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 an area of 338,145 square kilometres (130,559 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. Finnish and Swedish are the official languages, with Swedish being the native language of 5.2% of the population. 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.
Helsinki is the capital, largest and most populous city in Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the Uusimaa region in southern Finland and has a population of 673,011. The city's urban area has a population of 1,360,075,making it by far the most populous urban area in Finland and the country's most important centre for politics, education, finance, culture and research. Helsinki is located 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tallinn, Estonia, 400 km (250 mi) east of Stockholm, Sweden, and 300 km (190 mi) west of Saint Petersburg, Russia. It has close historical links with these three cities.
Turku is a city and former capital on the southwestern coast of Finland at the mouth of the River Aura, in the region of Southwest Finland (Varsinais-Suomi) and the former Turku and Pori Province. The region was originally called Suomi (Finland), which later became the name of the whole country. The population of Turku is 201,085, making it the sixth largest city in Finland. The Turku region has a population of 345,522, making it the third largest urban area in Finland after the Helsinki and Tampere regions. The city is officially bilingual, with 5.5 per cent of the population having Swedish as their mother tongue.
The Swedish-speaking population of Finland is a linguistic minority in Finland. They maintain a strong identity and are seen either as a separate cultural or linguistic group or, while not regularly, as a distinct nationality. They speak Finland Swedish, which encompasses both a standard language and distinct dialects that are mutually intelligible with the dialects spoken in Sweden and, to a lesser extent, other Scandinavian languages.
Åbo Akademi University is the only exclusively Swedish language multi-faculty university in Finland. It is located mainly in Turku but has also activities in Vaasa. Åbo Akademi should not be confused with the Royal Academy of Åbo, which was founded in 1640, but moved to Helsinki after the Turku fire of 1827 and is today known as the University of Helsinki.
Tornio is a city and municipality in Lapland, Finland. The city forms a cross-border twin city together with Haparanda on the Swedish side. The municipality covers an area of 1,348.83 square kilometres (520.79 sq mi), of which 161.59 km2 (62.39 sq mi) is water. The population density is 17.67 inhabitants per square kilometre (45.8/sq mi), with a total population of 21,001.
Meänkieli is a group of distinct Finnish dialects or a Finnic language spoken in the northernmost part of Sweden along the valley of the Torne River. Its status as an independent language is disputed, but in Sweden it is recognized as one of the country's five minority languages.
Finns or Finnish people are a Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland.
In 1999, the Minority Language Committee of Sweden formally declared five official minority languages: Finnish, Sámi languages, Romani, Yiddish, and Meänkieli.
Uusimaa is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso. Finland's capital and largest city, Helsinki, along with the surrounding Greater Helsinki area, are both contained in the region, and Uusimaa is Finland's most populous region. The population of Uusimaa is 1,734,000.
Siuntio is a municipality in the Uusimaa region of Southern Finland. Its neighboring municipalities are Ingå to the west, Kirkkonummi, to the east, Lohja to the north-west, and Vihti to the north. It is 46 kilometres (29 mi) west of Helsinki.
The two main official languages of Finland are Finnish and Swedish. There are also several official minority languages: three variants of Sami, as well as Romani, Finnish Sign Language and Karelian.
Finland is Christian majority country, with Islam being a minority faith. The constitution of Finland ensures freedom of religion and Muslims are free to proselytize and build places of worship in the country.
Swedish is the official language of Sweden and is spoken by the vast majority of the 10.23 million inhabitants of the country. It is a North Germanic language and quite similar to its sister Scandinavian languages, Danish and Norwegian, with which it maintains partial mutual intelligibility and forms a dialect continuum. A number of regional Swedish dialects are spoken across the country. In total, more than 200 languages are estimated to be spoken across the country, including regional languages, indigenous Sámi languages, and immigrant languages.
Somalis in Finland are residents and citizens of Finland of Somali ancestry. As of 2022, 24,365 Finns had a Somali-background, making it the fourth most common foreign country of origin and the largest from Africa.
Finnish is a Uralic language of the Finnic branch, 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. In Sweden, both Finnish and Meänkieli are official minority languages. The Kven language, which like Meänkieli is mutually intelligible with Finnish, is spoken in the Norwegian county Troms og Finnmark by a minority group of Finnish descent.
Anti-Finnish sentiment is the hostility, prejudice, discrimination or racism directed against Finns, Finland, or Finnish culture.
American Finnish, Fingliska or Fingelska is a form of the Finnish language spoken in North America. It has been heavily influenced by the English language. American Finnish was used actively until the 1950s and after that it has been declining, and Finnish Americans have been switching to English. Even some basic phrases like tätsrait 'that's right' were borrowed from English. The form of speech was studied by Pertti Virtaranta in 1960, and the first American Finnish dictionary was made in 1992. It has influence from English both in syntax and vocabulary. In 2013 Finnish was spoken by 26,000 people in their homes. In the town of Oulu, Wisconsin, there are documented third-generation speakers of American Finnish, and in Stanton Township, Michigan, there are children who speak the language. American Finnish has also retained loanwords from Swedish which modern Finnish lost.
Värmland Finnish dialect is an extinct Savonian dialect spoken in Värmland by the Forest Finns. However some speakers also lived in Norway.
Baptists in Finland have existed since the middle of the 19th century. They are part of the Baptist branch of evangelical Christianity and belong to three different Finnish church associations. Swedish-speaking Finns formed the Swedish Baptist Union of Finland, while Finnish-speaking Baptists are united in the Finnish Baptist Church ; two Finnish congregations are a part of the Seventh Day Baptists. In addition, a few independent Baptist churches exist, including Grace Baptist Church in Tampere. The congregation was formerly known as Perinteinen Baptistiseurakunta in Finnish and International Baptist Church in English. Agape International Baptist Church in Pedersöre is also among the independent Baptist churches.
