+358 is the dialing code for Finland.
With around 187,000 lakes, Finland is the world’s richest country in relation to its size. Sweden’s forested eastern neighbor is also known for its good school results and for successful international peace mediation. The country’s economy has shown weaknesses in recent years but is basically stable. Politically, Finland is usually governed by broad coalitions.
- Abbreviationfinder: Brief profiles of Finland, including geography, history, politics, economics as well as common acronyms about this country.
Geography and climate
Finland is located in northern Europe and borders east to Russia, north to Norway and northwest to Sweden. Estonia across the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea in the south is also considered to be Finland’s neighboring country. In the west, Finland has a coast towards the Gulf of Bothnia and the Bothnian Sea.
Most of Finland consists of hilly lowland, which mainly consists of moraine soils. About three-quarters of the land area is covered by forest, mainly coniferous forest, and less than a tenth is arable land. The northwestern parts of Finland are part of the Scandinavian mountain range.
- BagLib: General information about Finland, covering geography, climate, travel tips and popular sights.
Finland is sometimes called “the land of a thousand lakes”. With its around 187,000 lakes, Finland is the world’s richest country in relation to its size. The largest lake, Saimen (Saimaa), lies to the east. About a tenth of the land area is submerged.
Finland also has many islands, most of which are in the lakes. Along the coast there is an extensive archipelago, including outside the city of Vaasa and in the southwestern and southern coastal areas.
Between Sweden and Finland lies the archipelago of Åland, which is a landscape with some autonomy (see Åland).
Country Facts
Geography
| Cultivated land | 7.5 % |
| Land area | 338145 km 2 |
Population and health
| Population development | 0.4 ‰ |
| Urban population (Urbanization) | 84.2 % |
| Death rate | 9.83 per 1000 residents |
| Life expectancy: Women | 83.86 years |
| Life expectancy: Men | 77.82 years |
| Birth rate | 10.72 births per 1000 residents |
| HDI index | 0.883 |
| Population | 5476922 |
| Infant mortality | 2.52 deaths / 1000 births |
Population Graph Source: Countryaah.com
Energy
| Electricity, production | 67510 million kWh |
| Energy consumption per resident | 5932.8 kg. oil per resident |
| Natural gas, production | 3 million cubic meters |
| Crude oil, production | million tons |
Infrastructure
| Internet users | 94.0 per 100 residents |
| Mobile subscriptions | 139 per 100 residents |
| Passenger cars | 612 per 1000 residents |
Business and economics
| Unemployment | 9.4% of the workforce |
| GDP | 41100 per resident |
| Primary occupations | 4.4 % |
| Secondary profession | 22.6 % |
| Tertiary professions | 73 % |
Finland has an inland climate, which provides cold winters and hot summers. However, the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic affects the Finnish climate and makes it smoother and milder than it otherwise would have been.
Over a third of Finland lies north of the Arctic Circle and has two months of midnight sun. The winters last from October to May and the temperature can fall below 30 min. The ports in the Gulf of Bothnia are ice-covered for several months. During the summers in the north, the temperature can approach 30 plus degrees.
In the rest of Finland it is winter between November and mid March and the temperature differences between the seasons are smaller than in the north. The mildest is the climate in the southwest. July is the warmest month, while January and February are the coldest.
The rainfall is usually moderate. In the area around the capital Helsinki, an average of 750 mm of precipitation falls annually. It is mostly rainy during the late summer, while March is the driest month. Spring is particularly dry along the coasts.
FACTS – GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE
Surface
338 145 km2 (2018)
Time
Swedish +1 hour
Adjacent country (s)
Sweden, Norway, Russia
Capital with number of residents
Helsinki (Helsinki) 620 700
Other major cities
Espoo (Espoo) 265,500, Tampere (Tampere) 223,000, Vantaa (Vantaa) 210,800 (Estimated) (2015)
Highest mountain
Mountain slope / Haltiantunturi (1328 m asl)
Important rivers
Chemistry river
Largest lake
Saimaa / Saimaa
Average Precipitation / month
Helsinki 60 mm (July), 33 mm (Jan)
Average / day
Helsinki 17 °C (July), –6 °C (Jan)
2013
September
Nokia sells its mobile manufacturing
Telecom company Nokia decides to sell its manufacturing of mobile phones to Microsoft for EUR 5.4 billion (about SEK 47 billion). The transaction must be approved by shareholders and competition authorities.
August
Call for Swedish education
A citizen initiative to abolish compulsory Swedish education collects over 50,000 signatures, which means that the Riksdag must raise the issue. According to the proposal, Swedish teaching for Finnish-speaking pupils in compulsory school and upper secondary school will be voluntary.
June
Home Minister in windy weather
Minister of the Interior Päivi Räsänen of the Christian Democrats wakes up when she says in a speech during the mission days of the Finnish State Church that people in certain conscience issues should obey the words of the Bible rather than Finnish law. For example, she mentions abortion, euthanasia and gender-neutral marriage. Archbishop Kari Mäkinen withdraws from the statement but according to an internet site, a thousand people are demanding exit from the Lutheran church for a single day.
May
The language issue leads to murder threats
The Deputy Chairman of the Swedish People’s Party and two Finnish-Swedish journalists may receive murder threats for their defense of the Swedish as a compulsory school subject.
January
No to compulsory Russian education
The government refuses a request from six municipalities near the Russian border in the south-east to change the compulsory Swedish teaching in schools to Russian. According to an opinion poll, 60 percent of Finns want to keep Swedish as a compulsory language in schools, but the true Finns’ voters and young men in eastern Finland want Russian as compulsory language instead.