Mälaren Valley

The term is often used interchangeably for the extended capital region of Sweden as Stockholm is located at the lake's eastern end, at its outlet in the Baltic Sea.

Notwithstanding this, most people in Sweden will have a clear notion of what characterises the Mälaren Valley, while few of them will be able to define what those characteristics are more precisely.

Arguably, this is because the region is not only homogeneous and has been so for many centuries, but also have had a tremendous influence on shared Swedish history and therefore never had to define its symbols or accentuate its distinctive features.

[1] Larger cities outside Greater Stockholm include Uppsala (population: 165,456), Västerås (128,534), Örebro (126,009), Södertälje (75,773) and Eskilstuna (70,342).

[2] As of 31 December 2020[update] more than 3.6 million people lived in this region, which may also be confined to a much smaller geographical area around Stockholm and Mälaren proper.