Finland From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the European country.

For other uses, see Finland (disambi guation). Coordinates: 64N 26E Republic of Finland Suomen tasavalta (Finnish) Republiken Finland (Swedish) Flag Coat of arms Anthem: Maamme (Finnish) Vrt land (Swedish) Our Land MENU0:00 Location of Finland (dark green) in Europe (green & dark grey) Union (green) [Legend] Location of Finland (dark green) in Europe (green & dark grey) in the European Union (green) [Legend] Capital and largest city Helsinki.vaakuna.svg Helsinki 6010'N 02456'E Official languages Finnish (90.0%) Swedish (5.4%) Recognised regional languages Sami (0.03%) Religion Lutheranism,[1] Eastern Orthodoxy[1] Demonym Finnish Finn Government Parliamentary republic[2] President Sauli Niinist Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen Speaker of the Parliament Eero Heinluoma Legislature Eduskunta Independence Autonomy within Russia 29 March 1809 Independence from Soviet Russia 6 December 1917 First recognized by Soviet Russia 4 January 1918 Joined the European Union 1 January 1995 Area Total 338,424 km2 (64th) 130,596 sq mi Water (%) 10 Population 2014 estimate 5,457,429[3] (114th) 2000 census 5,180,000 Density 16/km2 (201st) 41/sq mi GDP (PPP) 2012 estimate Total $197.476 billion[4] Per capita $36,395[4] GDP (nominal) 2012 estimate Total $250.126 billion[4]

in the European

Per capita $46,098[4] Gini (2012) negative increase 25.9[5] low HDI (2013) Increase 0.892[6] very high 21st Currency Euro ( ) (EUR) Time zone EET (UTC+2) Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3) Date format d.m.yyyy Drives on the right Calling code +358 Patron saint St Henry of Uppsala ISO 3166 code FI Internet TLD .fia a. The .eu domain is also used, as it is shared with other European Union m ember states. Finland (Listeni/'f?nl?nd/; Finnish: Suomi [suomi] ( listen); Swedish: Finland [ 'f?nl??n?]), officially the Republic of Finland,[7] is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden to the west, Norway to the north, Russia to the east, and Estonia to the south across the Gulf of Finland. As of 2013, Finland's population was around 5.5 million, with the majority conce ntrated in its southern regions.[8] In terms of area, it is the eighth largest c ountry in Europe and the most sparsely populated country in the European Union. Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in the capit al of Helsinki, local governments in 336 municipalities[9][10] and an autonomous region, the land Islands. About one million residents live in the Greater Helsin ki area (consisting of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen), which also produ ces a third of the country's GDP. Other large cities include Tampere, Turku, Oul u, Jyvskyl, Lahti, and Kuopio. From the 12th until the early 19th century, Finland was part of Sweden, a legacy reflected in the prevalence of the Swedish language and its official status. It then became an autonomous Grand Duchy within the Russian Empire until the Russi an Revolution, which prompted the Finnish Declaration of Independence. This was followed by a civil war where the pro-Bolshevik "Reds" were defeated by the proconservative "Whites" with support from the German Empire. After a brief attempt to establish a monarchy, Finland became a republic. Finland's experience of Wor ld War II involved three separate conflicts: the Winter War (1939 1940) and Contin uation War (1941 1944) against the Soviet Union and the Lapland War (1944 1945) agai nst Nazi Germany. Following the end of the war, Finland joined the United Nation s in 1955 and established an official policy of neutrality. Nevertheless, it rem ained fairly active on the world stage, joining the Organisation for Economic Co -operation and Development (OECD) in 1969, the European Union in 1995, and the e urozone at its inception in 1999. Finland was a relative latecomer to industrialisation, remaining a largely agrar ian country until the 1950s. Thereafter, it rapidly developed an advanced econom y while building an extensive Nordic-style welfare state, resulting in widesprea d prosperity and a nominal per capita income of over $46,000 as of 2012, among t he highest in the world.[4] Subsequently, Finland is a top performer in numerous metrics of national performance, including education, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life, and human development.[11][12][13][14][15][16 ] In 2010, Newsweek magazine ranked Finland as the overall "best country in the world" after summing various factors.[17] Contents [hide] 1 Etymology and concept of Finland 1.1 Etymology

1.2 Concept 2 History 2.1 Prehistory 2.2 Swedish era 2.3 Russian Empire era 2.4 Civil war and early independence 2.5 World War II 2.6 Cold War 2.7 Recent history 3 Geography 3.1 Biodiversity 3.2 Climate 3.3 Regions 3.4 Administrative divisions 4 Politics 4.1 Constitution 4.2 President 4.3 Parliament 4.4 Cabinet 4.5 Law 4.6 Foreign relations 4.7 Social security 4.8 Armed forces 5 Economy 5.1 Energy 5.2 Transport 5.3 Industry