Finland

Finland is a Nordic country between Sweden, Norway and Russia, facing Estonia across the Gulf of Finland. Boreal forest covers most of it, and the country has about 168,000 lakes, with Saimaa the largest, and many thousands of islands. Helsinki is the capital, and Finnish and Swedish are the official languages, spoken as mother tongues by most of the population and a small minority respectively.

People settled the land around 9000 BC as the ice retreated. From the mid-13th century Finland belonged to Sweden, until Russia captured it in the Finnish War and made it an autonomous grand duchy in 1809. The Kalevala, published in 1835, became the national epic, and Finnish gained equal status with Swedish in 1892. In 1906 Finland became the first European country with universal suffrage. Independence followed the Russian Revolution in 1917, and the republic was confirmed in 1919. The Winter War and the Continuation War against the Soviet Union cost territory but not independence. Finland joined the European Union in 1995, the eurozone in 1999 and NATO in 2023.

Finland is a parliamentary republic in which the prime minister holds the most power, while the president's role has narrowed over recent decades. The single-chamber Eduskunta has 200 members. Manufacturing drives foreign trade, led by electronics, machinery and metal products, forestry and paper, and chemicals. Mobile phone maker Nokia fueled growth in the late 1990s, and UPM-Kymmene ranks among the large employers. Five nuclear reactors at Olkiluoto and Loviisa produce about 40% of the energy.

Finnish sauna culture is listed by UNESCO as intangible heritage, and the Suomenlinna sea fortress is one of the main sights of Helsinki. Jean Sibelius composed Finlandia in 1899, and Tove Jansson created the Moomins. Lapland, home to the Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi, sees the northern lights through much of the year. Paavo Nurmi won nine Olympic gold medals in running, and Keke Rosberg, Mika Häkkinen and Kimi Räikkönen each won the Formula One title. Pesäpallo, a form of baseball, is the national sport.