This is Finland
Finland is situated in Northern Europe. We are part of Scandinavia, which includes also Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. We are a small country of over 5 million inhabitants. The capital of Finland is Helsinki.
Finland has been a member of the European Union since 1995. We are one of the few countries in the world to have a female leader, president Mrs Tarja Halonen. Finland was under Russian regime in the 1800th century and became independent in 1917. More than Russian impact in our culture we have impact from Sweden because before Russian regime we were under Swedish regime for more than hundred years. As a reminescence of this period of time Finland is still a bi-lingual country with Swedish spoken as our other official language in the coastal regions of the country and in the archipelago.
Finland is known as a very green country with lots of forest and lakes. We have a reputation of being a very safe and non-corrupt country. During recent years the high-quality education system of Finland has been ranked as the most effective education system in the OECD countries. We have a history of believing in equal education opportunities for all people, as education has been an important factor in the success of our country.
The best known Finnish enterprise is propably the mobile phone company Nokia. Finland was formerly known for pulp and forest industry, but nowadays it is high-tech industry that counts. We also have a rich cultural life with many top class musicians, composers and artists. Finnish design is well-known, the architecture and furniture of the famous architect Alvar Aalto is still very popular amongst with other Finnish designer's and architect's work. Another well-known Finnish design feature is Marimekko with colourful fabrics and design spread all over the world.
We are proud of our country and our culture. We are also very proud of our dog culture with many dog enthusiastics, breeders and very professional judges. And most of all, of course, we are proud of our national dog breeds.
You can find more general information about Finland under the following links
