Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is aNordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden to the west,Norway to the north, Russia to the east, and Estonia to the south across the Gulf of Finland.
As of 2012, Finland's population was around 5.4 million, with the majority concentrated in its southern regions. In terms of area, it is the eighth largest country in Europe and the mostsparsely populated country in the European Union. Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in the capital of Helsinki, local governments in 336municipalities and an autonomous region, the Åland Islands. About one million residents live in the Greater Helsinki area (consisting of Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen, andVantaa), which also produces a third of the country's GDP. Other large cities include Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Jyväskylä,Lahti, and Kuopio.
From the 12th until the early 19th century, Finland was part ofSweden, a legacy reflected in the prevalence of the Swedish language and its official status. It then became an autonomous Grand Duchy within the Russian Empire until theRussian Revolution, which prompted the Finnish Declaration of Independence. This was followed by a civil war where the pro-Bolshevik "Reds" were defeated by the pro-conservative "Whites" with support from the German Empire. After a brief attempt to establish a monarchy, Finland became a republic. Finland's experience of World War II involved three separate conflicts: the Winter War (1939–1940) and Continuation War(1941–1944) against the Soviet Union and the Lapland War(1944–1945) against Nazi Germany. Following the end of the war, Finland joined the United Nations in 1955 and established an official policy of neutrality. Nevertheless, it remained fairly active on the world stage, joining theOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD) in 1969, the European Union in 1995, and theeurozone at its inception in 1999.
Finland was a relative latecomer to industrialisation, remaining a largely agrarian country until the 1950s. Thereafter, it rapidly developed an advanced economy while building an extensive Nordic-style welfare state, resulting in widespread prosperity and a nominal per capita income of over $46,000 as of 2012, among the highest in the world.Subsequently, Finland is a top performer in numerous metrics of national performance, including education, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life, and human development. In 2010, Newsweekmagazine ranked Finland as the overall "best country in the world" after summing various factors.
