Finland,officially the Republic of Finland,is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest,Norway to the north,and Russia to the east,with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south,opposite Estonia. Finland covers a total area of 338,145 square kilometres (130,559 sq mi),including a land area of 303,815 square kilometres (117,304 sq mi),and has a population of 5.6 million. Helsinki is the capital and largest city. The vast majority of the population are ethnic Finns. The official languages are Finnish and Swedish;84.9 percent of the population speak the first as their mother tongue and 5.1 percent the latter. Finland's climate varies from humid continental in the south to boreal in the north. The land cover is predominantly boreal forest biome,with more than 180,000 recorded lakes.
The Finnish Defence Forces (FDF) (Finnish:Puolustusvoimat,Swedish:Försvarsmakten) are the military of Finland. The Finnish Defence Forces consist of the Finnish Army,the Finnish Navy,and the Finnish Air Force. In wartime,the Finnish Border Guard becomes part of the Finnish Defence Forces.
Helsinki is the capital and most populous city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About 684,000 people live in the municipality,with 1.26 million in the capital region and 1.6 million in the metropolitan area. As the most populous urban area in Finland,it is the country's most significant centre for politics,education,finance,culture,and research. Helsinki is 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tallinn,Estonia,400 kilometres (250 mi) east of Stockholm,Sweden,and 300 kilometres (190 mi) west of Saint Petersburg,Russia. Helsinki has significant historical connections with these three cities.
The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939,three months after the outbreak of World War II,and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peace Treaty on 13 March 1940. Despite superior military strength,especially in tanks and aircraft,the Soviet Union suffered severe losses and initially made little headway. The League of Nations deemed the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union from its organization.
Turku is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately 206,000,while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 315,000. It is the 6th most populous municipality in Finland,and the third most populous urban area in the country after Helsinki and Tampere.
Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately 260,000,while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 423,000. It is the 3rd most populous municipality in Finland,and the second most populous urban area in the country after the Helsinki metropolitan area.
Finland is divided into 19 regions which are governed by regional councils that serve as forums of cooperation for the municipalities of each region. The councils are composed of delegates from the municipal councils. The main tasks of regional councils are regional planning,the development of enterprises,and education. Between 2004 and 2012,the regional council of Kainuu was elected via popular elections as part of an experimental regional administration.
Lapland is the largest and northernmost region of Finland. The 21 municipalities in the region cooperate in a Regional Council. Lapland borders the Finnish region of North Ostrobothnia in the south. It also borders the Gulf of Bothnia,Norrbotten County in Sweden,Finnmark County and Troms County in Norway,and Murmansk Oblast and the Republic of Karelia in Russia. The topography of Lapland varies from vast mires and forests in the south to fells in the north. The Arctic Circle crosses Lapland,so polar phenomena such as the midnight sun and polar night can be viewed in this region.
Kuopio is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Savo. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Kuopio is approximately 126,000,while the sub-region has a population of approximately 147,000. It is the 8th most populous municipality in Finland,and the seventh most populous urban area in the country.
Finns or Finnish people are a Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland. Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland,both those who are native to these countries as well as those who have resettled. Some of these may be classified as separate ethnic groups,rather than subgroups of Finns. These include the Kvens and Forest Finns in Norway,the Tornedalians in Sweden,and the Ingrian Finns in Russia.
The Finland national football team represents Finland in men's international football competitions and is controlled by the Football Association of Finland,the governing body for football in Finland,which was founded in 1907. The team has been a member of FIFA since 1908 and a UEFA member since 1957.
Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi,commonly known as HJK Helsinki,or simply as HJK,is a Finnish football club based in Helsinki. The club competes in Veikkausliiga,the top division of the Finnish football league system. Founded in 1907,the club has spent most of its history in the top tier of Finnish football. The club's home ground is the 10,770-seat Bolt Arena,where they have played their home games since 2000.
The Finnish men's national ice hockey team,nicknamed Leijonat / Lejonen,is governed by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Finland is one of the most successful national ice hockey teams in the world and a member of the so-called "Big Six",the unofficial group of the six strongest men's ice hockey nations,along with Canada,the United States,Czechia,Russia,and Sweden.
Sauli VäinämöNiinistö is a Finnish politician who served as the 12th president of Finland from 2012 to 2024.
Finland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 57 times since its debut in 1961. The Finnish participant broadcaster in the contest is Yleisradio (Yle),which has often selected its entrant with a national final,since 2012 known as Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu. The country won the contest for the first –and to date only –time in 2006 with "Hard Rock Hallelujah" performed by Lordi. The country's best result before then was achieved with "Tom Tom Tom" by Marion Rung in 1973,which placed sixth.
Finland is a predominantly Christian nation where 65.2% of the Finnish population of 5.6 million are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (Protestant),32.0% are unaffiliated,1.1% are Orthodox Christians,0.9% are other Christians and 0.8% follow other religions like Islam,Hinduism,Buddhism,Judaism,folk religion etc. These statistics do not include,for example,asylum seekers who have not been granted a permanent residence permit.
Finnish is a Finnic language of the Uralic language family,spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official languages of Finland,alongside Swedish. In Sweden,both Finnish and Meänkieli are official minority languages. Kven,which like Meänkieli is mutually intelligible with Finnish,is spoken in the Norwegian counties of Troms and Finnmark by a minority of Finnish descent.
The Nordic countries are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmark,Finland,Iceland,Norway and Sweden;the autonomous territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland;and the autonomous region of Åland.
Finland has been a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) since 4 April 2023.
Sanna Mirella Marin is a Finnish former politician who served as prime minister of Finland from 2019 to 2023 and as the leader of the Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP) from 2020 to 2023. She was a Member of Parliament from 2015 to 2023. She was re-elected as member of parliament in April 2023 but resigned to become a strategic adviser on political leaders' reform programmes in the Tony Blair Institute in September 2023.
