Finland is a country in Northern Europe and is a member state of the European Union. Finland is one of the Nordic countries.The capital of Finland is Helsinki.

The most important cities in Finland are Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Lahti, Kuopio, Jyväskylä and Pori.

There are also hundreds of rivers and dozens of thousands of lakes with fresh water. Many islands in the Baltic Sea belong to Finland, too. The Åland archipelago is impressive; it consists of thousands of islands. The fells and the Northern lights of Lapland attract tourists from all over the world.

Population

Finland's population is 5.2 million. Finnish and Swedish are the official languages of Finland. Most people in Finland speak Finnish. Finland became independent in 1917.

Finland is a major welfare state. Welfare states have very high taxes, but free health care, education, and welfare for people without work.

Economy

Finland has a highly industrialized, largely free-market economy, with per capita output roughly that of the UK, France, Germany, and Italy. Its key economic sector is manufacturing - principally the wood, metals, engineering, telecommunications, and electronics industries.

Finland was one of the 12 countries joining the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) - will dominate the economic picture over the next several years.

Culture

The Culture of Finland has historically been characterized by the country's position between Sweden and Russia. While it clearly belongs to the Western civilization due to its long history as a part of Sweden, it has nonetheless been a meeting place between West and East and has received influences from both.

There are several popular gay clubs in Helsinki. People accept gays mainly in the biggest cities, but little towns are much more homophobic.

Finland today is well respected for its musicianship, with a quality education of classical musicians having produced a high proportion of world-class conductors and singers.

The Finnish nature is a striking attraction for anybody: there are big forests and many trees in Finland: pine, birch, maple, oak, elm and spruce are common. The wildlife offers a variety of beautiful birds and other animals like bears, wolves, foxes, lynx and moose.

The currency of Finland is the Euro (EUR). It was "markka", FIM, before 2002. The president of Finland is Tarja Halonen.