Official Name: Republic of Finland
Capital: Helsinki
Total area: 338 424 km2
GDP per capita: $36,395
Native Language: Finnish, Swedish
Government: Parliamentary republic
Population: 5,421,827
Major Religion: Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland
Monetary Unit: Euro (EUR)

A land of forests and lakes, Finland is perhaps best known for its pristine nature. In the far north, about 10 weeks of summer are the White Nights, when the sun doesn't set. In winter, the same area goes through almost eight weeks when the sun never rises above the horizon.

Since Finland was part of Sweden for seven centuries (from the 12th century to 1809), around 6% of the population speaks Swedish. Finland became an independent state after the Russian Revolution in 1917. Since that date Finland has been a republic. It has a unicameral parliament whose 200 members are elected every four years.

The country has developed a modern, competitive economy and is a world leader in telecommunications equipment. Major exports include telecommunications equipment and engineered products, paper, pulp and wood, glassware, stainless steel and ceramics.

Its remote northern beauty has inspired many artists, including composer Jean Sibelius and designer Alvar Aalto. Finland has also produced a number of top sports stars, including Formula 1 drivers Mika Häkkinen and Kimi Raikkonen.

Finnish cuisine has been influenced by continental, Russian and Swedish cuisines. Traditional specialties include fish (particularly salmon and turbot fish) and reindeer meat. Dishes to look out for include karjalanpiirakka (rice or potato pastries) and kalakukko (fish and pork fat baked in a loaf).

Health & Wellbeing
The state provides comprehensive unemployment, sick leave, disability, old-age, family/child and war disability benefits.

Economy & Jobs
Forest, metal, technology and telecommunications.

Main attraction
Helsinki, Olavinlinna Castle, Rauma and Turku (the oldest city in Finland).

Business
Finland has a highly industrialized mixed economy with output per capita on par with other European economies such as France, Germany, Belgium or the UK. The largest economic sector is services at 66%, followed by manufacturing and refining at 31%. Primary production is 2.9%. The most important branch of the economy in foreign trade is the manufacturing industry. The largest industries[67] are electronics (22%), machines, vehicles and other technical metal products (21.1%), forest industry (13%) and chemicals (11%).

Finland has timber and several mineral and freshwater resources. Forestry, paper mills and the agricultural sector (on which taxpayers spend around 3 billion euros a year) are politically sensitive to rural residents. The greater Helsinki area generates around a third of GDP. In a 2004 OECD comparison, high-tech manufacturing in Finland ranked second after Ireland. Knowledge-intensive services have also ranked the smallest and slow-growing sectors – notably agriculture and low-tech manufacturing – second only to Ireland. The short-term outlook was overall good and GDP growth was above that of many other countries in the EU.