About Finland

Finnish Studies at SSEES | Finnish Language | Finland in brief

Finland (surface area 338 000 sq. km) is the seventh largest country in Europe and is situated in northern Europe between the 60th and 70th parallels of latitude. A quarter of its total area lies north of the Arctic Circle. Finland's neighbouring countries are Sweden, Norway, and Russia, which have land borders with Finland, and Estonia across the Gulf of Finland. Forest covers about 75 per cent of Finland, while bodies of water - mainly lakes - cover almost 10 per cent. Finland is the most heavily forested country in Europe, with 23 million hectares under forest cover. There are approximately 190,000 lakes and about 180,000 islands. Europe's largest archipelago, which includes the self-governing province of the Åland Islands, lies off the south-west coast.

The population of 5.2 million is very homogeneous, with the foreign and ethnic communities accounting for two per cent of the population. The biggest groups of immigrants are from Russia, Estonia and Sweden. Among them are a considerable number of people of Finnish descent.

Finland's road to industrialisation started in the 19th century with the harnessing of forest resources. Forests are still Finland's primary raw material resource, although the engineering and high technology industries, spearheaded by the Nokia corporation, have long been the leading branches of manufacturing. The industrial structure of Finnish exports has changed dramatically over the past few decades. The wood and paper industry accounted for well over half of exports less than thirty years ago. Now the paper industry is only one of three major export sectors, the other two being electronics and metal and engineering. The electronics industry's remarkable growth in the 1990s was based primarily on mobile phones and other telecommunication equipment. As regards the country's general prosperity, the net wealth of Finnish households is average for EU member states. It has been a member of the European Union since 1995.

Finland has an interesting history which has shaped its national identity. Some important dates in Finnish history: 1155 - the first crusade to Finland by the Swedes (Finland becomes part of the Swedish realm); 1809 - Finland is handed over to Russia by Sweden and becomes an autonomus Grand Duchy within the Russian Empire; 1917 - declaration of independence; 1955 - joins the United Nations; 1995 - accedes to the EU.

Eminent figures in Finnish culture include: Alvar Aalto, Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Albert Edelfelt, Tove Jansson, Aki Kaurismäki, Elias Lönnrot, Karita Mattila, Armi Ratia, Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Kaija Saariaho, Eero Saarinen, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jean Sibelius Frans Emil Sillanpää, Ville Valo, Osmo Vänskä, Mika Waltari and Santa Claus.

In summary, Finland and the Finnish people offer an appealing combination of innovative high-technology and a modern way of life, together with care for nature and the environment and traditional values.

This page last modified Thursday 16 December 2010.

Language Courses

Postgraduate Language Courses

Bulgarian
Czech
Estonian
Finnish
Hungarian
Latvian
Lithuanian
Polish
Romanian
Serbian/Croatian
Slovak
Ukrainian