Post- och Inrikes Tidningar

Sweden, 1645 The strongest claim to the title of oldest newspaper still published. It began in 1645 as Ordinari Post Tijdender, launched on the state's initiative under Queen Christina and her chancellor Axel Oxenstierna. King Gustav III later gave the Swedish Academy the right to publish it, and Guinness lists it as the oldest existing weekly newspaper. The catch is what it publishes now. Its paper edition ended at the start of 2007, and it lives on as an online official journal of public notices, published through the Swedish Companies Registration Office. Readers expecting headlines will find bankruptcies and company announcements instead, which is exactly what continuity looks like for a government paper.