Facts of Finland

Total area
338,144 km² of which 10% is water and 69% forest and 8% cultivated land. Finland is the seventh largest country in Europe.

Maximum distances
1,157 km (719 miles) north to south, 542 km (336 miles) east to west.

Land border
with Sweden 614 km (381 miles), with Norway 736 km (457 miles) and with Russia 1,340 km (833 miles)

Other
Finland is called the land of thousand lakes, and in fact there are 188,000 lakes and 179,584 islands, 98050 of which are in the lakes.
Europe’s largest archipelago lies off Finland’s southwest coast.

Population
Population 5,4 million. About one million people live in the Helsinki metropolitan area, 67% live in towns or urban areas, 33% in rural areas.

Capital and principal cities
Helsinki, 592,000 inhabitants, Espoo (251,000), Tampere (214,000), Vantaa (202,000), Turku (177,000) and Oulu (142,000) inhabitants.

Religion
Christianity reached Finland about 1000 years ago, more or less simultaneously from east to west. As a consequence, both the Evangelical-Lutheran and Orthodox churches still have the status of official religions. Some 78 % of the population belongs to former and about 1 % to the latter, and both faiths are protected under a constitution that guarantees freedom of religion.

Languages
Finland is officially bilingual. Finnish is the first language of 90 %, and Swedish of 5,4 % of the population. About 1,800 people in Lapland speak Sami (Lapp) languages.
 
Government and constitution
Finland has been an Independent Republic since December 6, 1917, before which it was a Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire. The Finnish constitution follows the Western democracy model. The President is elected for a six-year term. The president for a current term is Ms Tarja Halonen. 200-member, single-chamber parliament is elected every for years by direct elections (for six-year terms). The Prime Minister is Mr Jyrki Katainen.

Currency
Finland is a participant in the European single currency. Its monetary unit is the euro (EUR) divided into 100 cents

History
Recent studies suggest that the ethnic roots of the Finnish people lie to the south and southeast of Europe, from which their ancestors migrated following the Ice Age some 9,000 years ago. Some milestones in Finnish history:

1155 
 The first crusade to Finland, led by the King of Sweden,   starting a war with Sweden for 600 years
1550
 New market town Helsinki was founded
1809 
 Finland was incorporated into the Russian Empire as a Grand Duchy until 1917
1812 Helsinki became the capital, replacing the former capital Turku in the southwest coast of Finland
1828 
 University was moved from Turku to the new capital Helsinki. At that time it was the only university in Finland
1835  
 The first edition of Finnish national epic Kalevala was published
1865 Jean Sibelius was born. He died in 1957
1906 Women became second in the world to gain the right to vote
1917  
 Independent since December 6th.
1939-
 Independence successfully defended in World War II. Finland fought the Soviet Union 1939-40 and 1941-44, Germany 1944-45
1952  
 The 15th Olympic Games were held in Helsinki
1955
 Member of United Nations
1995 Member of European Union