Today here on FTD facts
I'm gonna take the country of Sweden and the country of Norway and put them side by side and see
What is different about these two different?
Nations because although the two have had a history together and although they are both classified as Nordic and Scandinavian countries
They do have certain aspects about their country that makes them completely different what's going on everybody?
I hope you guys are having a fantastic day des voix people here and welcome to
FTD facts the channel where I look at people cultures places and sometimes the militaries from all around the world. Yeah
I'm talking really fast
but we're just gonna do it today because today
I'm so happy I get to talk about Sweden again and I get to talk about Norway
And for those of you guys who are here watching the stuff on the channel, you know, I love talking about European countries
I just love learning about different countries period but Sweden is one of my favorite places
Partially due to the fact that the woman in Sweden her. Oh
Yeah
Heaven's door can only knock fast enough. I don't know what that means. But I felt that way when I thought of Swedish women
Mm-hmm
So we're gonna get started right into the facts
But I just wanna let you know one of the first well similarities about these two countries is they both have a Viking culture
And with that in mind because well
I'm doing a video on Sweden and I'm doing a video on Norway and all the Vikings
I felt it appropriate to let you guys know about a really cool
Game that is sponsoring this video. And this is a browser game called Vikings war of clans
I don't know if you guys have had the opportunity to play this but for me
Kind of just been playing it for the last couple of days and I gotta say it's really addictive. It's so addictive
So one thing that I like about this over your other PC browser games is it's got a lot of social features
It's got pretty good graphics as well
interesting fact they actually
told me about this is they actually have more people playing this than there were Vikings in the entire history of Vikings like
population wise yeah
but it's cool because you can play with gamers from all around the world and you can join clans work together here or you can
turn on your own foes and just you know be Vikings and you know conquer the world and
One of the best things about this game and this is my personal thing is it is free to play
I'm not lying head down there in the description box below. Check it out when you guys do that
You guys get access to 200 gold coins and a special item, which is called a novice relocation
It's gonna be really beneficial when you start off
So for all you true Vikings out there, you know your Norwegians and your Swedes, you know what I'm talking about?
Trust me. You want to play this game? It's really fun. But nonetheless, let's get started with the video. Okay, cool
Let's rock and roll Vikings out
so as we start I want to clear something out because I got really confused in my last video where I looked at Denmark and
Germany and the reason I'm talking about that is because it's related to this video because Sweden and Norway are also considered Nordic countries
Scandinavian countries and European countries
That's three different
Classifications and it confused the living daylights out of me and for some of you guys who are pondering the same
Why do they have three different titles? Well, here's the reason why I know you're wondering what is the differences?
I'm gonna get into that just chill for a second basically in the term of Scandinavia
It's used for countries like Denmark Sweden Norway and Finland, but for the term Nordic it's used for all the Scandinavian countries
Plus Greenland and the Faroe Islands and all that jazz
And of course the thing is because these countries are somewhat joined with Europe. They are classified as
European countries as well. Now, what's the difference? Here we go, because for Sweden it is a country of the Scandinavian
Countries that is part of the European Union and as a matter of fact, Norway
I was shocked to know this is
Actually not so you may be wondering why is Norway not a part of the European Union?
Well, it's not like they haven't had the opportunity
They've thought about it twice in history. As a matter of fact, these two particular times were in
1972 and 1994 and of course the European Union is meant to strengthen Europe as a whole
However, there's another program that's meant to do that and that is called NATO and another major difference is that Norway is a part of?
NATO and Sweden is not however, that doesn't mean that Sweden is like yo screw you NATO
I ain't taking part in any of your things. Nah, no not happening
Although Sweden is not classified as a NATO member
It does partake in a lot of exercises and operations that NATO is a part of so just so you know
Sweden actually cooperates with NATO and of the European countries as well
So it's not just kind of on its own saying screw you everybody now moving right along
Let's take a look at population because these two countries differ quite a bit Sweden has a population of 10 million two hundred
Fifteen thousand two hundred and fifty people, Norway
However has a population of almost half of that with five million three hundred and twenty three thousand nine
Hundred and thirty three people one also minor difference between these two countries is the amount of times the census has been taken
Sweden recently did theirs in
2018 and Norway hasn't done one since about
2011 and as a matter of fact the number that I just gave you is based off of a
2018 estimate but among all these people one really fascinating difference between these two is language
however
Similarity between these two countries is that their main languages is named around the type of people that are living within the country
For example, you got the Norwegians that speak Norwegian and got the Swedes that speak Swedish
However, one major difference is that Sweden also has a main official language that is in another country
and that example is the Swedish language is one of the official languages of
Finland and as a matter of fact in some military groups, I think the Jaeger Corps they actually use Sweden as their training tongue
It's pretty interesting
But however, if we're gonna give points to Norway
We got to mention the fact that Norway has two
Official languages where Sweden only has one and the second language in Norway
Besides Norwegian is the Sami language. Of course. The Sami language is also in Sweden
However, it is an officially recognized language. Not an official language. There is a little bit of a difference there
It's all about titling guys. That's how it works speaking about people. Let's dive boom splash dududuu into religion
So for both of these countries, we do have to acknowledge the fact that state and religion are officially separated
However, there is a difference between how the church still affects the state today
For example Sweden actually on January 1st of 2008
And the church should be separated
But in today's world the Church of Sweden is still a major influencer
and
actually
The royal family still has to confess a Lutheran faith and therefore because of that some people say that it is still in the gut
in some shape or form
however
For Norway things didn't really happen until May 21st of 2012 when the Church of Norway was granted autonomy
And before that officials of parliament were required to be members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. However,
As of January 1st of 2017 the church was made independent from the state and similar to Sweden
They do say that there are still some remaining church elements that are in the government. It's just hard to identify
What moving along let's get away from people and all that. Let's talk about UNESCO zones
They got a lot of them World Heritage Sites
I love them Norway has approximately 8 in total with one of them being a natural UNESCO zone Sweden
However has 15 of them one being natural and one being mixed with natural and cultural aspects and in Sweden one major one
I want to mention is the Engels Berg ironworks
Which was built in?
1681 and is the oldest most?
Well-preserved Swedish ironworks that helped develop a modern world of iron working in Norway
One of the coolest ones that I mean Sweden, I'm sorry, you don't have but Norway has and that is the fjords
These things are just so beautiful. I don't even need to talk about them guys
These are so famous that people come all over the world just to go check out these fjords
They go on like, you know cruises down them get photos and all that stuff. Oh, they're just so beautiful
I mean, I've always wanted to take a camera and just shoot that do all those fjords moving right along. Let's talk about sports
Okay, so winter sports are both really popular in the country, but there is a little bit of a difference for example
Bandy, which is the second biggest winter sport in the world is huge in Norway
Of course bandy is part of the hockey family, but in Sweden for their big winter sport, it is hockey
they
Love hockey there and on top of that the countries both like winter skiing and among other winter sports and let's not forget some summer
Sports like football which is they're both just crazy for it's nuts. So jumping back to culture for a sec one major thing
that's different between the people of Norway and the people of Sweden is
Smoking because in the country of Norway believe it or not more people smoke there than they do in
Sweden that being said for official numbers and statistics I can't give you an actual date
I did read somewhere that they said that 31% of adults do smoke in Norway
I think it was in 2010 but there
The writing wasn't a hundred percent. Let's just say and of course for these smokers. I'm talking about daily smokers
I'm not talking about the ones who you know have one with a drink from time to time with that being said in
2016 it was recorded that on an average there was approximately eight point eight percent of people who were classified as daily smokers
Oddly enough and I found this one weird that women make a higher percentage than men of that percentage
I was like what really wouldn't smoke more now that doesn't actually mean that people in Norway are consuming more tobacco
Not necessarily because in Sweden, although people are smoking less
It's been recorded that they have a high amount of people who are partaking in what is known as snus
I think it's called snus or snoozers something less and us
Basically, this is like a powdered like tobacco that you kind of put in your mouth. It's not like spitting or chewing tobacco
Where you spit it out this stuff actually kind of
Dissolves and I think evaporates for me
I'm not totally shocked by this number because of two major factors and that is Smiths
Originated in Sweden back in the 18th century and on top of that it is the only European
Country Sweden that is that allows people to consume snus
however
That being said because people are actually smoking cigarettes less Sweden managed to acquire the World Health
Organization goal to have 20% or less of its population smoking by the year 2000 also just an FYI
Snus in Sweden is also regulated by the sweet and food act
So it is quite an official thing that you can consume there also in both countries
You cannot smoke until you're 18 and also in bars
You can't smoke and some public places, especially where there's children around. You're not allowed to smoke
also
If we're gonna talk about smoking we might as well move on to alcohol laws because they're a little bit different as well in both
Countries you do have to be 18 years old to buy alcohol
however in Norway
you gotta be 20 years or older to buy spirits or hard liquor that has a percentage of
22% or higher also in Norway a lot of nightclubs frown upon having anybody under the age of 20 or 21 in them
Sweden it's very similar
however
It's a little more socially acceptable to be 18 and go into a bar
Nightclubs are still a little bit like they want older people. So that is kind of the list that I've got
But before I get out of here one major difference that I want to talk about between these two countries
Well Norway's gonna be a little bit higher on this one
so for Sweden
It might have the most southern town with maybe a little bit warmer climate in which for your information?
The most southern town in all of Sweden is a small fishing village by the name of smidge hook Norway
However, has the most northern settlement that is connected via a major road network. And this is the town known as
sparse vague on a side note in see al bird the country also has the most
Northern town ever and this is the town of ny-ålesund
Which has about 65 people within it also in the region of Shelburne
You can't forget that it has one really interesting
Fascinating thing within it and that it is home to the global Seed Vault which holds a collection of seeds from all the plants on
Earth and is meant to preserve life in case of a global catastrophe. So there you have it guys
That is me looking at the differences between Norway and Sweden. What are your thoughts on this?
Did you guys like this video? Are there any things that I forgot?
Because a lot of you guys are probably from those countries and you're like, hey, man, yo
There's some other cultural differences or just governmental differences
So be sure to leave them down there in the comment section below also for all you crazy Vikings out there go down there in
The description box below and play Viking war of clans. It's gonna be an awesome time
You're gonna have a great time head down there in the description box below and before you guys get out of here
Be sure to hit this card right here because I've got a playlist on Norway and a playlist on
Sweden also gonna put it at the end of the video and in the description box
So be sure to check it out on that. I'm Dave Walpole. I'm getting out of here not kidding guys. I'm doing the bounce
I did go to the bathroom. It's crazy. Bye
Wow
So you made it to the end, okay, so hit these playlists here if you want to learn more about Norway and Sweden
Hey if you just want to learn more about your own countries, I don't blame you
These are great places to live a little cold for me, but that's okay
Hit that subscribe button, and be sure to tune into us and learn about many different laces from around the world. Bye