Finland
Name
| Official name | Republic of Finland — Suomen tasavalta; Republiken Finland |
|---|---|
| Former names | The eastern half of the Kingdom of Sweden (c. 1250–1809); the Grand Duchy of Finland under the Russian tsars (1809–1917); the Kingdom of Finland for two months of 1918, with a German prince elected and never crowned |
| Demonym | Finnish; Finn; Finland-Swede for the Swedish-speaking minority |
| Meaning of the name | Suomi — of uncertain origin, perhaps from suo, "marsh," or a Baltic word for land; "Finland" from the Swedish, "the land of the Finns" |
| Motto | None official |
Quick facts
| Capital | Helsinki — Helsingfors — founded 1550, the capital since 1812; about 690,000, 1.5 million in the capital region |
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| Largest cities | Helsinki; Espoo, about 320,000; Tampere; Vantaa; Oulu; Turku; Jyväskylä; Kuopio; Lahti; Rovaniemi in Lapland |
| Official languages | Finnish and Swedish — the national languages, Swedish the mother tongue of about 5%; Sámi official in the Sámi homeland; Romani and sign language recognized |
| Currency | Euro — EUR, €; since 1999, the notes from 2002, replacing the markka at 5.94573; the only Nordic country in the eurozone |
| Time zone | Eastern European Time, UTC+2; summer time UTC+3 |
| Calling code | +358 |
| Internet domains | .fi; .ax for Åland |
| ISO 3166 codes | FI · FIN · 246 |
| Vehicle registration code | FIN |
| Driving side | Right |
| Electricity | 230 V, 50 Hz; plug types C and F |
| Independence | 6 December 1917, from Russia — declared by the Senate of Svinhufvud, recognized by Lenin on 31 December |
| National days | 6 December, Independence Day, with the candles in the windows and the President's ball; 4 June, Flag Day and the Day of the Defence Forces; Midsummer, Juhannus; 1 May, Vappu; 28 February, Kalevala Day; 5 February, Runeberg Day; 8 December, Sibelius Day |
| Constitution | 1 March 2000 — the Constitution of Finland, replacing the four constitutional acts of 1919 and after; the presidency trimmed, the parliament strengthened |
| Population | About 5.64 million (Statistics Finland, 2025); about 5.62 million by the UN — growth only by immigration |
| Area | 338,145 km² (130,559 sq mi) — land 303,815 km², water 34,330 km²; 338,455 km² by the national count; the eighth-largest country in Europe |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | The Siniristilippu — a blue Nordic cross on white, the cross offset toward the hoist: the blue of the lakes and the sky, the white of the snow, in the pattern of the Danish flag shared by all the Nordic countries; adopted 29 May 1918 after the civil war, with the state flag bearing the lion of the arms at the crossing.Flag of Finland |
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| Coat of arms | A crowned gold lion on red, holding a straight sword in its armored right arm and trampling a curved saber, among nine silver roses — the arms of the Grand Duchy since the 1580s, on the tomb of Gustav Vasa; the sabre the Russian foe; fixed by the law of 1978 |
| National anthem | "Maamme" — "Vårt land," "Our Land" — words by Johan Ludvig Runeberg, 1846, music by Fredrik Pacius, 1848, first sung at Flora Day in Helsinki on 13 May 1848; never enacted by law, the anthem by custom; the same melody as Estonia's |
| National colors | Blue and white |
| National bird | The whooper swan — laulujoutsen; chosen 1981; on the one-euro coin |
| National animal | The brown bear — karhu, the sacred beast of the Finns' forebears; chosen 1985 |
| National flower | The lily of the valley — kielo; chosen 1967 |
| National tree | The silver birch — rauduskoivu; chosen 1988 |
| National fish | The perch — ahven; chosen 1990 |
| National stone | Granite — graniitti; chosen 1989 |
| National epic | The Kalevala — the folk poems of Karelia compiled by Elias Lönnrot, 1835 and 1849; Kalevala Day 28 February |
| The sauna | About three million saunas for 5.6 million people — inscribed by UNESCO as intangible heritage in 2020 |
| Symbol status | The flag and arms are fixed by law; the anthem by custom; the bird, animal, flower, tree, fish and stone by public votes and the choices of the 1980s; the epic and the sauna by the nation |
Geography
| Location | Northern Europe — the easternmost of the Nordic countries, between Sweden and Russia, from the Gulf of Finland to Lapland above the Arctic Circle; Estonia 80 km across the gulf |
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| Land borders | 2,563 km (1,593 mi) with three countries |
| Border with Russia | 1,309 km (813 mi) by the Factbook, 1,340 km by the Border Guard — the longest border of the EU with Russia, closed since 30 November 2023, with a fence of about 200 km built by 2026 |
| Border with Norway | 709 km (441 mi) |
| Border with Sweden | 545 km (339 mi) — along the Torne River |
| Coastline | 1,250 km (777 mi) as the Factbook counts it, on the Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Bothnia — some 46,000 km with every island and inlet |
| Highest point | Halti, 1,324 m (4,344 ft), on the Norwegian border |
| Lowest point | The Baltic Sea, 0 m |
| Mean elevation | 164 m (538 ft) |
| Lakes | 187,888 lakes larger than 500 m² — the land of a thousand lakes; Saimaa, about 4,400 km², the largest, home of the Saimaa ringed seal; Päijänne; Inari in Lapland; Pielinen; Oulujärvi; about 10% of the country water |
| Islands | 179,584 — the Åland archipelago of 6,700, the Turku archipelago, the islands of the lakes; Åland, Swedish-speaking, autonomous and demilitarized since 1921 |
| Rivers | The Kemijoki, 550 km, the longest, in Lapland; the Tornio on the Swedish border; the Oulujoki; the Kymijoki; the Vuoksi from Saimaa to Ladoga |
| Terrain | Low plains and rolling hills of the ice age — eskers, moraines and drumlins; the Salpausselkä ridges; the fells of Lapland; the archipelago coast; the Kvarken, still rising a centimeter a year since the ice left |
| Climate | Cold temperate in the south, subarctic in Lapland — the Gulf Stream and the Baltic softening it; snow on the ground three to seven months; the midnight sun of June and the polar night of December in the north |
| Natural hazards | Winter storms and blizzards; spring floods on the Kemijoki and the Kokemäenjoki; forest fires in dry summers; the winter darkness |
| Natural resources | Timber — the green gold; copper, nickel, zinc, gold, chromite; the peat of the bogs; hydropower; wind on the west coast; the nuclear plants |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 8%; forest about 73% — the most forested country in Europe |
| National parks | 41 — Pallas-Yllästunturi in Lapland, the most visited; Urho Kekkonen; Lemmenjoki, the largest; Nuuksio beside Helsinki; Koli above Pielinen, the national landscape; Saimaa's Linnansaari and Kolovesi; Archipelago |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 7 — the fortress of Suomenlinna and Old Rauma (1991); the old church of Petäjävesi (1994); the Verla mill (1996); the Bronze Age burial site of Sammallahdenmäki (1999); the Struve Geodetic Arc (2005, shared); the Kvarken Archipelago (2006, with Sweden's High Coast) |
| Administrative divisions | 19 regions — maakunnat — from Uusimaa with Helsinki to Lapland and the autonomous Åland; 21 wellbeing services counties since 2023 for health and rescue; 308 municipalities |
People
| Population | About 5.64 million (Statistics Finland, 2025) |
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| Population density | About 18 per km² (48 per sq mi) — among the lowest in Europe; Lapland under two |
| Population growth | About 0.3% a year by immigration; births at a record low, deaths above them since 2016 |
| Median age | About 43 years |
| Life expectancy | About 82 years |
| Fertility rate | About 1.3 births per woman — the lowest ever recorded in the country |
| Urban population | About 87% |
| Adult literacy | About 100% — the schools among the best in the world by the PISA tests |
| Ethnic groups | Finnish about 85%; Finland-Swedish about 5%; foreign-born about 10% — Russians, Estonians, Iraqis, Somalis, Chinese, Ukrainians; the Sámi about 10,000 in Lapland, the EU's only Indigenous people; the Roma about 10,000 |
| Languages | Finnish by about 84%, a Uralic language of the Finnic branch, related to Estonian and distantly to Hungarian; Swedish by about 5%, on the coasts and Åland; Russian by about 2%; three Sámi languages; English by nearly all |
| Religion | The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, one of the two national churches, about 63%; the Orthodox Church of Finland, the other, about 1%; no religion about 33%; Muslim about 2% |
| Human Development Index | 0.948 (2023 data, 2025 report) — very high; about 8th of 193 |
| Happiness | First in the World Happiness Report every year since 2018 — for the trust, the welfare state, the nature and the sisu; also among the least corrupt and the freest in press |
| Sport | Ice hockey — the Leijonat, world champions in 1995, 2011, 2019 and 2022, Olympic gold in 2022; Formula One — Keke Rosberg, Mika Häkkinen and Kimi Räikkönen; rally — the Flying Finns; ski jumping and cross-country — Matti Nykänen, Eero Mäntyranta; Paavo Nurmi's nine golds; the Helsinki Olympics of 1952; pesäpallo, the national game |
| Diaspora | About 300,000 Finns abroad — in Sweden above all, the 450,000 who moved in the 1960s and their children; the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany and Spain |
Government
| Form of government | Parliamentary republic under the Constitution of 2000 — the president head of state, directly elected for six years, twice, leading foreign and security policy with the government; the prime minister head of government, answerable to the Eduskunta |
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| President | Alexander Stubb (National Coalition), since 1 March 2024 — the 13th; prime minister 2014–2015, foreign minister, MEP and finance minister before; born 1 April 1968 in Helsinki; elected in the runoff of 11 February 2024 with 51.6% against Pekka Haavisto of the Greens; a term to 2030 |
| Prime Minister | Petteri Orpo (National Coalition), since 20 June 2023 — the 47th; leader of the party since 2016, finance minister 2016–2019; born 3 November 1969 at Köyliö; succeeded Sanna Marin |
| The government | The Orpo cabinet — the National Coalition with the Finns Party, the Swedish People's Party and the Christian Democrats, 108 of 200 seats; Riikka Purra of the Finns deputy prime minister and finance minister; the spending cuts and the immigration curbs of 2023–26; the most right-leaning government in the republic's history |
| Parliament | The Eduskunta — 200 members elected for four years by proportional representation in 13 districts; the election of 2 April 2023: the National Coalition 20.8% and 48 seats, the Finns Party 20.1% and 46, the Social Democrats 19.9% and 43, the Centre 11.3% and 23, the Greens 13, the Left Alliance 11, the Swedish People's Party 9, the Christian Democrats 5, Movement Now 1, Åland 1; Jussi Halla-aho the speaker |
| The next election | The parliamentary election of 18 April 2027; the county and municipal elections held 13 April 2025; the presidential election of January 2030 |
| NATO | Member since 4 April 2023 — the 31st, after seven decades of neutrality, the application of 18 May 2022 lodged with Sweden's eleven weeks after the invasion of Ukraine; the defense cooperation agreement with the United States of December 2023; the F-35s from 2026; conscription for men, a reserve of about 870,000, the largest artillery in western Europe |
| Russia | The border closed on 30 November 2023 after Moscow steered asylum seekers to the crossings — a fence of about 200 km along the most exposed stretches, built through 2026; the Allegro train to St. Petersburg stopped since March 2022; the Saimaa Canal lease idle; the Finnish stand in the Baltic on the shadow fleet — the Eagle S seized in December 2024 after the Estlink 2 cable was cut |
| Åland | The Swedish-speaking archipelago autonomous since the League of Nations' ruling of 1921 — its own parliament, flag, stamps and demilitarized status, its own seat in the Eduskunta and the Nordic Council |
| Legal system | Civil law on the Swedish model; the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court; the Chancellor of Justice and the Parliamentary Ombudsman |
| Regions | 19 regional councils; the 21 wellbeing services counties elected since 2022 |
| European Union | Member since 1 January 1995, with Sweden and Austria; the eurozone from its founding in 1999; Schengen since 2001; the EU Council presidencies of 1999, 2006 and 2019 |
| United Nations | Member since 14 December 1955 — the Winter War and the Continuation War having kept it out for a decade; Martti Ahtisaari's Nobel Peace Prize of 2008 |
| Other memberships | The Nordic Council (1955), the OECD (1969), the Council of Europe (1989), the OSCE — born of the Helsinki Accords of 1 August 1975 — the WTO, the Arctic Council |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$320 billion (2025, IMF) |
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| GDP per capita | About US$57,000 (2025) |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$65,000 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 1% in 2025 after the contractions of 2023 and 2024; unemployment about 9.5%, among the highest in the EU; inflation near 2% |
| Economy by sector | Services about 70%, industry about 27%, agriculture about 2% |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) |
| Forest | The green gold — UPM, Stora Enso and Metsä Group among the largest forest companies in the world; pulp, paper, board, timber and biofuels about a fifth of exports; the forest owned by 600,000 families |
| Technology | Nokia of Espoo — the phone giant of the 2000s, the 5G network maker now; the games of Supercell and Rovio; Linux, written by Linus Torvalds in Helsinki in 1991; the world's most digital society by many measures; the Slush startup gathering |
| Industry | Wärtsilä's ship engines, Kone's elevators, Metso and Valmet's machines, the icebreakers and cruise ships of Turku and Helsinki — some 60% of the world's icebreakers designed or built in Finland; Neste, the largest maker of renewable diesel; the steel of Outokumpu; the Kemi mine |
| Energy | Nuclear power about 40% of electricity — Olkiluoto 3, the largest reactor in Europe, started in 2023; hydropower, wind above 20%, and the forests' biomass; near carbon-neutral electricity, the goal of 2035 for the whole country |
| Trade partners | Germany, Sweden, the United States, the Netherlands, China; Russia, once the largest, cut off since 2022 |
| Public finances | Public debt about 85% of GDP and rising — the cuts of the Orpo government; the welfare state's bill for an aging nation; the highest taxes in the EU after Denmark |
| Income classification | High income (World Bank); an OECD member since 1969 |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airport | Helsinki-Vantaa — about 20 million passengers, the hub between Europe and Asia over the pole, its Asian routes cut by the closure of Russian airspace since 2022; Oulu, Rovaniemi for Lapland, Turku, Tampere |
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| Airline | Finnair, founded 1 November 1923 as Aero O/Y — among the oldest airlines still flying |
| Main ports | Helsinki, the busiest passenger port in Europe with Tallinn and Stockholm across the water — about 10 million passengers; HaminaKotka, the largest cargo port; Turku; Naantali; Kokkola; Hanko for cars |
| Railways | About 5,900 km (3,700 mi) of the Russian broad gauge — VR's Pendolino trains; the Helsinki Metro of 1982, the northernmost in the world; the Helsinki and Tampere trams; the Allegro to St. Petersburg, 2010–2022 |
| Roads | About 78,000 km (48,500 mi) of public roads; about 900 km of motorways; the E75 from Helsinki to Utsjoki at the Norwegian border, the longest road in the country |
| Icebreakers | The fleet that keeps every port open through the winter — the only country whose ports all freeze; the ice roads of the lakes; the Arctic Corridor to the Barents Sea dreamed of |
History in dates
| c. 8500 BC | The first settlers after the ice |
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| 1155 | The Swedish crusade of Erik and Bishop Henry — by legend; Finland Swedish for six centuries |
| 1550 | Helsinki founded by Gustav Vasa |
| 1640 | The Academy of Turku — the first university |
| 1809 | The Grand Duchy of Finland under Alexander I — the Diet of Porvoo |
| 1812 | Helsinki the capital |
| 1835 | The Kalevala published |
| 1906 | Universal suffrage — the first women in Europe to vote and stand for parliament |
| 1917 | Independence declared, 6 December |
| 1918 | The civil war of Reds and Whites, January–May |
| 1919 | The republic; Ståhlberg the first president |
| 1939–1940 | The Winter War, 30 November to 13 March — the Soviet invasion held for 105 days |
| 1941–1944 | The Continuation War; the armistice of 19 September 1944; Karelia lost, 400,000 resettled |
| 1948 | The treaty with the Soviet Union — Finlandization |
| 1952 | The Helsinki Olympics |
| 1955 | The United Nations and the Nordic Council |
| 1975 | The Helsinki Accords, 1 August |
| 1995 | The European Union, 1 January |
| 2000 | Tarja Halonen the first woman president, 1 March |
| 2002 | The euro in the pocket |
| 2019 | Sanna Marin, at 34 the youngest prime minister in the world, 10 December |
| 2022 | The NATO application, 18 May |
| 2023 | NATO, 4 April; the Orpo government, 20 June; the border closed, 30 November |
| 2024 | Alexander Stubb president, 1 March |
| 2027 | The election of 18 April due |
Records & firsts
| The happiest country in the world | First in the World Happiness Report every year since 2018 |
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| The land of a thousand lakes | 187,888 of them |
| The most islands | 179,584 — among the most of any country |
| The most forested country in Europe | About three-quarters |
| The first women to vote and stand in Europe | 1906 |
| The most saunas per head | About three million |
| The most coffee per head | About 12 kg a year |
| The Winter War | 105 days against the Soviet Union, 1939–40 |
| The icebreaker nation | About 60% of the world's icebreakers |
| The largest reactor in Europe | Olkiluoto 3, 1,600 MW |
| Linux | Written in Helsinki, 1991 |
| The northernmost metro | Helsinki, 1982 |
| Santa Claus | At home in Rovaniemi, on the Arctic Circle |
| The most heavy metal bands per head | About 50 per 100,000 people |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Finland?
The Republic of Finland — Suomen tasavalta in Finnish, Republiken Finland in Swedish, its two national languages — since the constitution of 1919, after the declaration of independence from Russia on 6 December 1917. "Finland" is the Swedish and English name, "the land of the Finns"; the Finns call their country Suomi, a name of uncertain origin, perhaps from suo, "marsh," or from an old word for land. Between the Swedish crown and the Russian tsar, Finland was six centuries a part of Sweden and a century a Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire.
What is the capital of Finland?
Helsinki — Helsingfors in Swedish — on the Gulf of Finland, founded by Gustav Vasa in 1550 and the capital since 1812, when the tsar moved it from Turku; about 690,000 people in the city and 1.5 million in the capital region with Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen, more than a quarter of the country; the fortress of Suomenlinna on its islands a World Heritage site. Tampere, the old industrial city between two lakes, is the second city; Turku the first capital, Oulu the city of the north, Jyväskylä and Kuopio the lake towns.
How big is Finland, and how many people live there?
About 338,145 km² (130,559 sq mi) — the eighth-largest country in Europe, a little smaller than Germany and about the size of Montana — a tenth of it water, in 187,888 lakes, and three-quarters forest, the most forested country in Europe. Statistics Finland counts about 5.64 million people, the UN about 5.62 million — one of the least densely peopled countries on the continent, its numbers held level only by immigration, with a third of it living in the south around Helsinki and Lapland almost empty.
What are the highest and lowest points of Finland?
Halti — Háldi — 1,324 m (4,344 ft), on the Norwegian border in the far northwest, a slope of a fell whose summit, 1,361 m, lies a few meters inside Norway; and the Baltic Sea. Finland is low and flat, scoured by the ice age into lakes, eskers and 179,584 islands, the Kemijoki its longest river at 550 km and Saimaa, 4,400 km², its largest lake and the fourth-largest in Europe.
What currency does Finland use?
The euro (ISO code EUR, €), since 1 January 1999 as a founding member of the eurozone, with the notes and coins from 2002 replacing the markka at 5.94573 — the only Nordic country in the euro. Clocks keep Eastern European Time, UTC+2, with summer time; in Lapland the sun does not set for two months of summer and does not rise for weeks of winter.
Who governs Finland?
President Alexander Stubb, head of state since 1 March 2024, who leads foreign and security policy with the government — elected in the runoff of 11 February 2024 with 51.6 percent over Pekka Haavisto; and Prime Minister Petteri Orpo of the National Coalition, head of government since 20 June 2023 at the head of a coalition of his conservatives with the Finns Party, the Swedish People's Party and the Christian Democrats, the most right-leaning government in the republic's history, with Riikka Purra of the Finns as finance minister and deputy. Finland joined NATO on 4 April 2023 and has kept its 1,340 km border with Russia closed since November 2023. The next parliamentary election is due on 18 April 2027.
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