Republic of Finland | |
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Anthem: Maamme (Finnish) Vårt land (Swedish) (English: "Our Land") | |
![]() Location of Finland (dark green) – on the European continent (green & dark grey) | |
Capital and largest city | Helsinki 60°10′N 24°56′E / 60.167°N 24.933°E |
Official languages | |
Recognised regional languages | Sami dialects |
Religion | |
Demonym(s) | |
Government | Unitary parliamentary republic[1] |
Alexander Stubb | |
Petteri Orpo | |
Legislature | Eduskunta |
Formation | |
29 March 1809 | |
6 December 1917 | |
• Joined the European Union | 1 January 1995 |
Area | |
• Total | 338,424 km2 (130,666 sq mi) (64th) |
• Water (%) | 10 |
Population | |
• August 2017 estimate | 5,509,717 ![]() |
• 2016 official | 5,503,297[3] |
• Density | 16/km2 (41.4/sq mi) (213rd) |
GDP (PPP) | 2018 estimate |
• Total | $255.976 billion[4] |
• Per capita | $46,342[4] |
GDP (nominal) | 2018 estimate |
• Total | $289.557 billion[4] |
• Per capita | $52,422[4] |
Gini (2014) | 25.6[5] low · 6th |
HDI (2015) | ![]() very high · 23rd |
Currency | Euro (€) (EUR) |
Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
Date format | dd.mm.yyyy |
Driving side | right |
Calling code | +358 |
ISO 3166 code | FI |
Internet TLD | .fia |
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Finland (Finnish: Suomi) is a country in Northern Europe and is a member state of the European Union. Finland is one of the Nordic countries and is also part of Fennoscandia. Finland is located between the 60th and 70th latitudes North. Its neighbours are Sweden to the west, Norway to the north, Russia to the east and Estonia to the south, beyond the sea called Gulf of Finland. Most of the western and southern coast is on the shore of the Baltic Sea.
The capital of Finland is Helsinki; the second largest city is Tampere. The official currency of the country is the euro (EUR); before 2002 it was the markka, the Finnish mark (FIM). The president of Finland is Alexander Stubb. 5.5 million people live in Finland. Finnish and Swedish both are the official languages of Finland; the most spoken languages is Finnish, mother tongue of about 90% of the population. Swedish is spoken by the Swedish speaking minority of Finland, called the Finnish Swedes, who make up 5% of the total population. Finland became independent of Russia on 6 December 1917.
The most important cities and towns in Finland are Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere, Vantaa, Turku, Oulu, Lahti, Kuopio, Jyväskylä and Pori.
Finland is a highly industrialised First World country. The most important Finnish industrial products are paper, and steel products such as machines and electronics. Nokia (the mobile company) is originally a company of Finland, named after a small town called Nokia.
Finland has been top of the list of least corrupt countries on the Corruption Perceptions Index more times than any other country.