Finland

The Republic of Finland (Finnish: Suomen tasavalta Swedish: Republiken Finland) is a Nordic country in northeastern Europe, bounded by the Baltic Sea to the southwest, the Gulf of Finland to the south and the Gulf of Bothnia to the west. Finland has land frontiers with Sweden, Norway and Russia. The Åland Islands, off the southwestern coast, are under Finnish sovereignty while enjoying extensive autonomy. The Finnish name for Finland is Suomi; in Swedish it is Finland. The Latin language name is Fennia. Finland has a population of only five million people in three hundred thousand square kilometres,

Economy

Main article: Economy of Finland

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Finland has a highly industrialised, largely free-market economy, with per capita output roughly that of the UK, France, or Italy. The Finnish standard of living is high. Its key economic sector is manufacturing - principally the wood, metals, engineering, telecommunications (especially Nokia), and electronics industries. Trade is important, with exports equalling almost one-third of GDP. Except for timber and several minerals, Finland depends on imports of raw materials, energy, and some components for manufactured goods.

Related Topics:
UK - France - Italy - Manufacturing - Telecommunication - Nokia - GDP - Timber

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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. Rapidly increasing integration with Western Europe - Finland was one of the 11 countries joining the euro monetary system (EMU) on January 1, 1999 - will dominate the economic picture over the next several years. Growth was anaemic in 2002 but slowed down in 2003 because of global depression.

Related Topics:
Agricultural - Forestry - Euro - EMU - January 1 - 1999 - 2002 - 2003

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According to Transparency International, Finland has the lowest level of corruption in all the countries studied in their survey and furthermore the country has been declared the most competitive country in the world for three consecutive years 2003-2005 (four times in the last five years) by the World Economic Forum. http://www.weforum.org/

Related Topics:
Transparency International - Corruption - Studied in their survey

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See also: Finnish innovation system

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