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Finland is a country in the north east corner of Europe.

Finland is surrounded by the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland. Both of these Gulfs are usually covered with ice in winter.

The land is fairly flat with thousands of lakes. Parts of Northern Finland lie within the Arctic Circle.

In the north of Finland, in winter, the sun never rises above the horizon for about 2 months. In Southern Finland there is about 6 hours of sunlight in mid-winter. Similarly, in the summer, the northern area has continuous daylight for about 2 months of the year. In the south there is an average of 19 hours of daylight a day in midsummer. Lapland, the traditional home of Santa Claus, is in northern Finalnd.

The geographical coordinates for the centre of Finland, also known as lines of latitude and longitude, are:-
Latitude - 64 00N
Longitude - 26 00E

The capital of Finland is Helsinki.

Finland is a parliamentary republic with a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of the government.

In elections everyone over the age of 18 can vote.

The currency in Finland is the euro. Finland is a member of the European Union, having joined in 1981.

Finnish is the official language.

Check the weather in Helsinki now.

This is the time in Helsinki now

The Finnish flag is white with a blue cross and the cross is moved to the left hand side of the flag, nearer to a flag pole when the flag is raised. The blue is for the thousands of lakes in Finland while the white is for the snow that covers the country in winter.

Hear the National Anthem



These are the anthem words

The words ×

These are the words to the Finish National Anthem called Our Land. It was adopted in 1848. This is a translation of the words.

If anthem fails to play click here

O our home country, Finland, the land where we were born, sound high, you golden word!
There is no valley, no mountain, no lake or shore more dear,
Than this northern home, the land of our fathers.
There is no valley, no mountain, no lake or shore more dear,
Than this northern home, the land of our fathers. 11.

 There shall be time when you will burst into full blossom,
Then our love shall be roused by your glorious hope and joy,
At last, your song, o motherland, will sound in higher tone!
Our love shall be roused by your glorious hope and joy,
At last, your song, o motherland, will sound in higher tone!

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The Land
The People
Life and Death
Health, Energy and the Environment
Education and Work
Travel, Communication and the Media

The total land area of Finland is 303,815 sq kms which is the 8th largest in Europe.

Finland has lakes, rivers and canals which total 34,330 sq kms.

Finland has boundaries with 3 countries

• Russia 1,309 kms
• Norway 709 kms
• Sweden 545 kms

Finland has a coastline of 1,250 kms which is the 16th longest in Europe.

The highest point in Finland is Halti at 1,328 metres.

The pie chart below shows how the land is split between agricultural land (crops and pastures), forests and other, which can be towns, villages, desert or frozen waste called tundra.

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The total population of Finland is 5.50 million people, making it the 22nd largest country in Europe by population.

Of this number 2.80 million are females and 2.70 million are males.

A person from Finland is called a Finn.

To be a citizen of Finland, one of your parents must be a citizen of Finland. It is not sufficient to be born in Finland. You have to live in Finland for 6 years before you can begin to apply for citizenship.

The largest five cities in Finland, by population are:-

• Helsinki 1,159,211 people
• Tampere 313,058
• Turku 252,468
• Oulu 200,071
• Jyvsakyla 116,480

For each country we will give you a diagram showing the population density. This is the average number of people for each square kilometre. Each little Owlbut is 1 person and the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.



84.2% of the people live in cities or towns.

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The birth rate in Finland is 10.7 births per 1,000 of population

The death rate in Finland is 9.9 deaths per 1,000 people.

Check this against the birth rate. If the death rate is higher than the birth rate then the population will decrease unless immigrants arrive in the country.

There are 2.4 deaths of girls under 1 year per 1,000 of births and 2.7 deaths of boys.

The median age for females is 44.3 and for males is 40.8. The median age is that age which divides the population exactly in half so there are the same number of people above the median age as below it.

The average age of a woman when she has her first child is 28.5.

The elderly dependency ratio is 32.0. This is the number of elderly people (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64).

The potential support ratio is 3.1. This is the number of working-age people (ages 15-64) per one elderly person (ages 65+). As a population ages, the potential support ratio tends to fall, meaning there are fewer potential workers to support the elderly.

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Finland spends 9.7% of its total income on health care.

There are 2.51 doctors per 1,000 people.

There are 5.5 hospital beds per 1,000 people.

22.2% of the population are estimated as obese.

100% of Finns have drinking water that is either piped into their home or they have access to a public tap, a protected borehole, well, spring or protected rainwater collection facility.

99.4% of the urban population and 88.0% of the rural population have access to a flushing toilet that is connected to a sewer, a pit latrine (that is a permanent hole in the ground that is looked after) or a composting toilet.

Finland releases 48.0 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels in the process of producing and consuming energy. This puts it as the 17th highest in Europe.

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Finland spends 7.2% of its total income on education.

Children usually start school at age 7 in Finland. Primary education is for six years until age 13 followed by lower secondary education, which is subject specific, for three more years. Higher secondary education can continue till 18/19. This may be followed by further education at a university or college.

Generally the school year consists of 3 terms and starts in the middle of August and finishes at the beginning of June. There is usually a 2 week break at Christmas, along weekend at Easter, and a one week break in the middle of each of the first two terms.

We have no figures for the number of people who are able to read and write by the age of 15.

20.1% of all people aged between 16 and 24 are not in work. Among females 18.6% are unemployed while with males 21.8% can't find work.

The total number of people available for work in Finland is 2.68 million.

They work in the following sectors.

• Agriculture includes farming, fishing and forestry work
• Industry includes mining, manufacturing, construction and energy workers
• Services is everything else

9.1% of the workforce are unemployed.

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There are 74 paved airports in Finland, which is the 9th highest number in Europe.


There are 5,919 kilometres of railways in Finland, which is the 12th longest in Europe.


There are 76,000 kilometres of roads in Finland, which means Finland is in 16th place for the most kilometres of roads in Europe.

There are 8 major national newspapers in Finland.

There are 7.40 million mobile phone users.

90% of the people have a fixed landline.



5.10 million people have access to the internet at home via any device (computer or mobile).

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