Finland is the second largest country by area among the five Nordic countries, but population wise it is the third largest country with its 5.3 million inhabitants. It is a member of the European Union and the only Nordic country to have introduced the Euro as its currency.

Big cities

Helsinki is the capital of Finland and is located on the south coast in the Finnish bay, facing Estonia. It is the biggest city with its 565.000 inhabitants. The second largest city is Espoo with its 238.000 inhabitants and it is located right by Helsinki as a sister town. Tampere is the third largest city and the largest town located inland in the Nordic region with its 208.000 inhabitants.

Climate

The northern part of Finland has a sub arctic climate with long, cold winters and warm summers. A forth of Finland lies above the Arctic Circle and the midnight sun can be experienced for days, depending on how far north you travel. The sun doesn’t set for 73 consecutive days during summer at the most northern point in Finland. The southern part of the country has a northern temperate climate.

Temperatures

As most of the northern countries Finland has four seasons.

Temperatures expected in January vary from around -4° in the Helsinki region to around -15°C in the middle and in the northern part around -25°C. Summer have from 18-25°C in the south, 20-24°C in the middle and around 15-20°C in the north. Autumn in the north is often under +6°C and the middle and south lies below +10°C.

The temperatures are fluxating depending if you are located inland or by the coast.

It is generally colder inland.

Cultural society

Finland has one of the lowest shares of immigrants within the European Union. This due to their though immigration laws and the difficulty in learning the language. Only 2.3 percent of the population is immigrants and the main part is from Sweden, Estonia and Russia.

Religious Views

The Lutheran church is the largest in the country with a congregation of 84 percent of the Finns. As the Swedes, the Finns are in general being secular and non-religious but their attendances at special ceremonies as infant baptism and the confirmation of christening is very high. About 1 percent of the population belongs to the Orthodox Church.

Languages in practice

Finland has 2 official languages. Finnish which is spoken by the majority of the population, and Swedish which is spoken by around 6 percent of the people. The Swedish speakers are most common along the coast area rather then inland. Finnish has similarities with the Estonian language, and they are both distant relatives of the Hungarian language. There is no similarity between Finnish and Swedish language. In the autonomous region of Aaland, Swedish is the only official language.

Political system

Finland is a democratic republic with a semi-presidential system with parliamentarism. The president is elected by the people on a 6 year term and can only be elected for two terms in a row since 1991. This is a result after the former “public elected” president, Urho Kekkonen, who was sitting a total of four terms, beginning on his fifth, before he had to resigning due to dementia. The parliament is elected every four years.

Currency

Finland uses the Euro as a currency since 2002 and is the only Nordic country to do so.