FINLAND

1. Finland is a repuplic. Our president is Sauli Niinistö. Finland is part of the European Union and Scandinavia. FINLAND Our capital is Helsinki Ahvenanmaa belongs to Finland but it is a demilitarized province that has self-government Finland belongs to the temperate zone

2. Finland’s neighbouring states are Sweden, Russia, Norway Finland’s currency is Euro Finland’s population is 5 420 981 and area is 338 432 km².

3. Finnish population The population of Finland is 5 420 981 people. The biggest reason for the increase in the population is that the immigration is much greater than emigration in Finland. Finland is one of Europe’s most parsely populated country. The Finnish population density is around 17 persons per square kilometer. The five largest cities are Helsinki (601 035), Espoo (225 121), Tampere (216 596), Vantaa (204 545) and Turku (179 529). 91% of the population speaks Finnish, 5% Swedish and 0.3% Sami language. The migration from abroad was higher than the Finnish population increase in 2007 for the first time . The main religion is Lutheranism. In the end of 2011, 72% of Finns were Evangelical-Lutheran. Other religions have increased in recent years.

4. Finnish Economy -The main industriesarewood and steelindustries as well as electronicindustries. The main industriesareprimaryproduction,prosessing and services. Primaryproductionconsists of agriculture and forestry. Prosessingincludesmanufacturing and construction. The mostFinns (about70 %) work in the servicesector, business and transportationbeing the biggestemployers.

5. The Finnish Nature Finland has forests for about 230 000 square kilometers. That’s over 2/3 of the surface area. The most common trees are spruce, birch and pine tree. In Southern Finland there are also precious broadleaf trees. A typical forest in Finland is mixed forest, where there grows evergreen trees and broadleaf trees, but with more evergreen trees. In Finland there are swamps covering almost one third of the surface area. About half of them are ditched mostly for forestry. Some of them are ditched also for farming and peat purposes.

6. The Finnish nature Finland hasseaside in the Gulf of Bothnia, Gulf of Finland and in the archipelago. The seasidesarelow. Finland is known as a land of thousands of lakes. The lakesareshoal. In Finland therearen’tanymountains, like in Sweden and Norway, butwehavefjelds. The highestspot is in the Halti-fjeld.

7. Finnishanimals National animal: bear

8. Finnish mammals • In Finland there are about 80 different mammals • Typical mammals in the Finnish nature: bear, wolf, reindeer, wolverine. • The most frequent mammals are bank vole and common shrew. • Endangered species: Saimaa ringed seal, wolf and arctic fox. • The most important domestic animals are cow, pig, fur animals and in the Lapland, reindeer.

9. Finnish fishes • In Finland there are about 100 different species of fish. • The most common species: salmon, pike, perch, ruffe, bream, white bream, ide, rudd, roach, brown trout and zander.

10. Finnish birds • The Finnish national bird is whooper swan • Finland has a lot of peaceful and wild swamp areas which are great ranges for eagles etc.

11. Sights of Finland In Finland wehavemanysightsthatusesnow to attractvisitorsfromallover the world. Here is an example of it: The SnowCastle of Kemi The SnowCastle of Kemi is built every winter. There is a different theme every year in the castle, for example, last year the theme was sport. The castle is usually open from the end of January to the beginning of April. In the SnowCastle there is a chapel, where it is possible to get married, for example. You can also stay overnight in the SnowCastle.

12. other popular amusements aimed for tourists as well as our own citizens are the zoos and amusement parks. One famous zoo is located on an island in our capital, Helsinki:the Zoo of korkeasaari • Korkeasaari was founded in 1889. It has many exotic animals such as the baboon, the giraffe, Amur tiger and the camel.