Everything about Finland totally explained
Finland, officially the
Republic of Finland, is a
Nordic country situated in Northern Europe. It has borders with
Sweden to the west,
Russia to the east, and
Norway to 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 country. Finland is a
democratic,
parliamentary republic with a central government and local governments in 415 municipalities.
Greater Helsinki (including
Helsinki,
Espoo, and
Vantaa) totals a million residents and a third of the GDP. Other cities include
Tampere,
Turku, and
Oulu.
Finland was historically part of Sweden and from 1809
an autonomous Grand Duchy within the
Russian Empire.
Finland's declaration of independence in 1917 from
Russia was followed by a civil war,
wars against the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, and the period of
Finlandization during the
Cold War. Finland joined the
European Union in 1995 and participates in the
Eurozone.
Finland has seen excellent results in many
international comparisons of national performance such as the share of high-technology manufacturing, the rate of gross domestic product growth, and the protection of civil liberties.
History
Prehistory
According to
archaeological evidence, the area now composing Finland was first settled around
8500 BCE during the
Stone Age as the ice shield of the last
ice age receded. The earliest people were
hunter-gatherers, living primarily off what the
tundra and sea could offer. Pottery is known from around
5300 BCE (see
Comb Ceramic culture).The arrival of the
Battle Axe culture (or Cord-Ceramic culture) in southern coastal Finland around
3200 BCE may have coincided with the start of agriculture. However, the earliest certain records of agriculture are from the late
third millennium BCE. 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
Sweden
established its official rule of Finland in the 13th century.
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. In the 18th century, wars between Sweden and Russia led to the occupation of Finland twice by Russian forces, 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 conquered 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 achieving equal legal status with Swedish in 1892.
The
Finnish famine of 1866–1868 killed 15 percent of the population, making it the last and one of the worst 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. 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
Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Following German losses on the
Eastern Front and the subsequent Soviet advance, Finland was forced to make 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 ceded most of
Finnish Karelia,
Salla, and
Pechenga, which amounted to ten percent of its land area and twenty percent of its industrial capacity.
Some 400,000 evacuees, mainly women
and children, fled these areas. Some were left behind and were not able to immigrate in Finland until the Soviet Union collapsed (after which they formed a large immigrant group).
Finland had to reject
Marshall aid. United States shipped secret development aid such as much of welding equipment and helped the still non-communist SDP in hope of saving 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. Even after the reparations had been paid off, Finland 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. Even though Soviet market accounted for much profits, the West was still by far the largest market. The 1970s saw emergence of heavier corporatism.
In 1981, President
Urho Kekkonen's failing mental health forced him to retire after 25 years regime. The President
Mauno Koivisto's insisted on politically manipulated currency and interest rates, or so called "strong
Finnish mark policy", even though capital flows were deregulated. Policymakers also didn't implement banking reforms that took place in the European Community. The consequence of delayed liberalization was an overheated economy and indebtedness. Combined with depressed Western, Soviet, and local markets, Finland fell into a
Great Depression–magnitude
depression in 1991. Stock market and housing prices declined by 50%. The growth in the 1980s was based on debt, and defaults started rolling in. GDP declined by 15% and
unemployment increased from a virtual full employment to one-fifth of the workforce. Investment declined by 50%. The crisis was amplified by trade unions' initial opposition to any reforms. Politicians struggled to cut spending and the public debt doubled to around 60% of GDP. After trade unions finally agreed to devaluations, the depression bottomed out in 1993. At the same time, Finland remains one of the last non-members in the EU and the only non-member with a Russian border. There seems to be not enough support for full membership unless Sweden joins first, while Sweden doesn't seem to have support unless Finland joins first. Russian intelligence operations have risen quickly and are now estimated to exceed Cold War levels.
The population is aging with the
birth rate at 10.42 births per 1,000 population, or a
fertility rate of 1.8. 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.
Etymology
The name
Suomi (Finnish for "Finland") has uncertain origins but a strong candidate for a cognate is the proto-Baltic word
*zeme, meaning "land". According to an earlier theory the name was derived from
suomaa (fen land) or
suoniemi (fen cape).
The
exonym Finland has resemblance with, for example, 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 sea-faring traders and pirates. It is unknown how, why and when
Finnr started referring to the people of
Finland Proper in particular (from where 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.
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 to be precise. One of these lakes,
Saimaa, is the fifth largest in
Europe. The Finnish landscape is mostly flat with few hills, and its highest point, the
Halti at 1,324 meters, 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's no soil cover.
Moraine or
till is the most common type of soil, covered by a thin layer of
humus of biological origin. 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 growing. Owing to the
post-glacial rebound that has been taking place since the last
ice age, the surface area of the country is growing by about a year.
The distance from the most Southern point –
Hanko – to the most northern point of Finland –
Nuorgam – is (driving distance), which would take approximately 18.5 hours to drive. This is very similar to Great Britain (
Land's End to
John o' Groats – and 16.5 h).
Flora and fauna
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.
Oak and
maple grows in nature only in the southern part of Finland.
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 neighbouring countries thousands of years ago.
Large and widely recognised 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 hunting and persecution in history, many animals such as the
Golden Eagle,
Brown Bear and
Eurasian Lynx all experienced significant declines in population. However, their numbers have increased again in the 2000s, mainly as a result of careful conservation and the establishment of vast
national parks.
Climate
The
climate in Southern Finland is a northern
temperate climate. In Northern Finland, particularly in the
Province of Lapland, a
subarctic climate dominates, characterised by cold, occasionally severe, winters and relatively warm summers. 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 as a consequence the
midnight sun can be experienced – for more days, the farther north one travels. At Finland's northernmost point, the sun doesn't set for 73 consecutive days during summer, and doesn't rise at all for 51 days during winter.
Demographics
| Population of Finland, 1750–2000 |
| Year |
opulation |
ear |
opulation |
|
421,000 |
1880 |
2,060,800 |
|
491,000 |
1890 |
2,380,100 |
|
561,000 |
1900 |
2,655,900 |
|
663,000 |
1910 |
2,943,400 |
|
705,600 |
1920 |
3,147,600 |
|
832,700 |
1930 |
3,462,700 |
|
863,300 |
1940 |
3,695,617 |
|
1,177,500 |
1950 |
4,029,803 |
|
1,372,100 |
1960 |
4,446,222 |
|
1,445,600 |
1970 |
4,598,336 |
|
1,636,900 |
1980 |
4,787,778 |
|
1,746,700 |
1990 |
4,998,478 |
|
1,768,800 |
2000 |
5,181,000 |
Population
Finland currently numbers 5,302,778 inhabitants and has an average population density of 17 inhabitants per
square kilometre. Most of them are from Russia, Estonia and Sweden.) 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's 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, isn't mutually intelligible with it. These languages, together with
Hungarian (all members of the
Uralic language family), are the primary non-
Indo-European languages spoken in Europe. Finland, together with
Estonia and
Hungary, is one of three independent countries where a
Uralic language is spoken by the majority.
The largest minority language is
Swedish, which is the second official language in Finland, spoken by 5.5 percent of the population. Other minority languages are
Russian (0.8 percent) and
Estonian (0.3 percent). 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. Other minority languages are
Finnish Romani,
Finnish Sign Language (spoken natively by 4,000–5,000 people) and
Finland-Swedish Sign Language (spoken natively by about 150 people). The rights of 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% percent of residents claimed to know
English, 38% claimed to know
Swedish, 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
Most Finns are members of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (82.5 percent). A 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). 15.1 percent of the population is unaffiliated. The main Lutheran and Orthodox churches are constitutional
national churches of Finland with special roles in ceremonies and often in school morning prayers. Politicians to Lutheran Church assemblies are selected in church elections every four years.
Over half of Finns say they pray at least once a month, the highest proportion in Nordics. However, the majority of Lutherans attend church only for special occasions like Christmas, weddings and funerals. According to a 2005
Eurobarometer poll, 41 percent of Finnish citizens responded that "they believe there's a god"; 41 percent answered that "they believe there's some sort of spirit or life force"; and 16 percent that "they don't believe there's 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 don't 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 percent of health care is funded directly by households and 76.6 percent by public and other insurances. Finland limits medicine sales to the around 800 licensed pharmacies. Some significant institutions include Ministry of Health and
National Public Health Institute.
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 of 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.
National Public Health Institute claims 54% male obesity and 38% female obesity, while other estimates put obesity rates at 70% and 50%.
Administrative divisions
The state organisation is divided into
six administrative provinces (lääni, pl. läänit), though they've little significance. Police, prosecutors, and other state services operate under the administration of the province, which is again divided to admistratively insignificant districts. After 1997 reforms the provinces have been
Southern Finland,
Western Finland,
Eastern Finland,
Oulu,
Lapland,
Åland. The province of
Åland Islands is
autonomous.
Municipalities (which may also call themselves towns or cities) account for half of public spending. Spending is financed by municipal income tax, state subsidies, and other revenue. As of 2008, there were 415 municipalities and most were under 5,000 residents. In Finland, state has started the Municipality and Service Structure Reform Program to reform the complex and expensive municipal system, but initiatives have encountered much opposition from local bureaucrats and interest groups. People often identify with their municipality.
In addition to municipalities, there are complex other arrangements. Municipalities co-operate in seventy-four
sub-regions and twenty
regions. These are governed by the member municipalities. The
Åland region has a permanent, democratically elected regional council as a part of the autonomy. In the
Kainuu region, there's 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
January 1,
2007. 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, for example in
Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council.
State-level politics and administration
Politics
Constitution of Finland defines the political system. Finland is a representative democracy with a
semi-presidential parliamentary. 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, the first person in the presidential line of succession, 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:
Judicial system and law enforcement
The
judicial system of Finland is a
civil law system divided between
courts with regular civil and criminal jurisdiction and administrative courts with responsibility for litigation between the individuals and the administrative organs of the state and the communities. Finnish law is codified and based on Swedish law and in a wider sense, civil law or
Roman law. Its court system consists of local courts, regional appellate courts, and the
Supreme Court. The administrative branch of justice consists of administrative courts and the
Supreme Administrative Court. 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 offices.
A general court of first instance (
käräjäoikeus) has professional judges and in complex cases, includes non-professional lay judges (
lautamies) appointed by municipal councils. Administrative courts, appeals 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 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 isn't 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. Fines and 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. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs implements the foreign policy.
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. Unlike all other post-Soviet countries in the Baltic sea and elsewhere, Finland didn't attempt to join NATO, and even opposed defence cooperation.
President
Martti Ahtisaari and the coalition governments led Finland closer to the core EU in the late 1990s. Finland was considered a cooperative model state, and Finland didn't oppose proposals for a common EU defence policy. Old methods such as KGB-style connections have been restored.
Internet brigades target Finnish Internet forums. To combat Russian agents' connections with Finnish politicians, Finland has limited the time Russian diplomats can stay in the country. Analysts have hinted worry about Finland's ability to maintain sovereignty, for instance, if Russian leadership decides to start a crisis such as the ones experienced in Estonia and elsewhere in the Eastern Europe. Socialists are more willing to formulate policy based on Russia's preferences and maintain that NATO should be just an "option" or strongly rejected, though there's a small pro-NATO socialist opposition. Some socialists and agrarians want to exit the EU. Nevertheless, the old, left-wing, rural electorate contributes to Finland's extraordinary levels of opposition to the EU, NATO, and immigration.) are possible.
Finland is the only non-NATO EU country bordering Russia. Finland's official policy states that the 350,000 reservists with mostly ground weaponry are a sufficient deterrent. The military strategy is to hide in forests when attacked, perhaps abandon some regions, and attempt to defeat the enemy from forests in planned places. Most military experts call for NATO membership, but are careful to avoid politics. Finland's defence budget equals about 2 billion euro or 1.4–1.6 percent of the
GDP. In international comparisons the defense expenditure is around the third highest in the EU. The voluntary overseas service is highly popular and troops serve around the world in UN, NATO and EU missions. Residents claim around 80% homeland defense willingness, one of the highest rates in Europe. With respect to
foreign trade, the key economic sector is
manufacturing. The largest industries are
electronics (21.6 percent), machinery, vehicles and other engineered metal products (21.1 percent), forest industry (13.1 percent), and chemicals (10.9 percent). Finland has
timber and several mineral and freshwater resources.
Forestry, paper factories, and the
agricultural sector (on which taxpayers spend around 2 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. Investment was below expected. Overall short-term outlook was good and GDP growth has been above many EU peers.
As an economic environment, 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's 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. The data-based
IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2007 ranked Finland 17th most
competitive, next to Germany, and lowest of the Nordics. The
World Economic Forum report, based on loose opinion polls, has ranked Finland the most competitive country. The central government has officially given many promised such as emphasis on
information technology, but critics question the central government's competency to deliver much. For instance, Finland didn't have an Internet-based tax filing system as of 2007. Finland is one of the most
fiscally responsible EU countries. Inflation has been low, averaging 1.8 percent between 2004 and 2006.
Finland is highly integrated in the global economy, and international trade is a third of GDP. The European Union makes 60 percent 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.
Income and consumption
Notable companies in Finland include
Nokia, the market leader in mobile telephony;
Stora Enso, the largest paper manufacturer in the world;
Neste Oil, an oil refining and marketing company;
UPM-Kymmene, the third largest paper manufacturer in the world;
Aker Finnyards, the manufacturer of the world's largest cruise ships (such as
Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas); Instrumentarium Imaging, the creator of the Orthopantomograph (Pan X-Ray machine) and world innovative leader of dental imaging systems and software.;
KONE, a manufacturer of elevators and escalators;
Wärtsilä, a producer of power plants and ship engines; and
Finnair, the largest
Helsinki-Vantaa based international
airline. Finland has sophisticated financial markets comparable to UK in efficiency.
Finland has approximately 1.8 million private sector workers, who make an average 25.1 euro per hour (before the approximately 60% median
tax wedge) in 2007. In 2003 residents worked a high average of 10 years for the same employer. 62 percent worked for small and medium-size enterprises. Female employment rate was relatively high, perhaps affected by the individual taxation (as opposed to family taxation) and other policies. Gender segregation between male-dominated professions and female-dominated professions was higher than in the US. In 1999 the proportion of part-time workers was one of the lowest in OECD. Unlike in Sweden, where pension savers can manage their investments, in Finland employer chooses a pension fund for the employee. The pension funding rate is much higher than in most Western European countries, but still only a portion of is funded and pensions exclude health insurances and other unaccounted promises. Directly held
public debt has been reduced to around 32 percent 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.
In 2006, around 2,381,500 households resided in Finland and the average size was 2.1 persons. Around 40 percent of households consisted of a single person, 32 percent two persons and 28 percent three or more persons. There were 1.2 million residential buildings in Finland and the average residential space was 38 square meters per person. The average residential property (without land) cost 1,187 euro per sq metre (without land) and residential land on 8.6 euro per sq metre. Consumer energy prices were 8-12 euro per kilowatt hour. 74 percent of households had a car. There were 2.5 million cars and 0.4 other vehicles.
Around 92 percent has mobile phone and 58 percent
Internet connection at home. The average total household consumption was 20,000 euro, out of which housing at around 5500 euro, transport at around 3000 euro, food and beverages excluding alcoholic at around 2500 euro, recreation and culture at around 2000 euro. Upper-level white-collar households (409,653) consumed an average 27,456 euro, lower-level white-collar households (394,313) 20,935 euro, and blue-collar households (471,370) 19,415 euro euro.
Education, science and technology
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) compared to around 8% in Sweden, 10% in the US, and 70% in Netherlands. 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, and free meals are served. According to
PISA assessments of the age group 15, students had high average results and low variation between schools or students. McKinsey has attributed the result distribution to high teacher education (Master's degree), high continuing teacher training, and emphasis on laggards. Homogeneous population may also contribute. After lower secondary school, students apply to further studies.
Trade schools prepare for professions, though they can be used to enter tertiary education as well. Academically-oriented
Gymnasiums prepare for
Abitur and further tertiary education.
In tertiary education, two, mostly separate and non-interoperating sectors are found: the profession-oriented higher vocational schools 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 has a tertiary degree, similar to Nordics and more than in most other OECD countries except Canada (44%), United States (38%) and Japan(37%).
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.
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.
In 2006, the energy market was around 90 terawatt hours and the peak demand around 15
gigawatts in winter. Industry and construction consumed 51% of total consumption. 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 (industrial and consumer wood, peat, industrial residue, garbage) make high 25 percent compared to the EU average 10 percent. 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 commissioned capacity. Nuclear power is by far the most inexpensive energy form and energy companies are already ready to file applications for several new reactors. Each reactor requires a permit from the parliament, where The Green League and a sect of The Centre Party are particularly opposed, and the discussion about the permit can take years. Some industries are excepted to exit because of the rising energy costs.
Transportation
The extensive road system is utilized by most internal cargo and passenger traffic. As of 2005, the country's network of main roads has a total length of 13,258 km and all public roads 78,186 km, of which 50,616 km are paved. The
motorway network totals 653 km. 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 2007. About 25 airports have scheduled passenger services. Many airports are semi-privatized. The Helsinki-Vantaa based
Finnair (known for an Asia-focused strategy),
Blue1 and
Finncomm Airlines sell air services both domestically and internationally. Helsinki has an optimal location for
great circle routes between
Western Europe and the
Far East. Hence, many international travelers visit Helsinki on a stop-over between
Asia and
Europe.
Despite low population density, taxpayers spend annually around 350 million euro in maintaining 5,865 km railway tracks even to many rural towns. Operations are privatized and currently the only operator is
VR. It has 5 percent passenger market share (out of which 80 percent are urban trips in Greater Helsinki) and 25 percent cargo market share. Helsinki has an urban rail network.
The majority of international cargo utilizes ports. Port logistics prices are low.
Vuosaari harbour is the largest container port after completion in 2008. There is passenger traffic from Helsinki and Turku, which have ferry connections to
Tallinn,
Mariehamn,
Sweden and several other destination. The busy Helsinki-Tallinn route is also served by a helicopter line.
Nordic model
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. For instance, starting a business takes an average of 14 days, compared to the world average of 43 days and Denmark's average of 6 days. Property rights are well protected and contractual agreements are strictly honored.
According to OECD, the
job market is the most inflexible among Nordic countries.
Value-added tax is 22 percent for most items.
Capital gains tax and
corporate tax are 26 percent, about the EU median.
Property taxes are low, but there's a
stamp duty of 4% for home sellers. - restricting service supply and demand - though some taxation is avoided in the
black market and self-service culture. Another study by Karlson, Johansson & Johnsson estimates that the percentage of the buyer’s income entering the service vendor’s wallet (inverted tax wedge) is slightly over 15%, compared to 10% in Belgium, 25% in France, 40% in Switzerland and 50% in the United States. 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. State and municipal politicians have struggled to cut their consumption, which is very high at 51.7% of GDP compared to 56.6% in Sweden, 46.9 in Germany, 39.3 in Canada, and 33.5% in
Ireland. 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. In education, child nurseries, and elderly nurseries private competition is bottom-ranking compared to Sweden and most other Western countries.
Tuska Open Air Metal Festival, one of the largest open-air heavy metal music festivals in the world, is held annually in
Kaisaniemi,
Helsinki.
Ruisrock and
Provinssirock are the most famous rock festivals held in Finland.
Cinema
In
film industry, famous directors include
Aki Kaurismäki,
Timo Koivusalo,
Aleksi Mäkelä and
Klaus Härö.
Hollywood film director/producer
Renny Harlin (born Lauri Mauritz Harjola) was born in Finland.
Media and communications
Until economic liberalization in the early 90s, media and communications were highly restricted. Self-censorship was common among allowed newspapers and private television channels were not allowed at all until 1993. 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.
SanomaWSOY publishes the newspaper
Helsingin Sanomat (the circulation of 434,000 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 politically-controlled 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. In the 1990s politicians made a controversial decision to transform to a
digital television standard, which has now been completed. 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 and a few computers. Most residents have a mobile phone. It's used mostly for contact and value-added services are rare.
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 17.00 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.
In addition to this, all Sundays are official holidays, but they're 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're 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,
ice hockey and
football. The
Finnish national ice hockey team is considered one of the best in the world. During the past century there has been a rivalry in sporting between Finland and Sweden, mostly in ice hockey and athletics (
Finland-Sweden athletics international).
Jari Kurri and
Teemu Selänne are the two Finnish-born ice hockey players to have scored 500 goals in their
NHL careers. 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.
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.
Finnishness
- List of Finns
- Suuret suomalaiset – a list of the "100 Greatest Finns" of all time as voted by the Finnish people in 2004.
Below are listed some of the characteristics of Finnishness. The term "Finnishness" is often referred to as the national identity of the Finnish people and its culture.
»
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Get more info on 'Finland'.
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