FINLAND
(Republic of Finland)

Capital: Helsinki
Area: 338 424 sq.km.
Population: 5 509 717 persons.
Currency: Euro (EUR)

ABOUT THE COUNTRY

The population of Finland makes 5,5 million people (2017), and most of the population is concentrated in the southern region. 88,7% of the population - Finnish also speak in Finnish, Ural, not connected with the Scandinavian languages; further there are Swedes of Finland (5,3%). Finland is the country, the eighth in size, in Europe and the most sparsely populated country in the European Union. It is the parliamentary republic with the central government which is based in the capital of Helsinki, local authorities in 311 municipalities and one autonomous region - the Aland Islands. More than 1,4 million people live in the capital region of Big Helsinki that makes a third of GDP of the country.

GEORGAFIYA

Lying approximately between latitudes 60 ° and 70 °C. Sh.I longitudes 20 ° and 32 ° EL, Finland is one of the most northern countries of the world. From the capitals of the world only Reykjavik lies more in the north, than in Helsinki. Distance from the most southern point - Hanko in Uusimaa - to the most northern - Nuorgam in Lapland - makes 1,160 kilometers (720 miles).
In Finland there are about 168 000 lakes (the area more than 500 sq.m or 0,12 acres) and 179 000 islands. Its largest lake, Saimaa, is the fourth in size in Europe. The Finnish Lakeland is the area with the majority of lakes in the country. The highest concentration of islands meets in the southwest, in the sea of the archipelago between continental Finland and the main island of the Aland Islands.

CLIMATE

The major factor influencing climate of Finland is the geographical location of the country between 60 and 70 northern parallels in a coastal zone of the Euroasian continent. In climatic classification of Koppen all Finland is in the boreal zone which is characterized in the warm summer and in the frosty winter. Within the country rates of climate change considerably differ between the southern coastal areas and Far North that testifies to characteristics of both sea, and continental climate. Finland rather close to the Atlantic Ocean continuously to heat up Gulf Stream. Gulf Stream is combined with the softening effects of the Baltic Sea and numerous internal lakes to explain extraordinary warm climate in comparison with other regions with identical width, such as Alaska, Siberia and the southern Greenland.

Winters in the southern Finland (when average daytime temperature remains below 0th °C or 32 °F) are usually made by about 100 days, and at the internal level snow usually covers the earth approximately since the end of November on April and on coastal sites, such as Helsinki, snow covers often the earth since the end of December until the end of March. Even in the south the most severe winter nights can be seen that temperature falls up to -30 °C (-22 °F) though on such coastal sites as Helsinki, temperature below -30 °C (-22 °F) meets very seldom.