Republic of FinlandSuomen tasavalta (Finnish)

Republiken Finland (Swedish)

Flag Coat of arms

Anthem: Maamme (Finnish)Vrt land (Swedish)

"Our Land"

Location of Finland (dark green) in Europe (green & dark grey) in the European Union (green) [Legend]

Capitaland largest city

Helsinki6010N 02456E

Official languages Finnish (89.33%)Swedish (5.34%)

Recognisedregional languages Sami (0.03%)

Religion EvangelicalLutheranism,[1]EasternOrthodoxy[1]

Demonym Finnish Finn

Government Parliamentary republic[2]

- President Sauli Niinist - Prime Minister Juha Sipil - Speaker of the

ParliamentMaria Lohela

Legislature Eduskunta

Independence - Autonomy

within Russia29 March 1809

- Independencefrom the RussianSFSR

6 December 1917

- First recognizedby the Russian SFSR

4 January 1918

Area - Total 338,424 km2 (64th)

130,596 sq mi - Water (%) 10Population

FinlandFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Finland ( i/fnlnd/; Finnish: Suomi [suomi]; Swedish: Finland [fnland]), officially theRepublic of Finland,[7] is a Nordic country in Northern Europe bordered by Sweden to thewest, Norway to the north and Russia to the east; Estonia lies to the south across the Gulf ofFinland. Finland is part of the geographic region of Fennoscandia, which also includesScandinavia and parts of Russia.

In 2013, Finland's population was around 5.5 million, with the majority living in its southernregions.[8] In terms of area, it is the eighth largest country in Europe and the most sparselypopulated country in the European Union. Finland is a parliamentary republic with a centralgovernment based in the capital Helsinki, local governments in 317 municipalities[9] and anautonomous region, the land Islands. Over 1.4 million people live in the Greater Helsinkimetropolitan area, which produces a third of the country's GDP. Other large cities includeTampere, Turku, Oulu, Jyvskyl, Lahti, and Kuopio.

From the late 12th century until 1809, Finland was part of Sweden, a legacy reflected in theprevalence of the Swedish language and its official status. It was then incorporated into theRussian Empire as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland, until the Russian Revolution of1917 prompted the Finnish Declaration of Independence. This was followed by the FinnishCivil War in which the pro-Bolshevik Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic was defeated by thepro-conservative "Whites" with support from the German Empire. After a brief attempt toestablish a kingdom, the country became a republic. In World War II, Finnish forces fought inthree separate conflicts: the Winter War (19391940) and Continuation War (19411944)against the Soviet Union and the Lapland War (19441945) against Nazi Germany. Finlandjoined the United Nations in 1955 and established an official policy of neutrality. It joined theOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1969, the EuropeanUnion in 1995, and the Eurozone at its inception in 1999.

Finland was a relative latecomer to industrialisation, remaining a largely agrarian country untilthe 1950s. It rapidly developed an advanced economy while building an extensive Nordic-stylewelfare state, resulting in widespread prosperity and one of the highest per capita incomes in theworld.[10] Finland is a top performer in numerous metrics of national performance, includingeducation, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life, and human development.The country has a long legacy of social progressivism, in 1906 becoming the second nation inthe world to give full suffrage to all adult citizens.[11][12] About 73.9% of Finns were membersof the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland by 2014; nevertheless, the Lutheran Churchestimates that approximately only 2% of its members attend church services weekly.[13] A billlegalizing same-sex marriage in Finland was approved by the parliament on 12 December 2014and signed by the President on 20 February 2015. In 2010, Newsweek chose Finland as the bestcountry in the world.[14][15][16][17][18][19] Finland ranked first in the World Human Capital indexin May 2015.[20]

Contents1 Etymology and concept of Finland

1.1 Etymology1.2 Concept

2 History2.1 Prehistory2.2 Swedish era2.3 Russian Empire era2.4 Civil war and early independence2.5 World War II2.6 Cold War2.7 Recent history

3 Geography3.1 Biodiversity3.2 Climate3.3 Regions3.4 Administrative divisions

4 Politics4.1 Constitution4.2 President

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Coordinates: 64N 26E

Finland - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Finland

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