Helsinki

CAPITAL CITY OF Finland: Helsinki
LANGUAGE OF Finland: Finnish
CURRENCY OF Finland: Euro (EUR)
COMMENTS ABOUT Finland:
Finland is in Northern Europe and has borders with Russia to the East, Norway to the North and Sweden to the West.
Cities : Helsinki (capital), Jyväskylä,Lappeenranta, Oulu, Pori, Porvoo, Rovaniemi, Tampere, Turku
Best Places : Finnish National Parks, Koli National Park, Levi, Savonlinna, Saariselkä
Electricity : 230V/50Hz (European plug)
Calling Code : +358
Time Zone : UTC +2
Finland was a province and then a grand duchy under Sweden from the 12th to the 19th centuries and an autonomous grand duchy of Russia after 1809. It won its complete independence in 1917. During World War II, it was able to successfully defend its freedom and resist invasions by the Soviet Union - albeit with some loss of territory. In the subsequent half century, the Finns made a remarkable transformation from a farm/forest economy to a diversified modern industrial economy; per capita income is now on par with Western Europe. As a member of the European Union, Finland was the only Nordic state to join the euro system at its initiation in January 1999.
CLIMATE OF Finland: cold temperate; potentially subarctic but comparatively mild because of moderating influence of the North Atlantic Current, Baltic Sea, and more than 60,000 lakes
RELIGION OF Finland: Evangelical Lutheran 89%, Russian Orthodox 1%, none 9%, other 1%
POPULATION OF Finland: 5,214,512 (July 2004 est.)>
ECONOMY OVERVIEW OF Finland: Finland has a highly industrialized, largely free-market economy, with per capita output roughly that of the UK, France, Germany, and Italy. Its key economic sector is manufacturing - principally the wood, metals, engineering, telecommunications, and electronics industries. Trade is important, with exports equaling one-third of GDP. Except for timber and several minerals, Finland depends on imports of raw materials, energy, and some components for manufactured goods. Because of the climate, agricultural development is limited to maintaining self-sufficiency in basic products. Forestry, an important export earner, provides a secondary occupation for the rural population. Rapidly increasing integration with Western Europe - Finland was one of the 12 countries joining the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) - will dominate the economic picture over the next several years. Growth in 2003 was held back by the global slowdown but will pick up in 2004 provided the world economy suffers no further blows.