"text":"Finland was a province and then a grand duchy under Sweden from the 12th to the 19th centuries, and an autonomous grand duchy of Russia after 1809. It gained complete independence in 1917. During World War II, Finland successfully defended its independence through cooperation with Germany and resisted subsequent invasions by the Soviet Union - albeit with some loss of territory. In the subsequent half century, Finland transformed from a farm/forest economy to a diversified modern industrial economy; per capita income is among the highest in Western Europe. A member of the EU since 1995, Finland was the only Nordic state to join the euro single currency at its initiation in January 1999. In the 21st century, the key features of Finland's modern welfare state are high quality education, promotion of equality, and a national social welfare system - currently challenged by an aging population and the fluctuations of an export-driven economy."
"text":"Norway 709 km, Sweden 545 km, Russia 1,309 km"
}
},
"Coastline":{
"text":"1,250 km"
},
"Maritime claims":{
"territorial sea":{
"text":"12 nm (in the Gulf of Finland - 3 nm)"
},
"contiguous zone":{
"text":"24 nm"
},
"exclusive fishing zone":{
"text":"12 nm; extends to continental shelf boundary with Sweden, Estonia, and Russia"
},
"continental shelf":{
"text":"200 m depth or to the depth of exploitation"
}
},
"Climate":{
"text":"cold temperate; potentially subarctic but comparatively mild because of moderating influence of the North Atlantic Current, Baltic Sea, and more than 60,000 lakes"
},
"Terrain":{
"text":"mostly low, flat to rolling plains interspersed with lakes and low hills"
"text":"air pollution from manufacturing and power plants contributing to acid rain; water pollution from industrial wastes, agricultural chemicals; habitat loss threatens wildlife populations"
},
"Environment - international agreements":{
"party to":{
"text":"Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling"
},
"signed, but not ratified":{
"text":"none of the selected agreements"
}
},
"Geography - note":{
"text":"long boundary with Russia; Helsinki is northernmost national capital on European continent; population concentrated on small southwestern coastal plain"
"text":"previous 1906, 1919; latest drafted 17 June 1997, approved by Parliament 11 June 1999, entered into force 1 March 2000; amended several times, last in 2012 (2016)"
"text":"president directly elected by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 6-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 5 February 2012 (next to be held in February 2018); prime minister appointed by Parliament in 2015"
"text":"percent of vote in first round - Sauli NIINISTO (Kok) 37%, Pekka HAAVISTO (Vihr) 18.8%, Paavo VAYRYNEN (Kesk) 17.5%, Timo SOINI (TF) 9.4%, Paavo LIPPONEN (SDP) 6.7%, Paavo ARHINMAKI (Vas) 5.5%, Eva BIAUDET (SFP) 2.7%, Sari ESSAYAH (KD) 2.5%; Sauli NIINISTO elected president in second round held on 5 February 2012 - NIINISTO 62.6%, HAAVISTO 37.4%; Juha SIPILA appointed prime minister"
"text":"unicameral Parliament or Eduskunta (200 seats; 199 members directly elected in single- and multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote and 1 member in the province of Aland directly elected by simple majority vote; members serve 4-year terms)"
"text":"percent of vote by party - Kesk 21.1%, PS 17.6%, Kok 18.2%, SDP 16.5%, Vihr 8.5%, Vas 7.1%, SFP 4.9%, KD 3.5%, other 2.6%; seats by party - Kesk 49, PS 38, Kok 37, SDP 34, Vihr 15, Vas 12, SFP 9, KD 5, other 1 (Aland Coalition)"
}
},
"Judicial branch":{
"highest court(s)":{
"text":"Supreme Court or Korkein Oikeus (consists of the court president and 18 judges); Supreme Administrative Court (consists of 21 judges including the court president and organized into 3 chambers); note - Finland has a dual judicial system - courts with civil and criminal jurisdiction, and administrative courts with jurisdiction for litigation between individuals and administrative organs of the state and communities"
},
"judge selection and term of office":{
"text":"Supreme Court and Supreme Administrative Court judges appointed by the president of the republic; judges serve until mandatory retirement at age 65"
},
"subordinate courts":{
"text":"6 Courts of Appeal; 8 regional administrative courts; 27 district courts; special courts for issues relating to markets, labor, insurance, impeachment, land, tenancy, and water rights"
"text":"Center Party or Kesk [Juha SIPILA] ++ Christian Democrats or KD [Sari ESSAYAH] ++ Finns Party or PS [Timo SOINI] ++ Green League or Vihr [Ville NIINISTO] ++ Left Alliance or Vas [Paavo ARHINMAKI] ++ National Coalition Party or Kok [Petteri ORPO] ++ Social Democratic Party or SDP [Antti RINNE] ++ Swedish People's Party or SFP [Carl HAGLUND]"
"text":"white with a blue cross extending to the edges of the flag; the vertical part of the cross is shifted to the hoist side in the style of the Dannebrog (Danish flag); the blue represents the thousands of lakes scattered across the country, while the white is for the snow that covers the land in winter"
},
"National symbol(s)":{
"text":"lion; national colors: blue, white"
},
"National anthem":{
"name":{
"text":"\"Maamme\" (Our Land)"
},
"lyrics/music":{
"text":"Johan Ludvig RUNEBERG/Fredrik PACIUS"
},
"note":{
"text":"in use since 1848; although never officially adopted by law, the anthem has been popular since it was first sung by a student group in 1848; Estonia's anthem uses the same melody as that of Finland"
"text":"Finland has a highly industrialized, largely free-market economy with per capita GDP almost as high as that of Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, or Sweden. Trade is important, with exports accounting for over one-third of GDP in recent years. ++ ++ Finland is historically competitive in manufacturing - principally the wood, metals, engineering, telecommunications, and electronics industries. Finland excels in export of technology for mobile phones as well as promotion of startups in the information and communications technology, gaming, cleantech, and biotechnology sectors. Except for timber and several minerals, Finland depends on imports of raw materials, energy, and some components for manufactured goods. Because of the cold climate, agricultural development is limited to maintaining self-sufficiency in basic products. Forestry, an important export industry, provides a secondary occupation for the rural population. ++ ++ Finland had been one of the best performing economies within the EU before 2009 and its banks and financial markets avoided the worst of global financial crisis. However, the world slowdown hit exports and domestic demand hard in that year, causing Finland’s economy to contract from 2012-14. The recession affected general government finances and the debt ratio. ++ ++ Finland's main challenges will be reducing high labor costs and boosting demand for its exports. In the long term, Finland must address a rapidly aging population and decreasing productivity in traditional industries that threaten competitiveness, fiscal sustainability, and economic growth. The depreciating ruble and Russia’s general economic slowdown will dampen exports to Russia."
"text":"metals and metal products, electronics, machinery and scientific instruments, shipbuilding, pulp and paper, foodstuffs, chemicals, textiles, clothing"
"text":"data cover general government debt and include debt instruments issued (or owned) by government entities other than the treasury; the data include treasury debt held by foreign entities; the data include debt issued by subnational entities, as well as intra-governmental debt; intra-governmental debt consists of treasury borrowings from surpluses in the social funds, such as for retirement, medical care, and unemployment; debt instruments for the social funds are not sold at public auctions"
"text":"see entry for the European Union for money supply for the entire euro area; the European Central Bank (ECB) controls monetary policy for the 18 members of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU); individual members of the EMU do not control the quantity of money circulating within their own borders"
}
},
"Stock of broad money":{
"text":"$179.8 billion (31 December 2014 est.) ++ $195.3 billion (31 December 2013 est.)"
"text":"foodstuffs, petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals, transport equipment, iron and steel, machinery, computers, electronic industry products, textile yarn and fabrics, grains"
"text":"country code - 358; submarine cables provide links to Estonia and Sweden; satellite earth stations - access to Intelsat transmission service via a Swedish satellite earth station, 1 Inmarsat (Atlantic and Indian Ocean regions); note - Finland shares the Inmarsat earth station with the other Nordic countries (Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) (2015)"
"text":"a mix of publicly operated TV stations and privately owned TV stations; in 2008, the 2 publicly owned TV stations expanded services and the largest private TV station has introduced several special-interest pay-TV channels; cable and satellite multi-channel subscription services are available; all TV signals have been broadcast digitally since September 2007; analog broadcasts via cable networks were terminated in February 2008; public broadcasting maintains a network of 13 national and 25 regional radio stations; a large number of private radio broadcasters (2008)"
"text":"8,000 km (includes Saimaa Canal system of 3,577 km; southern part leased from Russia; water transport used frequently in the summer and widely replaced with sledges on the ice in winter; there are 187,888 lakes in Finland that cover 31,500 km); Finland also maintains 8,200 km of coastal fairways (2013)"
"text":"Finnish Defense Forces (FDF): Army (Puolustusvoimat), Navy (Merivoimat; includes Coastal Defense Forces), Air Force (Ilmavoimat) (2013)"
},
"Military service age and obligation":{
"text":"18 years of age for male voluntary and compulsory - and female voluntary - national military and nonmilitary service; service obligation 6-12 months; military obligation to age 60 (2012)"
"text":"various groups in Finland advocate restoration of Karelia and other areas ceded to the former Soviet Union, but the Finnish Government asserts no territorial demands"
