Finland (Finnish name Suomi) is situated in northern Europe between the 60th and 70th parallels of latitude. A quarter of its total area lies north of the Arctic Circle. Finland's neighbouring countries are Sweden, Norway, and Russia, which have land borders with Finland, and Estonia across the Gulf of Finland.
Finland is a republic which became a member of the European Union in 1995. Its population is 5.3 million. The capital Helsinki has 561 000 residents. Finland is an advanced industrial economy: the metal, engineering and electronics industries account for about 60 % of export revenues, the forest products industry for about 20 %. Finland is one of the leading countries in Internet use. Today, there are more mobile phone than fixed network subscriptions.
Forest cover about 75 per cent of Finland, while bodies of water - mainly lakes - cover almost 10 per cent. Finland is the most heavily forested country in Europe, with 23 million hectares under forest cover. There are approximately 190,000 lakes and about 180,000 islands. Europe's largest archipelago, which includes the self-governing province of the Ålands Islands, lies off the south-west coast.
Updated 8/3/2009
