior 2,498,594 kronor, education and ecclesiastical affairs 1,674,892 kronor, pensions 1,540,000 kronor. The land tax (including the maintenance of the army Indelta) amounts to an average of 15s. per head of the population. The value of the land and house property of Sweden is thus returned for 1894 :

The expenditure for the Church is chiefly defrayed by the parishes and out of the revenue of landed estates belonging to the Church, and the amounts do not appear in the budget estimates. A part of the cost for maintaining the army Indelta also does not appear in the budget. The expenses for public instruction are in great part defrayed by the parishes.

On January 1, 1895, the public liabilities of the Kingdom, contracted entirely for railways, were as follows:-

Funded railway loan of 1860 without interest

Kronor

506,667

9,042,954

106,068,600

59,328,444

31,926,500

26,666,667

34,411,555

7,200,000

18,000,000

Funded railway loan of 1894 with interest

Total

293,151,387

All the loans are paid off gradually by means of sinking funds. The debt amounts to about 31. 78. per head of the population, and the interest to about 2s. 5d.; but as the railway receipts amount to about two-thirds of the interest, the charge per head is nominal.

The income of the communes in 1892 was 64,517,225 kronor, and the expenditure 71,546,539 kronor. Their assets amounted to 279,094,161 kronor, and their debts to 175,138,725 kronor. The revenue of the provincial representative bodies was 3,440,663 kronor, and expenditure 3,550,463 kronor; their assets 12,474,087 kronor, and debts 3,785,382 kronor.

Defence.

The chief fortifications of Sweden are, on the coast, Karlskrona with Kungsholmen and Westra Hästholmen, Stockholm with Vaxholm-Oscar-Fredriksborg; in the interior, Karlsborg, near Lake Wetter.

The Swedish army is composed of three distinct classes of troops. They are:

1. The Värfvade, or enlisted troops, to which belong the royal lifeguards (two infantry and one cavalry regiments), two regiments of infantry, one battalion of chasseurs, two battalions of infantry, one regiment of hussars, the artillery, the engineers, and the train. The Värfvade are in service two or three years.

2. The Indelta, consisting of 22 regiments and one corps of