Finland (pronounced ), officially the
Republic of Finland ( ), is a
Nordic country situated in the
Fennoscandian region of
northern Europe.
It is
bordered by Sweden on the west,
Russia on the east, and Norway on the
north, while Estonia lies to its
south across the Gulf of
Finland. The capital city is Helsinki.
Around 5.3 million people reside in Finland, with the majority
concentrated in the southern part of the country. It is the
eighth largest country in Europe in terms of area and the most
sparsely
populated country in the
European
Union. The native language of nearly all of the population is
Finnish, which is a member of the
Finno-Ugric language family
and most closely related to
Estonian. The language is one of only four
official
EU
languages not of
Indo-European origin. The second
official language of Finland –
Swedish – is the
native language of 5.5 percent of the
population. Finland is a
parliamentary republic with a mostly Helsinki-based central
government and local governments in 348 municipalities.
A total of
about one million residents live in the Greater Helsinki area (which includes
Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen, and Vantaa), and a
third of the country's GDP is produced
there. Other major cities include Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Jyväskylä, Kuopio, and
Lahti.
Finland
was historically a part of Sweden and from 1809 an autonomous Grand Duchy within the
Russian
Empire. Finland's declaration of
independence from Russia in 1917 was
followed by a civil war, wars against the
Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, and a period of official
neutrality during the Cold War.
Finland joined the
United Nations in
1955, the
OECD in 1969, the
European Union in 1995, and the
eurozone since its beginning. Finland has been
ranked the
second most
stable country in the world, in a survey based on social,
economic, political, and military indicators.
Finland was a relative latecomer to
industrialization, remaining a largely
agrarian country until the 1950s.
Thereafter, economic development was rapid, and the country reached
the world's top income levels in the 1970s. Between 1970 and 1990,
Finland built an extensive welfare state. In the aftermath of the
country's severe depression in the early 1990s, successive
governments have reformed the Finnish economic system through some
privatisation,
deregulation, and tax cuts.
Finland is well placed in many
international comparisons of
national performance such as the share of high-technology
manufacturing and health care. The country is ranked 1st in the
2009 Legatum Prosperity
rating, which is based on economical performance and
quality of life.
Etymology
The name
Suomi (
Finnish
for "Finland") has uncertain origins but a candidate for a cognate
is the Proto-Baltic word
*zeme, meaning "land". In
addition to the close relatives of Finnish (the
Baltic-Finnic languages), this name
is also used in the
Baltic
languages Latvian and
Lithuanian. According to an earlier
theory the name was derived from
suomaa (
fen land) or
suoniemi (fen cape).
The
exonym Finland has
resemblance with, e.g., the Scandinavian placenames Finnmark, Finnveden and hundreds of
other toponyms starting with Fin(n) in Sweden and
Norway. Some of these names are obviously derived from
finnr, a Germanic word for a wanderer/finder and thus
supposedly meaning nomadic "
hunter-gatherers" or
slash and burn agriculturists as opposed to
the Germanic sedentary farmers and seafaring traders and pirates.
The term "Finn" often refers to
Sami
people, too.
Finn started referring to the people
of Finland
Proper after the 15th century, when the church appointed a
bishop — who became one of the most powerful men in the province —
over the whole area corresponding roughly to today's
Finland. The fact that there was no other ecclesiastical
authority of the same level, coupled with the Bishop's temporal
authority, engendered a sense of "the Finns" belonging to one
geographical area over which the name spread from the 15th century
onwards to refer to the people of the entire country.
Among the first documents to mention "a land of the Finns" are two
rune-stones.
There is one in Söderby, Sweden, with the inscription
finlont (U
582) and one in Gotland, a Swedish
island in the Baltic Sea, with the inscription finlandi
(G 319), dating
from the 11th century.
History
Prehistory
According to
archaeological evidence,
the area now comprising Finland was settled at the latest around
8500 BCE during the
Stone Age as the ice shield of the
last ice age receded. The artifacts the first
settlers left behind present characteristics that are shared with
those found in Estonia, Russia and Norway. The earliest people were
hunter-gatherers, using stone tools.
There is also evidence of carved stone animal heads. The first
pottery appeared in
3000 BCE
when settlers from the East brought in the
Comb Ceramic culture. The arrival of
the
Corded Ware culture in
southern coastal Finland between
3,000–2,500 BCE coincided with the start of
agriculture. Even with the introduction of agriculture, hunting and
fishing continued to be important parts of the subsistence economy,
especially in the northern and eastern parts of the country.
The
Bronze Age (1500–500 BCE) and
Iron Age (500 BCE–1200 CE) were
characterised by extensive contacts with other cultures in the
Fennoscandian and
Baltic regions. There is no consensus on when
Finno-Ugric languages and
Indo-European languages were
first spoken in the area of contemporary Finland.
The first verifiable written documents appeared in the 12th
century.
Swedish era (1249–1809)
[[File:Sweden in 1658.PNG|thumb|upright|The
Swedish Empire following the
Treaty of Roskilde of 1658.
]]
Swedish-speaking settlers arrived in the coastal regions during the
medieval time. Swedish kings
established their rule in 1249 . The
area of present-day Finland became a fully consolidated part of the
Swedish kingdom.
Swedish became the
dominant language of the nobility, administration and education;
Finnish was chiefly a language for
the
peasantry,
clergy
and local
courts in predominantly
Finnish-speaking areas. The
Bishop of
Turku was the most socially pre-eminent person in Finland
before the Reformation.
During the
Reformation, the
Finns gradually converted to
Lutheranism. In the 16th century,
Mikael Agricola published the first written
works in Finnish. The first university in Finland,
The Royal Academy of Turku, was
established in 1640. Finland suffered a severe
famine in 1696 -1697 and almost one third of the
population died. In the 18th century, wars between Sweden and
Russia led to the occupation of Finland twice by Russian forces,
wars known to the Finns as the
Greater Wrath (1714–1721) and the
Lesser Wrath
(1742–1743).
By this time Finland was the
predominant term for the whole area from the Gulf of
Bothnia to the Russian border.
Russian Empire era
On March
29, 1809, after being taken over by the armies of Alexander I of Russia in the Finnish War, Finland became an autonomous
Grand Duchy in the Russian
Empire until the end of 1917. During the Russian
era, the Finnish language started to gain recognition. From the
1860s onwards, a strong Finnish
nationalist movement, known as the
Fennoman movement, grew. Milestones
included the publication of what would become Finland's
national epic – the
Kalevala – in 1835, and the Finnish language's
achieving equal legal status with Swedish in 1892.
The
Finnish famine of
1866–1868 killed 15 percent of the population, making it one of
the largest famines in European history. The famine led the Russian
Empire to ease financial regulations, and investment rose in
following decades. Economic and political development was rapid.
The GDP per capita was still a half of United States and a third of
Great Britain.
In 1906,
universal suffrage was
adopted in the Grand Duchy of Finland. However, the relationship
between the Grand Duchy and the Russian Empire soured when the
Russian government made moves to restrict Finnish
autonomy. For example, the universal
suffrage was, in practice, virtually meaningless, since the tsar
did not have to approve any of the laws adopted by the Finnish
parliament. Desire for independence gained ground, first among
radical liberals and socialists.
Civil war and early independence
The road to civil war and independence
Soviet approval of Finland's
independence in Russian.
After the
February Revolution
the position of Finland as part of the Russian Empire was
questioned, mainly by the
Social Democrats.
Since the head of state was the
Czar of Russia,
it was not clear who was the chief executive of Finland after the
revolution. The parliament, controlled by social democrats, passed
the so-called
Power Law, which would give the highest
authority to the parliament. This was rejected by the
Russian Provisional
Government and by the right wing parties in Finland. The
Provisional Government dissolved the parliament by force, which the
social democrats considered illegal, since the right to do so was
stripped from the Russians by the
Power Law.
New elections were conducted, in which right wing parties won a
slim majority. Some social democrats refused to accept the result
and still claimed that the dissolution of the parliament (and thus
the ensuing elections) were extralegal. The two nearly equally
powerful political blocs, the right wing parties and the social
democratic party, were highly antagonized.
The
October Revolution in Russia
changed the game anew. Suddenly, the right-wing parties in Finland
started to reconsider their decision to block the transfer of
highest executive power from the Russian government to Finland, as
radical socialists took power in Russia. Rather than acknowledge
the authority of the
Power Law of a few months earlier,
the right-wing government
declared
independence.
The civil war
In 1918, months after the Russian October Revolution, the
revolutionary wing of the
Social Democratic Party
staged a coup.
They succeeded in controlling southern
Finland and Helsinki, but the right-wing government continued in
exile from Vaasa. The
stage was set for a brief but bitter
civil war.
The Whites, who were supported by Imperial Germany, prevailed over the Reds, supported by Bolshevist
Russia. After the war tens of thousands of Reds and
suspected sympathizers were interned in camps, where thousands died
by execution or from malnutrition and disease. Deep social and
political enmity was sown between the Reds and Whites and would
last until the Winter War and beyond. The civil war and
activist expeditions (see
Heimosodat) to the Soviet Union strained Eastern
relations.
The new republic
After
a brief
flirtation with monarchy, Finland became a presidential republic, with Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg elected as
its first president in 1919. The Finnish–Russian border was determined
by the Treaty
of Tartu in 1920, largely following the historic border but
granting Pechenga ( ) and its
Barents
Sea harbour to Finland. Finnish democracy did
not see any more Soviet coup attempts and survived the
anti-Communist
Lapua Movement.
The
relationship between Finland and the Soviet Union was tense. Germany's relations with Finland
were also not good. Military was trained in France instead and
relations to Western Europe and Sweden were strengthened.
In 1917 the population was 3 million. Credit-based
land reform was enacted after the civil war,
increasing the proportion of capital-owning population. About 70%
of workers were occupied in agriculture and 10% in industry. The
largest export markets were the United Kingdom and Germany. The
Great Depression in the early 1930s
was relatively light in Finland.
World War II
During
World War II, Finland fought the
Soviet
Union twice: in the Winter War
of 1939–40 after the Soviet Union had attacked Finland and in the
Continuation War of 1941–44,
following Operation Barbarossa,
in which Germany invaded the Soviet Union. After fighting a
major Soviet
offensive to a stand still, Finland made
peace with the Soviet Union. This was
followed by the
Lapland War of 1944–45,
when Finland forced the Germans out of northern Finland.
The treaties signed in 1947 and 1948 with the Soviet Union included
Finnish obligations, restraints, and reparations – as well as
further Finnish territorial concessions (cf. the
Moscow Peace Treaty of 1940).
Finland
was forced to cede most of Finnish
Karelia, Salla, and
Petsamo, which amounted to ten
percent of its land area and twenty percent of its industrial
capacity, including the ports of Vyborg (Viipuri)
and ice-free Liinakhamari (Liinahamari). Some 400,000 evacuees, mainly
women
and children, fled these
areas.
Finland had to reject
Marshall aid.
However, the United States provided secret development aid and
helped the still non-communist Social Democratic Party in hopes of
preserving Finland's independence.
Establishing trade with the Western
powers, such as the United Kingdom, and the reparations to the Soviet Union caused
Finland to transform itself from a primarily agrarian economy to an industrialised one. For example,
the Valmet corporation was founded to create materials for war
reparations. Even after the reparations had been paid off, Finland
– poor in certain resources necessary for an industrialized nation
(such as iron and oil) – continued to trade with the Soviet Union
in the framework of
bilateral
trade.
Cold War
In 1950 half of the Finnish workers were occupied in agriculture
and a third lived in urban areas. The new jobs in manufacturing,
services and trade quickly attracted people to the towns. The
average number of births per woman declined from a
baby boom peak of 3.5 in 1947 to 1.5 in 1973.
When
baby-boomers entered the workforce, the economy did not generate
jobs fast enough and hundreds of thousands emigrated to the more
industrialized Sweden, with
emigration peaking in 1969 and 1970. The
1952 Summer Olympics brought
international visitors.
Finland took part in trade liberalization in
the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade.
Officially claiming to be
neutral,
Finland lay in the grey zone between the
Western countries and the Soviet Union. The
YYA Treaty (Finno-Soviet
Pact of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance) gave the
Soviet Union some leverage in Finnish domestic politics. This was
extensively exploited by President
Urho
Kekkonen against his opponents. He maintained an effective
monopoly on Soviet relations from 1956 on, which was crucial for
his continued popularity. In politics, there was a tendency of
avoiding any policies and statements that could be interpreted as
anti-Soviet. This phenomenon was given the name "
Finlandisation" by the German press (fi.
suomettuminen). Self-censorship vis-à-vis anything
negative associated with the Soviet Union was prevalent in the
media. Public libraries pulled from circulation thousands of books
that were considered anti-Soviet, and the law made it possible for
the authorities to directly censor movies with supposedly
anti-Soviet content. Asylum-seeking Soviet citizens were frequently
returned to the Soviet Union by the Finnish authorities.
Despite close relations with the Soviet Union, Finland remained a
Western European market economy. Various industries benefited from
trade privileges with the Soviets, which explains the widespread
support that pro-Soviet policies enjoyed among business interests
in Finland. Economic growth was rapid in the postwar era, and by
1975 Finland's GDP per capita was the 15th highest in the world. In
the 1970s and 1980s, Finland built one of the most extensive
welfare states in the world. Finland
also negotiated with the
EEC (a predecessor of the
European Union) a treaty that mostly abolished customs duties
towards the EEC starting from 1977, although Finland did not fully
join. In 1981, President
Urho
Kekkonen's failing health forced him to retire after holding
office for 25 years.
Miscalculated macroeconomic decisions, a banking crisis, the
collapse of a primary trading partner (the Soviet Union) and a
global economic downturn caused a deep recession in Finland in the
early 1990s. The depression bottomed out in 1993, and Finland has
seen steady economic growth ever since.
Recent history
Like other Nordic countries, Finland has liberalized its economy
since the late 1980s. Financial and product market regulation was
loosened. Some state enterprises have been privatized and there
have been some modest tax cuts. Finland joined the
European Union in 1995, and the
Eurozone in 1999.
The population is aging with the
birth rate at 10.42 births
per 1,000 population, or a
fertility
rate of 1.8. With a median age of 41.6 years, Finland is one of
the oldest countries; half of voters are estimated to be over 50
years old. Like most European countries, without further reforms or
much higher immigration, Finland is expected to struggle with
demographics, even though macroeconomic projections are healthier
than in most other developed countries.
Geography and environment
Topography and geology
Finland is a country of thousands of lakes and islands – 187,888
lakes (larger than 500 m²) and 179,584 islands.
One of these lakes,
Saimaa, is the
fourth largest in Europe. The Finnish landscape
is mostly flat with few hills, and its highest point, the Halti at 1,324
metres, is found in the extreme north of Lapland at the border between Finland and Norway.
The landscape is covered mostly (seventy-five percent of land area)
by coniferous
taiga forests and
fens, with little
arable
land. The most common type of rock is
granite. It is a ubiquitous part of the scenery,
visible wherever there is no soil cover.
Moraine or
till is the most
common type of soil, covered by a thin layer of
humus of biological origin.
Podzol profile development is seen in most forest
soils except where drainage is poor.
Gleysols and
peat bogs
occupy poorly drained areas.
The greater part of the islands are found in
the southwest in the Archipelago Sea, part of the archipelago
of the Åland
Islands, and along the southern coast in the Gulf of
Finland.
Finland is one of the few countries in the world whose surface area
is still expanding. Owing to the
post-glacial rebound that has been
taking place since the last
ice age, the
surface area of the country is expanding by about a year.
The
distance from the southernmost – Hanko – to the
northernmost point in the country – Nuorgam – is in driving distance, which would take
approximately 18.5 hours to drive. The distance is
comparable to that in Great Britain (Land's End to John o'
Groats – and 16.5 h).
Wildlife
Spruce forest in southern
Finland
Phytogeographically, Finland is
shared between the Arctic, central European and northern European
provinces of the
Circumboreal
Region within the
Boreal Kingdom.
According to the
WWF, the
territory of Finland can be subdivided into three
ecoregions: the
Scandinavian and Russian
taiga,
Sarmatic mixed
forests and
Scandinavian
Montane Birch forest and grasslands. Actual
tundra with permafrost is not found in Finland except
for a narrow area in the extreme north. Similarly, temperate
broadleaf mixed forests, with oak, elm, hazel and maple growing in
the wild, are found only in the narrow area extreme south.
All terrestrial life in Finland was completely wiped out during the
last
ice age that ended some 10,000 years
ago, following the retreat of the glaciers and the appearance of
vegetation.Today, there are over 1,200 species of
vascular plant, 800
bryophytes and 1,000
lichen
species in Finland, with flora being richest in the southern parts
of the country. Plant life, like most of the Finnish
ecology, is well adapted to tolerate the contrasting
seasons and extreme weather.
Many plant species, such as the Scots pine, spruce, and
birch, spread throughout Finland from Norway and only
reached the western coast less than three millennia
ago.
Similarly, Finland has a diverse and extensive range of fauna.
There are at least sixty native
mammalian
species, 248 breeding bird species, over seventy fish species and
eleven reptile and frog species present today, many migrating from
neighboring countries thousands of years ago.
Large and widely recognized wildlife mammals found in Finland are
the
brown bear (the national animal),
gray wolf,
elk
(moose) and
reindeer. Other common mammals
include the
red fox,
red squirrel, and
mountain hare. Some rare and exotic species
include the
flying
squirrel,
golden eagle,
Saimaa ringed seal and
Arctic fox. Two of the more striking birds are
the
Whooper Swan, a large European swan
and the national bird of Finland, and the
Capercaillie, a large, black-plumaged member of
the
grouse family. The latter is considered
an indicator of
old-growth forest
connectivity, and has been declining due to landscape
fragmentation. The most common breeding birds are the
willow warbler,
chaffinch and
redwing. Of
some seventy species of freshwater fish, the
northern pike,
perch and
others are plentiful.
Atlantic
salmon remains the favorite of
fly
rod enthusiasts.
The
endangered Saimaa Ringed Seal,
one of only three lake seal species in the world, exists only in
the Saimaa lake system
of southeastern Finland, down to only 300 seals today. It
has become the emblem of the Finnish Association for Nature
Conservation.Due to extensive hunting, animals such as
deer,
Golden eagle,
Brown bear and
Eurasian lynx all experienced significant
declines in population. Their numbers have increased again in the
2000s, mainly as a result of careful conservation and the
establishment of vast
national parks.
Climate
Viinikkala
The Finnish climate is suitable for grain farming in the
southernmost regions, but not further north.
Finland has a humid and cool semi continental climate. The
climate type in southern Finland is a northern
temperate climate. Winters of southern
Finland (average temperature of day is below 0 °C) are usually 4–5
months long, and the snow covers the land about 4 months of every
year, and in the southern coast, it can melt many times during
winter, and then come again. The coldest winter days of southern
Finland are usually -20 °C, and the warmest days of July and early
August can be 25-30 °C. Summers in the southern Finland last 4
months (from the mid of May to mid of September).
In Northern Finland,
particularly in the Province of Lapland, a subarctic
climate dominates, characterized by cold – occasionally severe
– winters and relatively warm summers. Winters in north
Finland are nearly 7 months long, and snow covers the land almost
6–7 months every year. Summers in the north are quite short, only
2–3 months. The highest temperatures on the warmest summer days of
July, are rarely above 20-25 °C in northern Finland. The main
factor influencing Finland's climate is the country's geographical
position between the 60th and 70th northern parallels in the
Eurasian continent's coastal zone, which
shows characteristics of both a
maritime and a
continental climate, depending on the
direction of air flow.
Finland is near enough to the Atlantic
Ocean to be continuously warmed by the Gulf Stream, which explains the unusually warm
climate considering the absolute latitude.
A quarter of Finland's territory lies above the
Arctic Circle and the
midnight sun can be experienced – for more
days, the farther north one travels. At Finland's northernmost
point, the sun does not set for 73 consecutive days during summer,
and does not rise at all for 51 days during winter.
Demographics
Population of Finland, 1750–2000
Year |
Population |
Year |
Population |
1750 |
421,000 |
1880 |
2,060,800 |
1760 |
491,000 |
1890 |
2,380,100 |
1770 |
561,000 |
1900 |
2,655,900 |
1780 |
663,000 |
1910 |
2,943,400 |
1790 |
705,600 |
1920 |
3,147,600 |
1800 |
832,700 |
1930 |
3,462,700 |
1810 |
863,300 |
1940 |
3,695,617 |
1820 |
1,177,500 |
1950 |
4,029,803 |
1830 |
1,372,100 |
1960 |
4,446,222 |
1840 |
1,445,600 |
1970 |
4,598,336 |
1850 |
1,636,900 |
1980 |
4,787,778 |
1860 |
1,746,700 |
1990 |
4,998,478 |
1870 |
1,768,800 |
2000 |
5,181,000 |
Population
Finland currently numbers 5,350,156 inhabitants and has an average
population density of 17 inhabitants per square kilometre.
This
makes it, after Norway and Iceland, the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Finland's population has always been
concentrated in the southern parts of the country, a phenomenon
even more pronounced after 20th century
urbanisation.
The biggest and most important cities in
Finland are the cities of the Greater
Helsinki metropolitan area –
Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa.
Other
large cities include Tampere, Turku and Oulu.
The share of foreign citizens in Finland is 2.5 percent, among the
lowest in the European Union. Most of them are from Russia, Estonia
and Sweden.
Languages
Most of the
Finnish people (92 percent) speak
Finnish as their mother tongue. Finnish is a member of the
Baltic-Finnic subgroup of the
Uralic languages and is
typologically between
inflected and
agglutinative languages. It modifies
and
inflects the forms of
nouns,
adjectives,
pronouns,
numerals and
verbs, depending on their roles in the
sentence. In practice, this means that instead of
prepositions and
prefixes there is a great variety of
different
suffixes and that
compounds form a considerable
percentage of the vocabulary of Finnish. It has been estimated that
approximately 65–70 percent of all words in Finnish are compounds.
A close linguistic relative to the Finnish language is
Estonian, which, though similar in many
aspects, is not mutually intelligible with it. These languages,
together with
Hungarian (all
members of the
Uralic language
family), and
Basque are the
primary non-
Indo-European
languages spoken in Europe.
Finland is one of three independent
countries where an Uralic language
is spoken by the majority, the other two being Estonia and Hungary.
The largest minority language and the second official language is
Swedish spoken by 5.6 percent of
the population. Other minority languages are
Russian (0.8 percent),
Estonian (0.3 percent),
Finnish Romani, and
Finnish Sign Language (used as a first
language by 4,000–5,000 people).
To the north, in Lapland, are also the Sami
people, numbering around 7,000 and recognized as an indigenous people. About a quarter
of them speak a
Sami language as their
mother tongue. There are three Sami languages that are spoken in
Finland:
Northern Sami,
Inari Sami and
Skolt
Sami. The right of the minority groups (in particular
Sami,
Swedish-speaking Finns and
Romani people) to cherish their culture and
language is protected by the constitution.
In a 2005
Eurobarometer survey
studying
languages of
the European Union, 60% of adult residents claimed to know
English, 38% claimed to know
Swedish as a second language (41%
in 2008), and 17% claimed to know
German. Ranking those claiming a knowledge
of English, Finland ranked fifth behind Malta, the Netherlands
(86%), Sweden (85%), and Denmark (83%). Relatively many Finns knew
German, while relatively few knew French or Spanish.
Religion
Religion in
Finland
|
year |
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland |
Finnish Orthodox Church |
Other (Islam etc) |
Not religious |
1950 |
95.7% |
1.7% |
0.4 % |
2.7 % |
1980 |
90.3% |
1.1% |
0.7 % |
7.8% |
1990 |
87.9% |
1.1% |
0.9 % |
10.2 % |
2000 |
85.1% |
1.1% |
1.1 % |
12.7 % |
2005 |
83.1% |
1.1% |
1.1 % |
14.7 % |
2006 |
82.5% |
1.1% |
1.2 % |
15.1 % |
2007 |
81.8% |
1.1% |
1.2 % |
15.9 % |
2008 |
80.7% |
1.1% |
1.3 % |
16.9 % |
|
Most Finns are members of the shrinking
Evangelical Lutheran
Church of Finland (80.7 percent). With approximately 4.3
million members, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland is one
of the largest Lutheran churches in the world, although its
membership is - especially lately see overview in table - on the
decline. The second largest and growing group of 16.9 percent of
the population has no religious affiliation. A small minority
belong to the
Finnish Orthodox
Church (1.1 percent; see
Eastern Orthodox Church). Other
Protestant denominations and the
Roman Catholic Church in
Finland are significantly smaller, as are the
Muslim,
Jewish and other
non-Christian communities (totaling 1.2 percent).
During the prehistoric, ancient and early mediaeval periods of
Finnish history,
Finnish paganism
was the majority religion. It has been revived recently through the
form of
Finnish
neopaganism.
The main Lutheran and Orthodox churches are constitutional
national churches of Finland with special
roles such as in state ceremonies and schools. A university degree
in theology is compulsory for Lutheran priests. Representatives at
Lutheran Church assemblies are selected in church elections every
four years.
Most children are baptized and have confirmation at the age of 15
and nearly all funerals are Christian, however the majority of
Lutherans attend church only for special occasions like Christmas
ceremonies, weddings and funerals. According to a somewhat outdated
2005
Eurobarometer poll, 41 percent of
Finnish citizens responded that "they believe there is a God"; 41
percent answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or
life force"; and 16 percent that "they do not believe there is any
sort of spirit, God, or life force".
Family structure
Finnish family life is centered on the
nuclear family. Relations with the
extended family are often rather distant,
and Finnish people do not form politically significant clans,
tribes or similar structures. According to
UNICEF, Finland ranks fourth
in the world in child well-being.
Health
There are 307 residents for each doctor. About 18.9 % of health
care is funded directly by households and 76.6 % by the public and
other insurances. Finland limits medicine sales to about 800
licensed pharmacies. Some significant institutions include Ministry
of Health and
National Public
Health Institute.
In a comparison of 16 countries by
Swedish Association of Local
Authorities and Regions, Finland used the least resources and
got an average result, making Finland the most efficient public
sector health service producer according to the study's
authors.
The
life expectancy is 82 years for
women and 75 years for men. After having one of the highest death
rates from
heart disease in the world
in the 1970s, improvements in the
Finnish diet and exercise have paid off.
Finland has exceptionally low smoking rates: 26 % for males and 19
% for females.
Finland's health problems are similar to other developed countries:
circulatory diseases make up about half of all causes of death and
cancer is the second most common cause of
death.
The total annual consumption of pure alcohol by residents is lower
than other European countries, even though heavy drinking is common
at parties on the weekend. However, becoming intoxicated has
remained the central characteristic of Finnish drinking habits. In
the working-age population, diseases or accidents caused by alcohol
consumption have recently surpassed coronary artery disease as the
biggest single cause of death.
Schools teach sports, health and hands-on cooking classes. Finnish
schoolchildren have one of the lowest amounts of sport classes in
the European Union and according to National Public Health
Institute only a third of adults exercise enough.National Public
Health Institute claims that 54 % of males and 38 % of females are
overweight, while other estimates put the rates at 70 % and 50 %.
The rate of
diabetes is predicted to grow
to 15 % by 2015. Finland has the world's highest rate of
Type I diabetes.
Administrative divisions
The largest subdivisions are the
six administrative provinces
(lääni, pl. läänit), which mainly
function as divisions of the state organisation, i.e. police,
prosecutors, and other state services operate under their
administration.
After 1997 reforms the provinces have been
Southern
Finland, Western
Finland, Eastern
Finland, Oulu, Lapland, Åland.
The
province of Åland
Islands is autonomous.
The fundamental administrative divisions of the country are the
municipalities, which may also call themselves towns or cities.
They account for half of public spending. Spending is financed by
municipal income tax, state subsidies, and other revenue. As of
2009, there are 348 municipalities and most have less than 6,000
residents. People often identify with their municipality.
In addition to municipalities, two intermediate levels are defined.
Municipalities co-operate in seventy-four
sub-regions and twenty
regions. These are governed by the member
municipalities, but have only limited powers.
The Åland region has a permanent, democratically elected
regional council as a part of the autonomy. In the Kainuu region,
there is a pilot project underway, with regional elections.
Sami people have a semi-autonomous Sami
Domicile Area in Lapland for issues on language and culture.
In the following chart, the number of inhabitants includes those
living in the entire
municipality
(
kunta/kommun), not just in the built-up area. The land
area is given in km², and the density in inhabitants per km² (land
area). The figures are as of .
Notice that the capital region – comprising Helsinki, Vantaa, Espoo and Kauniainen (see Greater
Helsinki) – forms a continuous conurbation of one million people.
However, common administration is limited to voluntary cooperation
of all municipalities, e.g. in
Helsinki Metropolitan Area
Council.
Largest cities
Politics and government
The
Constitution of Finland
defines the political system. Finland is a representative democracy
with a
semi-presidential parliamentary system. Aside from
state-level politics, residents use their vote in municipal
elections and in the
European Union
elections.
According to the Constitution, the
President is the
head of state and responsible for
foreign policy (which excludes
affairs related to the
European
Union) in cooperation with the
cabinet. Other powers include
Commander-in-Chief, decree, and
appointive powers. Direct vote is used to elect the president for a
term of six years and maximum two consecutive terms. The current
president is
Tarja Halonen
(SDP).
The 200-member
unicameral Parliament of Finland exercises the
supreme legislative authority in Finland. The parliament may alter
laws, the constitution, bring about the resignation of the Council
of State, and override presidential
vetoes. Its
acts are not subject to judicial review. Various parliament
committees listen to experts and prepare legislation. Proportional
vote in multi-seat constituencies is used to elect the parliament
for a term of four years.
The Speaker of
Parliament is currently
Sauli
Niinistö (National Coalition Party). The cabinet (the
Finnish Council of State) exercises
most executive powers. It is headed by the
Prime Minister of Finland and
includes other ministers and the
Chancellor of Justice.
Parliament majority decides its composition and a vote of no
confidence can be used to modify it. The current prime minister is
Matti Vanhanen (Centre Party).
Since
equal and common suffrage
was introduced in 1906, the parliament has been dominated by the
Centre Party (former Agrarian
Union),
National
Coalition Party, and
Social Democrats, which
have approximately equal support, and represent 65–80 percent of
voters. After 1944
Communists were a factor to
consider for a few decades. The relative strengths of the parties
vary only slightly in the elections due to the proportional
election from multi-member districts, but there are some visible
long-term trends. The autonomous Åland islands has separate
elections, where
Liberals for
Åland was the largest party in
2007 elections.
After the
parliamentary elections on
March 18, 2007, the seats were divided among eight parties as
follows:
Foreign relations
According to the latest constitution of 2000, the President
(currently
Tarja Halonen) leads
foreign policy in cooperation with the government (currently Prime
Minister
Matti Vanhanen and Foreign
Minister
Alexander Stubb), except
that the government leads EU affairs.
During the Cold War, Finland conducted its foreign policy in
association with the Soviet Union and simultaneously stressed
Nordic cooperation (as a member of the
Nordic Council). After the
collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Finland freed itself from
the last restrictions imposed on it by the
Paris peace treaties of 1947 and
the Finno-Soviet
Agreement
of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance. Although
opposed by socialists and agrarians, the government filed an EU
membership application three months after the dissolution of the
USSR and became a member in 1995. Finland did not attempt to join
NATO, even though other post-Soviet countries in the Baltic sea and
elsewhere joined. Nevertheless, defense policymakers have quietly
converted to NATO equipment and contributed troops.
President
Martti Ahtisaari and the
coalition governments led Finland closer to the core EU in the late
1990s. In 2008 Ahtisaari was awarded the
Nobel Peace Price. Finland was considered
a cooperative model state, and Finland did not oppose proposals for
a common EU defence policy. This was reversed in the 2000s, when
Tarja Halonen and
Erkki Tuomioja made Finland's official policy
to resist other EU members' plans for common defense. However,
Halonen allowed Finland to join
European Union Battlegroups in
2006 and the
NATO Response Force
in 2008.
Law
The courtroom of Raasepori District
Court
The
judicial system of
Finland is a
civil law
system divided between
courts with regular
civil and criminal jurisdiction and
administrative courts with jurisdiction
over litigation between the individuals and the public
administration. Finnish law is codified and based on Swedish law
and in a wider sense, civil law or
Roman
law. The court system for civil and criminal jurisdiction
consists of local courts (
käräjäoikeus), regional
appellate courts (
hovioikeus), and the
Supreme Court
(
korkein oikeus). The administrative branch of justice
consists of administrative courts (
hallinto-oikeus) and
the
Supreme
Administrative Court (
korkein hallinto-oikeus). In
addition to the regular courts, there are a few special courts in
certain branches of administration. There is also a
High Court
of Impeachment for criminal charges against certain
high-ranking officeholders.
The abovementioned local court of first instance
(
käräjäoikeus) for civil and criminal cases consists of
professional judges, or, in complex cases, 1—2 professional judges
and 3—4 lay judges (
lautamies) appointed by municipal
councils. Administrative courts, appellate courts and supreme
courts consist of professional judges only.
Like the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, Finland has no constitutional court, and courts
may not strike down laws or pronounce on their
constitutionality. In principle, the constitutionality of
laws in Finland is verified by
parliament's constitutional law
committee and a simple vote in the parliament.
Around 92% of residents are confident in Finland's security
institutions.
Crime in Finland has
some unique features. The overall crime rate of Finland is not high
in the
EU context. Some crime types are above
average, notably the highest
homicide rate
in Western Europe. Crime is prevalent among lower educational
groups and is often committed by intoxicated persons. A
day fine system is in effect and also applied to
offences such as speeding. Jail sentences tend to be among the
world's lowest, with an official emphasis on rehabilitation.
Finland has successfully fought against the corruption which was
larger in the 1970s and 1980s. For instance, economic reforms and
EU membership introduced stricter requirements for open bidding and
many public monopolies were abolished. Today Finland has a very low
number of corruption charges;
Transparency International ranks
Finland as one of the least corrupted countries. Also, Finland's
public records are among the world's most transparent.
Military
The Finnish Defence Forces consists of a
cadre of professional soldiers (mainly officers and
technical personnel), currently serving conscripts and a large
reserve. The standard readiness strength is 34,700 people in
uniform, of which 25% are professional soldiers. A universal male
conscription is in place, under which
all male Finnish nationals above 18 years of age serve for 6 to 12
months of armed service or 12 months of civilian (non-armed)
service. Alternative
non-military
service and volunteer service by women (chosen by around 500
annually) are possible. Finland is the only non-NATO EU country
bordering Russia. Finland's official policy states that the 350,000
reservists, armed mostly with ground weaponry are a sufficient
deterrent. Finland has one of the largest armies in the world per
capita.
The
Finnish Defense Forces favor partnerships with Western institutions
such as NATO, WEU and the EU, but are careful to
avoid politics. Finland's defence budget equals about €2
billion or about 1.4–1.6 % of the
GDP. In international comparisons
Finnish defense expenditure is around the third highest in the EU.
Voluntary overseas service is popular and troops serve around the
world in UN, NATO and EU peace-keeping missions. Residents claim
around 80 % homeland defense willingness, one of the highest rates
in Europe. The Finnish Defence Forces are under the command of the
Chief of Defence
(currently
Ari Puheloinen), who is
directly subordinate to the
President of the Republic in matters
related to military command. The branches of the military are the
Finnish Army,
Finnish Navy and
Finnish Air Force. The
Border Guard is under the Ministry of
the Interior but can be incorporated into the Defence Forces when
required for defence readiness.
Economy
Finland
has a highly industrialized free-market economy with a per capita output equal to that of other western
economies such as France, Germany, Belgium or the UK. The
largest sector of the economy is services at 65.7 %, followed by
manufacturing and refining at 31.4 %.
Primary production is at 2.9
%. With respect to
foreign
trade, the key economic sector is
manufacturing. The largest industries are
electronics (21.6 %), machinery,
vehicles and other engineered metal products (21.1 %), forest
industry (13.1 %), and chemicals (10.9 %). Finland has
timber and several mineral and freshwater resources.
Forestry, paper factories, and the
agricultural sector (on which taxpayers spend
around 3 billion euro annually) are politically sensitive to rural
residents. The
Greater Helsinki
area generates around a third of
GDP. In a 2004 OECD comparison,
high-technology manufacturing in Finland ranked second largest
after Ireland. Knowledge-intensive services have also ranked the
smallest and slow-growth sectors – especially agriculture and
low-technology manufacturing – second largest after Ireland.
Overall short-term outlook was good and GDP growth has been above
many EU peers. Inflation has been low, averaging 1.8 % between 2004
and 2006.
Real GDP growth, 1998–2007.
Finland is highly integrated in the global economy, and
international trade is a third of GDP. The European Union makes 60
% of the total trade.
The largest trade flows are with Germany,
Russia, Sweden, United Kingdom, USA, Netherlands and China.
Trade policy is managed by the European Union, where Finland has
traditionally been among the free trade supporters, except for
agriculture. Finland is the only Nordic country to have joined the
Eurozone.
The 40 largest Finland-registered companies by turnover in 2007 or
2006 were (
Oy and Oyj abbreviations
removed):
Nokia,
Stora Enso,
Neste Oil,
UPM-Kymmene,
Kesko,
SOK,
Metsäliitto,
Outokumpu,
Metso,
Tamro,
Fortum,
Sampo,
Kone,
Elcoteq,
Rautaruukki,
Wärtsilä,
YIT,
Varma,
Cargotec,
Sanoma,
Kemira,
Ilmarinen Keskinäinen Eläkevakuutusyhtiö,
TeliaSonera Finland,
Luvata International (former Outokumpu
Copper),
Huhtamäki,
Finnair,
Lemminkäinen,
HKScan,
Onvest,
RTF Auto,
Tieto,
Ahlstrom,
Konecranes,
Valio,
ABB,
Itella,
Amer Sports,
Teboil,
Elisa, and
Myllykoski.
Private sector employees amount to 1.8 million, out of which around
a third with tertiary education. The average cost of a private
sector employee per hour was 25.1 euro in 2004. As of 2008 average
purchasing power-adjusted income levels are similar to those of
Italy, Sweden, Germany, and France. In 2006, 62 % of the workforce
worked for enterprises with less than 250 employees and they
accounted for 49 % of total business turnover and had the strongest
rate of growth . The female employment rate is high. Gender
segregation between male-dominated professions and female-dominated
professions is higher than in the US. The proportion of part-time
workers was one of the lowest in OECD in 1999.
Employment rate 68 % and unemployment rate was 6.8 % in early 2008.
18 % of residents are outside job market at the age of 50 and less
than a third working at the age of 61.
Unfunded pensions and
other promises such as health insurances are a dominate future
liability, though Finland is much better prepared than countries
such as France or
Germany. Directly held
public
debt has been reduced to around 32 percent of GDP in 2007. In
2007, the average household savings rate was -3.8 and
household debt 101 percent of annual
disposable income, a typical level in Europe.
Home ownership rate is 60 %.
As of 2006, 2.4 million households reside in Finland. The average
size is 2.1 persons; 40 % of households consist of a single person,
32 % two persons and 28 % three or more persons. Residential
buildings total 1.2 million and the average residential space is 38
m
2 per person. The average residential property without
land costs 1,187 euro per sq metre and residential land 8.6 euro
per sq metre. 74 % of households had a car. There are 2.5 million
cars and 0.4 million other vehicles.Around 92 % have a mobile phone
and 58 %
Internet
connection at home. The average total household consumption was
20,000 euro, out of which housing consisted of about 5500 euro,
transport about 3000 euro, food and beverages excluding alcoholic
at around 2500 euro, recreation and culture at around 2000 euro.
Purchasing power-adjusted average household consumption is about
the same level as it is in Germany, Sweden and Italy. According to
Invest in Finland, private consumption grew by 3 % in 2006 and
consumer trends included durables, high quality products, and
spending on well-being.
Education and science
Most pre-tertiary education is arranged at municipal level.
Even
though many or most schools were started as private schools, today
only around 3 % students are enrolled in private schools (mostly
Helsinki-based schools such as SYK), many times less than in Sweden and most other
developed countries. Pre-school education is rare compared
to other EU countries. Formal education is usually started at the
age of 7. The primary school takes normally 6 years, the lower
secondary school 3 years, and most schools are managed by municipal
officials. The flexible curriculum is set by the Ministry of
Education and the Education Board. Attendance is compulsory between
the ages of 7 and 16. According to
PISA
assessments of the age group 15, Finnish students had a high
average score and a low variation among schools and students.
McKinsey has attributed the result distribution to high teacher
education (Master's degree), high continuing teacher training, and
emphasis on laggards. After lower secondary school, graduates may
either enter the workforce directly, or apply to trade schools or
gymnasiums (upper secondary schools).
Trade school prepare for professions.
Academically oriented
gymnasium
have higher entrance requirements and specifically prepare for
Abitur and tertiary education. Graduation
from either formally qualifies for tertiary education.
In tertiary education, two, mostly separate and non-interoperating
sectors are found: the profession-oriented polytechnics and the
research-oriented
universities. Finns
used to take student loans and scholarships, but for the past
decades the financial risk has been moved solely to the government.
There are 20 universities and 30 polytechnics in the country. The
World Economic Forum ranks
Finland's tertiary education #1 in the world. Around 33% of
residents have a tertiary degree, similar to Nordics and more than
in most other OECD countries except Canada (44%), United States
(38%) and Japan(37%). The proportion of foreign students is 3% of
all tertiary enrolments, one of the lowest in OECD, while in
advanced programs it is 7.3%, still below OECD average 16.5%.
More than 30 % of tertiary graduates are in science-related fields.
Finnish researchers are leading contributors to such fields as
forest improvement, new materials, the environment, neural
networks, low-temperature physics, brain research, biotechnology,
genetic technology and communications.
Finland is highly productive in scientific research. In 2005,
Finland had the fourth most scientific publications per capita of
the
OECD
countries. In 2007, 1801 patents were filed in Finland.
Energy
Anyone can enter the free and largely privately owned
Nordic energy market traded in
Nord Pool exchange, which has provided competitive
prices compared to other EU countries.
As of 2007, Finland
has roughly the lowest industrial electricity prices in the
EU-15 (equal to France).
In 2006, the energy market was around 90 terawatt hours and the
peak demand around 15
gigawatts in winter.
This means that the
energy
consumption per capita is around 7.2 tons of oil equivalent per
year. Industry and construction consumed 51% of total consumption,
a relatively high figure reflecting Finland's industries.
Finland's
hydrocarbon resources are limited to
peat and wood, while
neighboring Norway has oil and
Estonia oil shale. Finland has little
hydropower capacity compared to Sweden or Norway.
Most energy demand is satisfied with
fossil
fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas.
Finland has four
privately owned nuclear reactors producing 18 percent of the
country's energy, one research reactor in Otaniemi campus, and the fifth AREVA-Siemens-built reactor
– the world's largest at 1600 MWe and a focal point of
Europe's nuclear industry – is scheduled to be operational by
2011. Renewable energy forms
(industry-burned wood, consumer-burned wood, peat, industrial
residue, garbage) make high 25 % compared to the EU average 10 %. A
varying amount (5–17 percent) of electricity has been imported from
Russia (at around 3 gigawatt power line capacity), Sweden and
Norway. A new
submarine power
cable from Russia has been considered a
national security issue and one permit
application has already been rejected. Finland negotiated itself
expensive Kyoto and EU emission terms. They are causing a sharp
increase in energy prices and 1-2 billion euro annual cost,
amplified by the aging and soon decommissioned production capacity.
Energy companies are already ready to increase nuclear power
production, if parliament granted permits for new reactors.
Transportation
The extensive road system is utilized by most internal cargo and
passenger traffic. As of 2009, the country's network of
main roads has a total length of and all
public roads , of which are paved. The
motorway network totals . The annual road network
expenditure of around 1 billion euro is paid with vehicle and fuel
taxes which amount to around 1.5 billion euro and 1 billion
euro.
The main
international passenger gateway is Helsinki-Vantaa Airport with over 13 million passengers in 2008.
Oulu Airport is the second largest and around 25 airports have
scheduled passenger services. The Helsinki-Vantaa based
Finnair,
Blue1 and
Finncomm Airlines sell air
services both domestically and internationally, and there are many
others offering direct flights around the world. Helsinki has an
optimal location for
great circle
routes between
Western Europe and the
Far East. Hence, many international
travelers visit Helsinki-Vantaa airport on a stop-over between
Asia and
Europe.Despite
low population density, taxpayers spend annually around 350 million
euro in maintaining railway tracks even to many rural towns. Only
one rail company operates in Finland,
VR
Group, which has 5% passenger market share (out of which 80%
are urban trips in Greater Helsinki) and 25% cargo market share.
Helsinki has an urban rail network.
The majority of international cargo utilizes ports. Port logistics
prices are low.
Vuosaari harbour in Helsinki is the largest container port after
completion in 2008 and others include Hamina, Hanko, Pori, Rauma, Oulu.
There is
passenger traffic from Helsinki and Turku, which have ferry
connections to Tallinn, Mariehamn and Stockholm. The Helsinki–Tallinn route, one of the
busiest passenger sea routes in the world, is also served by a
helicopter line.
Industry
Finland has developed greatly since
1945, when
it was a primarily agricultural nation, and created major firms in
electronics like
DICRO Oy, metalworking,
forestry and construction like
Pöyry. Shipbuilding industry is important for the
Finnish economy and the world's
biggest cruise ships are built in Finnish shipyards.
Public policy
Finnish politicians have often emulated other Nordics and the
Nordic model. Nordics have been
free-trading and relatively welcoming to skilled migrants for over
a century, though in Finland immigration is relatively new. The
level of protection in commodity trade has been low, except for
agricultural products.
Finland's judiciary is efficient and effective. Finland is highly
open to investment and free trade. Finland has top levels of
economic freedom in many areas, although there is a heavy tax
burden and inflexible job market. Finland is ranked 16th (ninth in
Europe) in the 2008
Index of
Economic Freedom. Recently, Finland has topped the patents per
capita statistics, and overall productivity growth has been strong
in areas such as electronics. While the manufacturing sector is
thriving, OECD points out that the service sector would benefit
substantially from policy improvements. Finland is one of the most
fiscally responsible EU
countries.
IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2007 ranked Finland
17th most competitive. The
World Economic Forum 2008 index
ranked Finland the 6th most competitive. In both indicators,
Finland's performance was next to Germany, and significantly higher
than most European countries. In the Business competitiveness index
2007-08 Finland ranked third in the world.
Economists attribute much growth to reforms in the product markets.
According to OECD, only four
EU-15 countries
have less regulated
product markets
(UK, Ireland, Denmark and Sweden) and only one has less regulated
financial markets (Denmark). Nordic
countries were pioneers in liberalizing energy, postal, and other
markets in Europe. The legal system is clear and business
bureaucracy less than most countries. Property rights are well
protected and contractual agreements are strictly honored. Finland
is rated one of the least corrupted countries in
Corruption Perceptions Index.
Finland is rated 13th in the
Ease of Doing Business Index.
It indicates exceptional ease to trade across borders (5th),
enforce contracts (7th), and close a business (5th), and
exceptional hardship to employ workers (127th) and pay taxes
(83rd).
Finnish job market regulation is a remaining example of Nordic
neocorporatist model. In the 1990s,
Denmark liberalized its job market, Sweden moved to more flexible
decentralized contracts, and Finnish trade unions blocked most
reforms. Finnish law forces all workers to obey the national
contracts that are drafted every few years for each profession and
seniority level. The agreement becomes universally enforceable
provided that more than 50% of the employees support it, in
practice by being a member of a relevant trade union. The
unionization rate is high (70%), especially in the middle class
(
AKAVA – 80%). A lack of a national agreement
in an industry is considered an exception. More flexibility is
generally recommended by economists for various reasons.
Overall taxation has been reduced to nearly 10 percentage points
lower level than in Sweden, but it is still nearly 10 percentage
points higher than in Germany. The middle income worker receives
only 40% of their income after the median
tax
wedge and
effective
marginal tax rates are high.
Value-added tax is 22 percent for most
items.
Capital gains tax is 28%
and
corporate tax is 26 percent, about
the EU median.
Property taxes are low,
but there is a
stamp duty of 4% for home
sellers. For instance, McKinsey estimates that a worker has to pay
around 1600 euro for another worker's 400 euro service when both
workers' taxes are counted.
Tax cuts have been in every post-depression
government's agenda and the overall tax burden is now around 43% of
GDP compared to 51.1% in Sweden, 34.7% in Germany, 33.5% in Canada, and 30.5%
in Ireland.
Public
consumption is 51.7% of GDP compared to 56.6% in Sweden, 46.9% in
Germany, 39.3% in Canada, and 33.5% in Ireland. Much of the taxes are spent on public
sector employees, many of which are jobs-for-life and amount to
124,000 state employees and 430,000 municipal employees. That is
113 per 1000 residents (over a quarter of workforce) compared to 74
in the US, 70 in Germany, and 42 in Japan (8% of workforce). The
Economist Intelligence
Unit's ranking for Finland's
e-readiness is high at 13th, compared to 1st for
United States, 3rd for Sweden, 5th for Denmark, and 14th for
Germany. Also, early and generous retirement schemes have
contributed to high pension costs. Social spending such as health
or education is around OECD median. Social transfers are also
around OECD median. In 2001 Finland outsourced more than most
Western European countries, although less than Sweden.
Municipalities spend a half of taxes.
Numismatics
In Finland, the
euro was introduced in 2002. As
a preparation for this date, the minting of the new euro coins
started as early as 1999; this is why the first euro coins from
Finland have the year 1999 on them, instead of 2002 like some of
the other countries of the
Eurozone. Three
different designs (one for €2 coin, one for €1 coin and one for the
other six coins) were selected for the Finnish coins. In 2007, in
order to adopt the new common map like the rest of the Eurozone
countries, Finland changed the common side of their coins.
Finland also has a rich collection of collectors' coins, with face
value ranging from 5 to 100 euro. These coins are a legacy of an
old national practice of minting silver and gold commemorative
coins. Unlike normal issues, these coins are not legal tender in
all the eurozone; for instance, a €5 Finnish commemorative coin
cannot be used in any other country.
Tourism
In 2005, Finnish
tourism grossed over €6.7
billion with a five percent increase from the previous year. Much
of the sudden growth can be attributed to the
globalisation and
modernisation of the country as well as a rise
in positive publicity and awareness. There are many attractions in
Finland which attracted over 4 million visitors in 2005.The Finnish
landscape is covered with thick
pine forests,
rolling hills and complemented with a labyrinth of lakes and
inlets.
Much of Finland is pristine and virgin as it
contains 35 national parks from the Southern shores of the Gulf of
Finland to the high fells of Lapland. It is also an urbanised region with many
cultural events and activities.
Commercial cruises between major
coastal and port cities in the Baltic
region, including Helsinki, Turku, Tallinn, Stockholm and Travemünde, play a significant role in the local tourism
industry. Finland is regarded as the home of Saint
Nicholas or Santa Claus, living in the
northern Lapland region. Above the
Arctic Circle, there is a
polar night, a period when the sun doesn't rise
for days or weeks, or even months.
Lapland, the extreme north of Finland, is so far north that
the Aurora Borealis, atmospheric
fluorescence, is seen regularly in
winter.Outdoor activities range from
Nordic skiing,
golf,
fishing,
yachting,
lake cruises,
hiking,
kayaking among many others. At Finland's
northernmost point, in the heart of summer, the Sun does not
completely set for 73 consecutive days. Wildlife is abundant in
Finland.
Bird-watching is popular for
those fond of flying fauna, however
hunting
is also popular.
Elk,
reindeer and
hare are all
common game in Finland.
Olavinlinna in Savonlinna hosts the annual Savonlinna
Opera Festival.
Culture
Throughout Finland's prehistory and history, cultural contacts and
influences have concurrently, or at varying times, come from all
directions. As a result of Swedish and Russian rule, cultural
influences are still notable.
Today, cultural influences from North America are prominent. Into the twenty-first
century, many Finns have contacted cultures from distantly abroad,
such as with those in
Asia and
Africa. Beyond tourism, Finnish youth in particular
have been increasing their contact with peoples from outside
Finland by travelling abroad to both work and study.
One of the most traditional activities characterised by the Finnish
culture is cottage life by a lake, often combined with going to
sauna, swimming and barbecuing. Many Finns are emotionally
connected to the countryside and nature, as urbanisation is a
relatively recent phenomenon. The Finnish mentality is often
characterised by less small talk and more honest and straight
forward types of communication compared to other cultures.
There are still differences between regions, especially minor
differences in accents and vocabulary. Minorities, such as the
Sami,
Swedish-speaking Finns,
Romani, and
Tatar, maintain their own cultural
characteristics.
Literature
Though Finnish written language could be said to exist since
Mikael Agricola translated the
New Testament into Finnish in the
sixteenth century as a result of the
Protestant Reformation, few notable
works of literature were written until the nineteenth century,
which saw the beginning of a Finnish national
Romantic Movement. This prompted
Elias Lönnrot to collect Finnish and
Karelian folk poetry and arrange and
publish them as
Kalevala, the
Finnish
national epic. The era saw a
rise of poets and novelists who wrote in Finnish, notably
Aleksis Kivi and
Eino
Leino.
After Finland became independent there was a rise of modernist
writers, most famously
Mika Waltari.
Frans Eemil
Sillanpää was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Literature in 1939.
The
second World War prompted a return
to more national interests in comparison to a more international
line of thought, characterized by
Väinö Linna. Literature in modern
Finland is in a healthy state, with detective stories enjoying a
particular boom of popularity.
Ilkka
Remes, a Finnish
author of
thrillers, is very popular.
Visual arts
Finns have made major contributions to
handicrafts and
industrial design. Finland's best-known
sculptor of the twentieth century was
Wäinö Aaltonen, remembered for his
monumental
busts and
sculptures. Finnish architecture is famous around
the world.
Among the top of the twentieth century
Finnish architects to win international recognition are Eliel Saarinen (designer of the widely
recognised Helsinki Central railway
station and many other public works) and his son Eero Saarinen. Alvar Aalto, who helped bring the
functionalist architecture to
Finland, is also famous for his work in
furniture and
glassware.
Music
Folk music
Much of
the music of Finland is influenced by traditional Karelian melodies and lyrics, as comprised in the
Kalevala. Karelian culture
is perceived as the purest expression of the
Finnic myths and beliefs, less influenced by
Germanic influence, in contrast to
Finland's position between
the East
and
the West. Finnish
folk music has undergone a
roots revival in recent decades, and has
become a part of
popular music.
Sami music
The people of northern Finland, Sweden and Norway, the
Sami, are known primarily for highly spiritual
songs called
Joik. The same word sometimes
refers to
lavlu or
vuelie songs, though this is technically
incorrect.
Classical and opera
The first
Finnish opera was written by the German composer
Fredrik Pacius in 1852. Pacius
also wrote
Maamme/Vårt land ,
Finland's
national anthem. In the
1890s Finnish
nationalism based on the
Kalevala spread, and
Jean
Sibelius became famous for his vocal symphony
Kullervo. He soon received a grant
to study
runo singers in Karelia and continued his rise as
the first prominent Finnish musician. In 1899 he composed
Finlandia, which played its
important role in Finland gaining independence. He remains one of
Finland's most popular national figures and is a symbol of the
nation.
Today, Finland has a very lively classical music scene. Finnish
classical music has only existed for about a hundred years, and
many of the important composers are still alive, such as
Magnus Lindberg,
Kaija Saariaho,
Aulis Sallinen and
Einojuhani Rautavaara. The composers
are accompanied with a large number of great conductors such as
Sakari Oramo,
Mikko Franck,
Esa-Pekka Salonen,
Osmo Vänskä,
Jukka-Pekka Saraste,
Susanna Mälkki and
Leif Segerstam. Some of the internationally
acclaimed Finnish classical musicians are
Karita Mattila,
Soile Isokoski,
Kari
Kriikku,
Pekka Kuusisto,
Réka Szilvay and
Linda Brava.
Popular music
Modern Finnish popular music includes a number of prominent
rock bands,
jazz
musicians,
hip hop performers, and
dance music acts such as
Bomfunk MCs and
Darude.
Finnish
electronic music such as
the
Sähkö Recordings
record label enjoys underground acclaim.
Iskelmä (coined
directly from the German word
Schlager, meaning
hit) is a
traditional Finnish word for a light popular song. Finnish popular
music also includes various kinds of
dance
music;
tango, a style of
Argentine music, is also popular. One of
the most productive composers of popular music was
Toivo Kärki, and the most famous singer
Olavi Virta (1915–1972). Among the
lyricists,
Sauvo Puhtila (born 1928),
Reino Helismaa (1913–1965) and
Veikko "Vexi" Salmi are the most
remarkable authors. The composer and bandleader
Jimi Tenor is well known for his brand of
retro-funk music.
Dance music
Notable Finnish dance and electronic music artists include
Jori Hulkkonen,
Darude,
JS16,
DJ Proteus and
DJ Orkidea.
Rock music
The Finnish rock-music scene emerged in 1960s with pioneers such as
Blues Section and
Kirka. In the 1970s Finnish rock musicians, such as
Juice Leskinen, and a pop rock group
called
Kaseva started to write their own
music instead of translating international hits into Finnish.
During the decade some
progressive
rock groups, such as
Tasavallan Presidentti and
Wigwam, gained respect abroad but
failed to make a commercial breakthrough outside Finland. This was
also the fate of the
rock and roll
group
Hurriganes. The Finnish punk scene
produced some internationally acknowledged names including
Terveet Kädet in 1980s.
Hanoi Rocks was a pioneering 1980s
glam rock act that left perhaps a deeper mark in
the history of popular music than any other Finnish group, giving
inspiration for
Guns N' Roses. In the
1980s some of the first Finnish metal bands were constituted
including
power metal band
Stratovarius (1984) inspiring greatly among
other things Sonata Arctica,
Stone
(1985), and
Amorphis (1989). 1985 also saw
the popular band
CMX form, originally as
a hardcore punk band, and later experimenting with various genres
including progressive, metal and hard rock. In the 90s many
successful modern metal bands were founded, such as
Nightwish,
Sonata
Arctica,
Children of Bodom,
Ensiferum,
Norther
and
Impaled Nazarene. Finnish
modern metal has been the most sold metal music in Asian countries
from 90s to nowadays, and has had a remarkable influence on loads
of other modern metal bands all over the world.
In the 2000s, other Finnish rock bands started to sell well
internationally.
The Rasmus became more
known in Europe (and other places, like South America) in the
2000s. Their 2003 album
Dead
Letters sold 1.5 million units worldwide and garnered them
eight gold and five platinum album
designations. So far the
most successful Finnish band in the United States has been
HIM; they were the first band from
Finland to ever sell an album that was certified gold by the RIAA.
Other notable Finnish rock and metal acts include
Apocalyptica, the Battle Metal band
Turisas, and the monster rockers
Lordi.
Cinema
In
film industry, notable directors
include Aki Kaurismäki, Mauritz Stiller, Spede Pasanen and Hollywood film director and producer Renny Harlin.
Media and communications
Today there are 200
newspapers; 320
popular
magazines, 2,100 professional
magazines and 67 commercial
radio
stations, with one nationwide, five national
public service radio channels, three
digital radio channels.Each year
around twelve
feature films are made,
12,000
book titles published and 12 million
records sold.
Sanoma publishes the newspaper
Helsingin Sanomat (the circulation of
412,000 making it the largest newspaper), the
tabloid Ilta-Sanomat,
the commerce-oriented
Taloussanomat,
and the television channel
Nelonen. The
other major publisher
Alma Media
publishes over thirty magazines, including newspaper
Aamulehti, tabloid
Iltalehti and commerce-oriented
Kauppalehti.
Finns, along
with other Nordic people and the
Japanese, spend the most time in the world
reading newspapers. The National Broadcasting Company
YLE has five television channels and 13 radio channels
in two national languages. YLE is funded through a mandatory
license for television owners and
fees for private broadcasters. All TV channels are broadcast
digitally, both terrestrially and
on cable. The most popular television channel
MTV3 and the most popular radio channel
Radio Nova are owned by Nordic
Broadcasting (
Bonnier and Proventus
Industrier). International newspapers such as
Aftonbladet or
Financial Times are available, but according
to the sole importer the readership is only around 600,000 copies
per year or around 2,000 on average day.
Around 79 percent of the population use the
Internet. Finland had around 1.52 million
broadband Internet connections by
the end of June 2007 or around 287 per 1,000 inhabitants. All
Finnish schools and public libraries have Internet connections and
computers. Most residents have a mobile phone. It's used mostly for
contact and value-added services are rare. In October 2009,
Finland's Ministry of Transport and Communications committed to
ensuring that every person in Finland will be able to access the
internet at a minimum speed of one megabit-per-second beginning
July, 2010.
Cuisine
Traditional Finnish
cuisine is a combination
of European,
Fennoscandian and Western
Russian elements; table manners are European. The food is generally
simple, fresh and healthy.
Fish,
meat,
berries and ground
vegetables are typical ingredients whereas
spices are not common due to their historical
unavailability. In years past, Finnish food often varied from
region to region, most notably between the west and east. In
coastal and lakeside villages, fish was a main feature of cooking,
whereas in the eastern and also northern regions, vegetables and
reindeer were more common. The prototypical
breakfast is
oatmeal or other
continental-style foods such as
bread.
Lunch is usually a full warm meal, served by a
canteen at workplaces.
Dinner is eaten at around 16.00 to 18.00 at
home.
Modern Finnish cuisine combines country fare and
haute cuisine with contemporary continental
cooking style. Today, spices are a prominent
ingredient in many modern Finnish
recipes,
having been adopted from the east and west in recent decades.
Public holidays
All official holidays in Finland are established by acts of
Parliament. The official
holidays can be divided into
Christian
and secular holidays, although some of the Christian holidays have
replaced holidays of pagan origin. The main Christian holidays are
Christmas,
Epiphany,
Easter,
Ascension Day,
Pentecost, and
All Saints
Day. The secular holidays are
New
Year's Day,
May Day,
Midsummer Day, and the
Independence Day. Christmas is
the most extensively celebrated holiday: usually at least 23rd to
26th of December are holidays.
Also in the region of Bothnia (usually referred at the city of Kokkola) there is an celebration called Venetsialaiset, the celebration of water and
fire.
In addition to this, all Sundays are official holidays, but they
are not as important as the special holidays. The names of the
Sundays follow the liturgical calendar and they can be categorised
as Christian holidays. When the standard working week in Finland
was reduced to 40 hours by an act of Parliament, it also meant that
all Saturdays became a sort of de facto public holidays, though not
official ones. Easter Sunday and Pentecost are Sundays that form
part of a main holiday and they are preceded by a kind of special
Saturdays. Retail stores are prohibited by law from doing business
on Sundays, except during the summer months (May through August)
and in the pre-Christmas season (November and December). Business
locations that have less than 400 square metres of floor space are
allowed Sunday business throughout the year, with the exception of
official holidays and certain Sundays, such as
Mother's Day and
Father's Day.
Sports
Various
sporting events are popular in
Finland.
Pesäpallo (reminiscent of
baseball) is the national sport of Finland,
although the most popular sports in Finland in terms of media
coverage are
Formula One,
rallying,
ice hockey and
football. Finland has won
ice-hockey world championship only once in 1995 when the
Finland-Sweden final ended 4–1 in their favour.
Jari Kurri and
Teemu Selänne are the two Finnish-born
ice hockey players to have scored 500 goals in their
NHL careers. Other prominent NHL
players from Finland include
Miikka
Kiprusoff, the starting goaltender for the Calgary Flames,
Mikko Koivu and
Niklas Bäckström of the
Minnesota Wild,
Saku
Koivu of the
Anaheim Ducks and
Valtteri Filppula of the
Detroit Red Wings. Kiprusoff and Bäckström
are regarded as two of the premier NHL goalies playing today.
Football is also popular in Finland, though the
national football team has
never qualified for a finals tournament of the
World Cup or the
European Championships.
Jari Litmanen and
Sami Hyypiä are the most internationally
renowned of the Finnish football players. Snowboarding is also very
popular in Finland, and there are many Finnish professional
snowboarders such as
Heikki Sorsa,
Jussi Oksanen,
Eero Ettala and
Joni
Malmi.
Relative to its population, Finland has been a top country in the
world in
automobile racing, measured by
international success.
Finland has produced three Formula One World Champions
– Keke Rosberg (Williams, 1982), Mika Häkkinen (McLaren, 1998 and
1999) and Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari, 2007). Along with Räikkönen,
the other Finnish Formula One driver currently active is Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren). Rosberg's son,
Nico Rosberg (
Williams), is also currently driving, but under
his mother's
German nationality. Other
notable Finnish Grand Prix drivers include
Leo Kinnunen,
JJ Lehto and
Mika
Salo. Finland has also produced most of the world's best
rally drivers, including the ex-
WRC World
Champion drivers
Marcus
Grönholm,
Juha Kankkunen,
Hannu Mikkola,
Tommi Mäkinen,
Timo Salonen, and
Ari
Vatanen. The only Finn to have won a
road racing World
Championship,
Jarno Saarinen, was
killed in 1973 while racing.
Among
winter sports, Finland has been
the most successful country in
ski
jumping, with former ski jumper
Matti Nykänen being arguably the best
ever in that sport. Most notably, he won five Olympic medals (four
gold) and nine World Championships medals (five gold). Among
currently active Finnish ski jumpers,
Janne
Ahonen has been the most successful.
Kalle Palander is a well-known alpine skiing winner, who won the World
Championship and Crystal Ball (twice, in Kitzbühel). Tanja
Poutiainen has won an
Olympic
silver medal for alpine skiing, as well
as multiple FIS World Cup races.
Some of the most outstanding athletes from the past include
Hannes Kolehmainen (1890–1966),
Paavo Nurmi (1897–1973) and
Ville Ritola (1896–1982) who won eighteen
gold and seven silver Olympic medals in
the
1910s and
1920s.
They are also considered to be the first of a generation of great
Finnish
middle and
long-distance runners (and
subsequently, other great
Finnish sportsmen) often named
the "
Flying Finns". Another
long-distance runner,
Lasse Virén
(born 1949), won a total of four gold medals during the
1972 and
1976 Summer Olympics.
Also, in the past,
Riku Kiri,
Jouko Ahola and
Janne
Virtanen have been the greatest
strength athletes in the
country, participating in the
World's Strongest Man competition
between 1993 and 2000.
The
1952 Summer Olympics,
officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad, were
held in 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. Other notable sporting events held
in Finland include the
1983 and
2005 World Championships
in Athletics, among others.
Some of the most popular recreational sports and activities include
floorball,
Nordic walking,
running,
cycling and
skiing.
See also
- Lists
- List of cities
and towns in Finland
- List of Finns
- List of
Swedish-speaking Finns
- List of Finnish
companies
- List of Finnish
television stations
- List of newspapers in
Finland
- List of universities
in Finland
- List of bands from
Finland
- List of Finnish wars
- History
- History of Finland
- Finlandization
- Finnish Railway Museum
- Kansallisbiografia
- Politics
- Foreign relations of
Finland
- Military of Finland
- Gun politics in
Finland
- Infrastructure
- Education in Finland
- Communications in
Finland
- Crime in Finland
- Transport in Finland
- Fire fighting in
Finland
- VR Group (Finnish State Railways)
- Culture and sports
- Cuisine of Finland
- Music of Finland
- Football in Finland
- Ethnic issues in
Finland
- Miscellaneous
- Protected areas of
Finland
- Tourism in Finland
International rankings
References
- "Republic of Finland", or " " in Finnish and " " in Swedish, is
the long protocol name, which is however not defined by law.
Legislation only recognizes the short name.
- The Failed States Index 2008
- http://prosperity.com/country.aspx?id=FI
- PEOPLE, MATERIAL CULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT IN THE NORTH
Proceedings of the 22nd Nordic Archaeological Conference,
University of Oulu, 18-23 August 2004 Edited by Vesa-Pekka Herva
GUMMERUS KIRJAPAINO
- Dr. Pirjo Uino of the National Board of Antiquities for Virtual
Finland – Prehistory: The ice recedes — man arrives.
Accessed on June 24, 2008.
- History of Finland and the Finnish People from
stone age to WWII Accessed on June 24, 2008.
- Professor Frank Horn of the Northern Institute for
Environmental and Minority Law University of Lappland writing for
Virtual Finland on National Minorities of Finland. Accessed on
June 24, 2008.
- Sawyer and Sawyer: Medieval Scandinavia, page 67. University of
Minnesota Press, 1993
- History of Finland. Finland chronology
- " Finland and the Swedish Empire". Federal Research
Division, Library of Congress.
- Growth and Equity in Finland, World Bank
- Mickelsson, Rauli. Suomen puolueet – Historia, muutos ja
nykypäivä. Vastapaino 2007.
- From slash-and-burn fields to post-industrial
society – 90 years of change in industrial structure
- Hidden help from across the Atlantic, Helsingin
Sanomat
- Population development in independent Finland –
greying Baby Boomers
- Median Age (Years) – GlobalHealthFacts.org
- According to the Finnish Population Registry Center and the
Finnish Sami parliament, the Sami population living in Finland was
7,371 in 2003. See Regional division of Sami people in Finland by age
in 2003 (in Finnish).
- Unofficial names for Finland in Sami languages are:
Suopma (Northern Sami), Suomâ (Inari Sami) and
Lää´ddjânnam (Skolt Sami). See [1].
- Europeans and languages, 2005
- Statistics Finland with adherence of the Finnish
population by religious communities, 1900 en 2000–2008
- [2]
- overview membership 1920 - 2004
- Svensk sjukvård i internationell jämförelse 2008 (in
Swedish)
-
http://indexmundi.com/finland/life_expectancy_at_birth.html
- Health Care in Finland, Ministry of Social Affairs and
Health, 2004
- YLE Uutiset
- Miehet kuntoon! Kansalaiskunnon lasku ja korjaavat
toimenpiteet
- Local Governance in Industrial Countries – ISBN
082136328X
- Finnish constitution, Section 93.
- "Finland's foreign policy idea" ("Suomen
ulkopolitiikan idea"), Risto E. J. Penttilä, 2008
- Policing corruption, International Perspectives.
- The Burden of Crime in the EU. Research Report: A
Comparative Analysis of the European Crime and Safety Survey (EU
ICS) 2005
- The History of Corruption in Central Government By Seppo
Tiihonen, International Institute of Administrative Sciences
- Women's voluntary service (in Finnish)
- Hägglund, Gustav. Leijona ja kyyhky.
- Työvoimakustannukset puuttuvat
puolustusmenoista , Statistics Finland (in Finnish): Eurostat
ranking is 6th. It's 3rd when conscription is accounted.
- Jane's World Armies: Finland
- Finland Economy 2004, OECD
- Top list: The largest companies in the Nordic
countries by turnover (excl. national subsidiaries):
Finland
- Tehdyn työtunnin hinta 23-27 euroa, Statistics
Finland
- Suomalaisten tulot Euroopan keskitasoa.
Hyvinvointipalvelut eivät paranna sijoitusta
- Small enterprises grow faster than the big
ones
- The Nordic Model of Welfare: A Historical Reappraisal, by Niels
Finn Christiansen
- Statistics Finland: Labour Market
- OECD recommends Finland to do more to help older
people stay in work
- Ikääntymisen taloudelliset vaikutukset ja niihin
varautuminen
- CIA Factbook: Public Debt
- [3] (in Finnish)
- Statistics Finland: Transport and Tourism
- Own-account worker households' consumption has
grown most in 2001-2006
- Retail growth best in Finland for five years,
Invest in Finland
- Summary sheets on education systems in
Europe
- PISA 2006 Science Competencies for Tomorrow’s World, Volume 1 –
Analysis
- "What works in education", McKinsey
- Tilastokeskus – Artikkelit – Tasa-arvoinen
suomineito, osa 1
- Education at Glance 2007: Finland,
OECD
-
http://www.research.fi/en/performance/scientific_publication
-
http://www.research.fi/en/performance/patents/patents_with%20numbers
- Electricity prices – industrial users
- Statistics Finland – Electricity consumption by
sector 2006
- Statistics Finland – Total energy consumption
increased clearly in 2006
- Päästökaupasta voi tulla miljardilasku
teollisuudelle
- Finland to decide on new nuclear reactors in 2010:
govt
- Transport and communications ministry –
Rail
- The Nordic Model by Torben M. Andersen, Bengt
Holmström, Seppo Honkapohja, Sixten Korkman, Hans Tson Söderström,
Juhana Vartiainen
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- Kilpailuvirasto: OECD:n raportti suosittelee
kilpailun lisäämistä palvelualoilla
- World Competitiveness Yearbook 2007
- Finland economy
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World Bank
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- Government Finance
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The Japan Times Online
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Helsinki, Helsingin Sanomat
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everyday life, Statistics Finland
Further reading
- Chew, Allen F. The White Death: The Epic of the
Soviet-Finnish Winter War (ISBN 0-87013-167-2)
- Engle, Eloise and Paananen, Pauri,The Winter War: The
Soviet Attack on Finland 1939-1940 (ISBN 0-8117-2433-6)
- Insight Guide: Finland (ISBN 981-4120-39-1)
- Jakobson, Max. Finland in the
New Europe (ISBN 0-275-96372-1)
- Jutikkala, Eino; Pirinen, Kauko. A History of Finland
(ISBN 0-88029-260-1)
- Klinge, Matti. Let Us Be Finns:
Essays on History (ISBN 951-1-11180-9)
- Lavery, Jason. The History of Finland (The Greenwood
Histories of the Modern Nations), Greenwood Press 2006 (ISBN
0-313-32837-4) (ISSN 1096-2905)
- Lewis, Richard D. Finland: Cultural Lone Wolf (ISBN
1-931930-18-X)
- Lonely Planet: Finland
(ISBN 1-74059-791-5)
- Mann, Chris. Hitler's Arctic
War: The German Campaigns in Norway, Finland, and the USSR
1940-1945 (ISBN 0-312-31100-1)
- Rusama, Jaakko. Ecumenical Growth in Finland. (ISBN
951-693-239-8)
- Singleton, Fred. A Short History of Finland (ISBN
0-521-64701-0)
- Subrenat, Jean-Jacques –
Listen, there's music from the forest; a brief presentation of
the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival (ISBN 952-92-0564-3)
- Swallow, Deborah. Culture Shock! Finland: A Guide
to Customs and Etiquette (ISBN 1-55868-592-8)
- Trotter, William R.. A
Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940 (ISBN
1-56512-249-6)
External links