Facts about Finland

Finland is located in Scandinavia northern most part of Europe and covers an area of 338,127 km2 and is the sixth largest country in Europe.  Finland is divided into five provinces: Southern, Eastern and Western Finland, Oulu and Lapland. Finland has a population of about 5.3 million. The capital of the country is Helsinki, which has 577 205 inhabitants. Finland is becoming more multicultural country over the last one decade. The population of foreigners at the end of year 2008 was 143,256 living permanently in Finland.

In Finland, where there is complete freedom of religion, Lutherans account for 85.6% of the population, Orthodox Christians for 1.1% (living mainly in the towns and in the easternmost districts) and those unaffiliated with any church total 12.7%.

Finland is known champion of women`s rights because since 1906 women are participating in social and political life actively. Finland is the first country where women could fully exercise their voting rights and eligibility to stand for elective office. All together nineteen female were elected to Parliament in 1907. Today, Finnish women are participating in social, political and working life actively.

Finland is a democratic republic. The president is elected by a direct national for a six-year term. The current President of Finland is Tarja Halonen (2006–2012).The Finnish Parliament comprises 200 representatives. The parliamentary term is four years.

Finland is member of many multilateral organizations such as United Nations since 1955, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) since 1969, Council of Europe (COE) since 1989 and European Union (EU) since 1995. Euro is used as currency since 2002.

Finland is well placed in many international comparisons of national performance such as the share of high-technology, manufacturing and health care. Finland is ranked 1st in the 2009 Legatum Prosperity rating, which is based on economical performance and quality of life.

You can listen or watch Finnish news in English while you are in Finland. On Radio & TVA3-minute News in English broadcast can be heard on YLE Radio 1at 5:55 p.m. weekdays, 5:45 p.m. at weekends. Tune in on 87.9 MHz in the Helsinki region, 89.8 MHz in Turku, 90.7 MHz in Tampere, and other local frequencies. YLE 1 television broadcasts 5 minutes of News in English on weekdays at 9:09 a.m.

Last updated on 28.04.2010
Source: Statistics Finland and CIMO
Photo by Mika Pietilä