Finland
Coordinates: 65°N 27°E / 65°N 027°E
| Republic of Finland Suomen tasavalta (Finnish) Republiken Finland (Swedish) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Anthem: Maamme (Finnish) Vårt land (Swedish) "Our Land" | ||||||
![Location of Finland (dark green)– on the European continent (green & dark grey)– in the European Union (green) — [Legend]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EU-Finland.svg) Location of Finland (dark green) – on the European continent (green & dark grey) | ||||||
| Capital (and largest city) | Helsinki 60°10′N 024°56′E / 60.167°N 24.933°E | |||||
| Official language(s) | Finnish, Swedish | |||||
| Recognised regional languages | Saami | |||||
| Demonym | Finns, Finnish | |||||
| Government | Parliamentary republic[1] | |||||
| - | President | Tarja Halonen | ||||
| - | Prime Minister | Mari Kiviniemi | ||||
| - | Prime Minister-designate | Jyrki Katainen | ||||
| Independence | ||||||
| - | Autonomy from Sweden | March 29, 1809 | ||||
| - | Declared from Bolshevik Russia | December 6, 1917 | ||||
| - | Recognised | January 4, 1918 | ||||
| EU accession | January 1, 1995 | |||||
| Area | ||||||
| - | Total | 338,424 km2 (64th) 130,596 sq mi | ||||
| - | Water (%) | 10 | ||||
| Population | ||||||
| - | 2010 estimate | 5,374,781[2] (112th) | ||||
| - | 2000 census | 5,180,000 | ||||
| - | Density | 16/km2 (201st) 40/sq mi | ||||
| GDP (PPP) | 2010 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $185.979 billion[3] | ||||
| - | Per capita | $34,585[3] | ||||
| GDP (nominal) | 2010 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $239.232 billion[3] | ||||
| - | Per capita | $44,488[3] | ||||
| Gini (2000) | 26.9 (low) | |||||
| HDI (2010) |  0.871[4] (very high) (16th) | |||||
| Currency | Euro (€)¹ (EUR) | |||||
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) | |||||
| - | Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) | ||||
| Date formats | d.m.yyyy | |||||
| Drives on the | right | |||||
| ISO 3166 code | FI | |||||
| Internet TLD | .fi, .ax ² | |||||
| Calling code | 358 | |||||
| 1 | Before 2002: Finnish markka | |||||
| 2 | The .eu domain is also used, as it is shared with other European Union member states. | |||||
Finland (
i /ˈfɪnlənd/; 
Finnish: Suomi; Swedish: Finland (help·info)), officially the Republic of Finland,[5] is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.
Around 5.4 million people reside in Finland, with the majority concentrated in the southern region.[2] It is the eighth largest country in Europe in terms of area and the most sparsely populated country in the European Union. Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in Helsinki and local governments in 336 municipalities.[6][7] A total of about one million residents live in the Greater Helsinki area (which includes Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen and Vantaa), and a third of the country's GDP is produced there. Other larger cities include Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Jyväskylä, Lahti and Kuopio.
Finland was historically a part of Sweden and from 1809 on, an autonomous Grand Duchy within the Russian Empire. Finnish Declaration of Independence from Russia in 1917 was followed by a civil war, wars against the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, and a period of official neutrality during the Cold War. Finland joined the United Nations in 1955, the OECD in 1969, the European Union in 1995, and the eurozone since its inception.
Finland was a relative latecomer to industrialisation, remaining a largely agrarian country until the 1950s. Thereafter, economic development was rapid, Finland built an extensive welfare state and balanced between the East and the West in global economics and politics. With the best educational system in Europe,[8][9] Finland has recently ranked as one of the world's most peaceful, competitive and livable countries.[10][11][12][13]
Contents |
History
Etymology
The name Suomi (Finnish for "Finland") has uncertain origins, but a candidate for a cognate is the Proto-Baltic word *zeme, meaning "land". In addition to the close relatives of Finnish (the Finnic languages), this name is also used in the Baltic languages Latvian and Lithuanian. Alternatively, the Indo-European word *gʰm-on "man" (cf. Gothic guma, Latin homo) has been suggested, being borrowed as *ćoma. The word originally referred only to the province of Finland Proper, and later to the northern coast of Gulf of Finland, with northern lands Ostrobothnia still being excluded as late as the 18th century. Earlier theories suggested derivation from suomaa (fen land) or suoniemi (fen cape), and parallels between saame (Sami, a non-Finnish people in Finland) and Häme (a Finnish people and a province) were drawn, but these theories are now considered outdated.[14]
Among the first documents to mention "a land of the Finns" are two rune-stones. There is one in Söderby, Sweden, with the inscription finlont (U 582) and one in Gotland, a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea, with the inscription finlandi (G 319), dating from the 11th century.[15
