AREA: 338,144 sq km (130,558 sq miles).
POPULATION: 5,132,320 (1996).
POPULATION DENSITY: 15.1 per sq km.
CAPITAL: Helsinki. Population: 532,053 (1996).
GEOGRAPHY: Finland is situated in Scandinavia in the far north of Europe. Bounded to the west by Sweden and the Gulf of Bothnia, to the north by Norway, to the east by the Russian Federation and to the south by the Gulf of Finland, it is the fifth largest country in Europe. There are about 30,000 islands off the Finnish coast, mainly in the south and southwest, and inland lakes containing a further 98,000 islands. The Saimaa lake area is the largest inland water system in Europe. 10% of the total land area is under water, and 65% forest, the country being situated almost entirely in the northern coniferous zone. In the south and southwest the forest is mainly pine, fir and birch. In Lapland, in the far north, trees become more sparse and are mainly dwarf birch. 8% of the land is cultivated.
GOVERNMENT: Republic.
Head of State: President Tarja Halonen
since 2000.
Head of Government: Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen since 1995.
LANGUAGE: There are two official languages: Finnish, spoken by 93.6% of the population, and Swedish, spoken by 6% of the population. About 1700 people speak Same (Lapp). English is taught as the first foreign language.
RELIGION: 90% Evangelical Lutheran, 10% others including Finnish Orthodox, Baptists, Methodists, Free Church, Roman Catholic, Jews and Muslims.
TIME: GMT + 2 (GMT + 3 from last Saturday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October).