Introduction |
Facts |
Flag |
History |
Culture |
Geography |
Currency |
Economy |
Demographics |
Language |
Finland is a Nordic country, which located in northern Europe. Finland is surrounded by the Baltic Sea with the Gulf of Finland to the south and the Gulf of Bothnia to the west. More over it has land frontiers with Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east. Officially it is called the Republic of Finland. Helsinki is a capital as well as the largest city of the country. Finnish and Swedish are both official languages of the country.
Finland is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. Finland is ranked thirteen on the 2005 United Nations Human Development Index.
| Country Name : | Finland |
| Capital : | Helsinki |
| Largest City : | Helsinki |
| Official Language : | Finnish, Swedish |
| Government : | Parliamentary democracy |
| President : | Tarja Halonen |
| Prime Minister : | Matti Vanhanen |
| Area : | 338,145 kmē |
| Area Rank : | 64th |
| Population : | 5,255,580 |
| Population Rank : | 112th |
| Density : | 15/kmē |
| Density Rank : | 162nd |
| GDP Total : | $163 billion |
| GDP Total Rank : | 52nd |
| GDP per Capita : | $31,208 |
| GDP per Capita Rank : | 13th |
| Currency : | Euro |
| Time Zone : | EET (UTC+2) |
| Internet TLD : | .fi |
| Calling Code : | +358 |
| Geographic Coordinates : | 64 00 N, 26 00 E |
| Railways : | 5,851 km |
| Highways : | 78,168 km |
| Waterways : | 7,842 km |
| Internet Users : | 3.286 million |
| Radio Users : | 7.7 million |
| Mobile Users : | 4.988 million |
| Telephone Users : | 2.368 million |
| Population Growth : | 0.14% |
| Birth Rate : | 10.45 births/1,000 |
| Death Rate : | 9.86 deaths/1,000 |
| Airport : | 148 |
Description :
white with a blue cross extending to the edges of the flag; the vertical part of the cross is shifted to the hoist side in the style of the Dannebrog.
Finland was first settled around 8500 BC. At that time, the people were mostly hunter-gatherers.
The beginning of Finland's nearly 700-year association with the kingdom of Sweden is connected with the year 1154 and the hypothesized introduction of Christianity by Sweden's king Erik. The Swedish kingdom strove to push the borders eastward, which led to wars of varying success with Novgorod. The expansion was halted by the unification of Russia and was rolled back. During the 18th century, virtually all of Finland was Finland was twice occupied by Russian forces, known by the Finns as the Greater Warth and the Lesser Wrath During this time "Finland" became the predominant term for the whole land area from the Gulf of Bothnia to the Russian border, both in domestic Swdish debate and by Russians promising protection form "Swedish oppression".
On March 29, 1809 after being conquered by the armies of Russian Emperor Alexander I, Finland became an autonomous Grand Duchy under the Russian Empire until the end of 1917. During this time, Finnish started gaining recognition by both the imperial court and the governing bodies, first probably to sever the cultural and emotional ties with Sweden and thereafter from the 1860s onwards, as a result of a strong nationalist movement, known as the Fennoman movement.
After the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia Finland declared its independence on 6th of December 1917. The independence was approved by Bolshevist Russia but the civil wars followed in Russia and in Finland.
In 1918, the country had suffered a brief Civil War and as a result of this war, domestic politics formed in Finland. The Civil War was fought between "the whites", who gained support from Imperial Germany, and "the reds" supported by Bolshevist Russia. At last, the whites overcame the reds. Through the Treaty of Tartu in 1920, the Finnish Russian border was decided.
During the Second World War, Finland fought to the Soviet Union twice in the winter war of 1939-1940 and in the Continuation War of 1941-1944 in accordance with Operation Barbarossa in which Germany invaded the Soviet Union. The Lapland War of 1944-1945 followed this, when Finland forced the Germans out of northern Finland.
Finland signed treaties in 1947 and 1948 with the Soviet Union According to these treaties Finland ceded most of Finnish Karelia, Salla, and Petsamo, which amounted to 10% of land area, 20% of industrial capacity and 4,00,000 evacuees. The reparations to the Soviet Union forced Finland, to change its agrarian economy to an industrialized one and according to that most trade was with Western Countries.
After the Second World War, natural Finland lay in the gray zone between the western countries and the Soviet Union. The "YYA Treaty" gave the Soviet Union some leverage in Finnish domestic politics. Finland maintains a democratic government and market economy.
Education: - Schooling is free and compulsory in Finland between the ages of 7 and 16. All citizens of Finland are mostly literate. Except primary and secondary schools, Finland has many other different schools like folk high schools, folk academies and workers institutes. The adult education schools are operated privately or by municipalities or provinces and receive state subsidies. The first nine years of education (6 years of primary education and 3 years of secondary education) is compulsory. Finland maintains a system of secondary vocational education with schools of commerce, arts and crafts, domestic science, trade, agriculture and technology. Finland has 13 universities and some colleges and teacher-training schools. The largest of the universities is the University of Helsinki. Moreover, the University of Turku, the Helsinki School of Economics and business Administration, the University of Tampere and the University of oulu are other major institutions of Finland. In the OECD's international assessment of student performance, PISA, Finland, Finland has consistently been among the highest scorers worldwide in 2003 Finnish 15-year-old came firs in reading literacy and science and second in mathematics, world wide.
Art: - Finland's art is very famous. Finnish people are specialists in traditional handicrafts such as wood carvings and rugs with spirals, swastikas, and other simple, geometric designs. Finnish culture and art has been influenced by western European culture, mainly Sweden and Germany and recently American culture. Swish was spoken and it was the language of literature and government administration. Because the styles of Swedish art and architecture were largely derivative, many Finnish buildings and works of art related Italian, Flemish, German and other European influences. In the 19th century, educated people of Finland tried to improve the folk traditions of their country. Similarly, a national literature in the Finnish language emerged and finish style appeared increasingly in art and architecture.
Music: - Finland has a good wealth of folk music and church music.
Secular music has been started in Finland in the 17th century. During that time, an amateur Orchestra was formed in Turku. During the 19th century, the Finnish art music has been developed, due to the work of two great German-born musicians, which were composer Fredrik Pacius and conductor and collector of Finnish folk songs Richard Friend rich Fattin. Moreover, Martin Wegelius and Robert kajanus were also great Finnish musicians, of that time. During the 19th century, Jean Sibelius, the student of kajanus created a truly national musical style and won international recognition. Sibelius, Finlandia are outstanding examples of Finnish music.
Location: - Finland is located in northern Europe, which is surrounded by the Baltic Sea with the Gulf of Finland to the south and the Gulf of Bothnia to the west. It has land frontiers with Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east.
Landscape: - The Finnish landscape is mostly flat. Extensive boreal forests and little arable land dominate the landscape. The greater part of the islands are found in south-west, part of the group of the Aland Islands and along the southern coast in the Gulf of Finland is one of the few countries in the world that are still growing, the surface area of the country is growing by approximately 7 sq. km. a year.
Area: - The total area of the country is about 3,38,145 sq km.
Population: - According to the 2006 estimate, the total population of Finland is about 52,55,580 and its population density is about 15 persons per sq. km. so it is the most sparsely populated country in the world.
Lakes: - Finland has thousands of lakes. It has 1,87,888 lakes, among them Saimaa is the fifth largest lake in Europe.
Islands: - Finland has also many islands. It has 1,79,584 islands.
Mountains: - Finland has very few hills and its highest point is the Haltituntari, which is about 1328 meters high and it is found in the extreme north of Lapland.
Climate: - In Southern Finland, the climate is mostly temperate, while in Northern Finland, the climate is mostly cool due to cool winters and it has worm summers. Finland is near to the Atlantic so it became warm by the Gulf Stream.
A quarter of Finland's territory lies above the Arctic Circle and as a consequence the midnight sun can be experienced for more and more days, the further up north one comes. At Finland's northernmost point, the sun does not set for 73 days during summer and does not rise at all for 51 days in winter.
Capital: - Helsinki is a capital as well as the largest city of the country.
| 1.00 - (Finland ) | = | USD - (United States Dollars) |
| 1.00 USD - (United States Dollars) | = | - (Finland ) |
| Unit | Currency Name | EUR/Unit | Unit/EUR |
Today, Finland became one of the most globalize nations in the world. Moreover, it has a highly industrialized, largely free-market economy.
GDP: - According to the 2005 estimate, Finland's total GDP is about $163 billion.
Per capita GDP: - According to the 2005 estimate, Finland's per capita GDP is about $31,208. Which is equal to other western countries like Sweden, UK, France and Germany.
Key Economic Trades: - Finland's key economic trades are manufacturing of wood, metal, engineering telecommunication and electronic products.
Exports-Imports: - Trade is important, with exports equally almost one-third of GDP. Except for timber and several minerals, Finland depends on imports of raw materials, energy and some components for manufactured goods. Forestry is very important export earner.
Agriculture: - In Finland agriculture cannot be more developed because of its climate. So the agricultural product has been grown in insufficient quantity for its people. Forestry is a secondary occupation for the rural population.
Membership of EMU: - Finland was one of the 11 countries, which became the member of the Euro Monetary System. (EMU) on 1st of January 1999.
Population: - The population of Finland can be ethnically divided into two parts, such as 93% of the total populationis ethnic Finns and 6% of the total population is Swedish descents. About 2500 Saami inhabit the Arctic lands of the far north. Other minority groups including Russians make up less than 1% of Finland's population. From the beginning of 1990, the no. Of immigrants have been increased. Foreign-born residents contribute only 2% of the total
population due to this; Finland became the most ethnically homogenous country in the European Union. According to the 2006 estimate, the total population is about 52,55,580 and its population density is about 38.8 persons per sq meter, so it is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world.
Religion: - The Evangelical Lutheran Church is the main religion of Finland and approximately 83.1% of the population follows this religion. About 1% of the population re followers of the Finnish Orthodox church. These two churches are the sate churches of Finland. The remainder of the population is followers of Protestant denominations, Catholics Muslims and Jews. The constitution gives freedom of religion.
There are two official languages in Finland; Finnish and Swedish. Finnish is spoken by 92% of the population and Swedish is spoken by about 5.5% of the people of Finland. Russian and Estonian are other minority languages. To the north in Lapland Somi people are living, they speak Saami language. There are three Saami languages that are spoken in Finland, which are Northern Saami, Inari Sami and Skolt Sami.
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