Description: Sweden has not participated in any war for two centuries. An armed neutrality was preserved in both world wars. Sweden's long-successful economic formula of a capitalist system intermixed with substantial welfare elements was challenged in the 1990s by high unemployment and in 2000-02 and 2009 by the global economic downturns, but fiscal discipline over the past several years has allowed the country to weather economic vagaries. Sweden joined the EU in 1995, but the public rejected the introduction of the euro in a 2003 referendum. Located in Northern Europe, is temperate in the south with cold, cloudy winters and cool, partly cloudy summers and subarctic in north. Most Swedes live in the south. Notable successes include Rule of Law, Open Markets, and Regulatory Efficiency.