Economy of Finland, Its People, Culture & Flag

62% of Finland's population lives in urban areas. About 7000 BC, the ancestors of the Sami are said to have occupied Finland; other groups began to enter the area about 3,000 years later, pushing the Sami northward. Presently, Finland has two national languages, Finnish and Swedish. The Swedish-speaking population, found mainly in the coastal area in the south, southwest, and west and in the Åland Islands (where Swedish is the sole official language), is slowly declining and constitutes roughly 5 percent of the total. Nearly all of the remainder speaks Finnish; the language is an important nationalist feature, although it is spoken in strong regional dialects. The Sami-speaking minority in the extreme north numbers about 6,000.

shifted to the hoist side in the style of the Danish flag.
Please click here to view the Flag of Finland

Finland has a highly industrialized, largely free-market economy. Its key economic sector is manufacturing - principally the wood, metals, engineering, telecommunications, and electronics industries. Trade is important, with exports equaling almost one-third of the GDP. Except for timber and several minerals, Finland depends on imports of raw materials, energy, and some components for manufactured goods.

Because of the climate, agricultural development is limited to maintaining self-sufficiency in basic products. Forestry, an important export earner, provides a secondary occupation for the rural population. Finland was one of the 11 countries that joined the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) on 1 January 1999.

Finland has been on Europe's periphery, both physically and socially, for almost all its history. After the conquest of the Finnish tribes by Sweden, the indigenous culture acquired Swedish influences. Folk traditions like the swastika however continued in rural areas. Later, a national literature in the Finnish language emerged, and Finnish styles appeared increasingly in art and architecture. The sauna, a steam bath produced by pouring water over heated rocks, is a Finnish invention. Finland possesses a wealth of folk music and a large body of church music. During the Reformation, Gregorian chant and other existing vocal church music, previously composed to Latin texts, was adapted to the Finnish language. Finland has left its traditional poverty and backwardness behind and since World War II, has become one of the world's most advanced societies.

Information on Finland, Its Geography & History