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Facts about the Republic of Finland

The Republic of Finland (Finnish: Suomen tasavalta, Swedish: Republiken Finland), referred to as Finland (Finnish: Suomi, Swedish: Finland), is located in northern Europe, one of the five Nordic countries, bordering Sweden, Norway, and Russia, and bordering Finland to the south Bay, west of the Gulf of Bothnia. The total land area of ​​the country is 338,000 square kilometers, the coastline is 1,100 kilometers long, and the inland water area accounts for 10% of the country’s area.

There are about 179,000 islands and about 188,000 lakes. It is known as the “Land of Thousand Lakes”. Finland has long, cold winters and mild, short summers. One-third of the country’s land lies within the Arctic Circle.

Finland is the hometown of Santa Claus. The earliest residents were Lapps, so Finland is also called Lapland. After the Finns moved in, the Grand Duchy of Finland was established. It was ruled by Sweden in the second half of the twelfth century. After the Russo-Swiss War in 1809, it was incorporated into the Russian Empire and became the Grand Duchy. In December 1917, the Republic of Finland declared independence and became a permanent neutral country.

Finland is a highly developed capitalist country, as well as a highly industrialized and liberalized market economy. Finland is a member of the European Union, but its per capita GDP is much higher than the EU average, comparable to its neighbor Sweden. Citizens enjoy a very high standard of living, and the Finnish government’s civil servants are clean and efficient, and they have formed a broad consensus in society. Transparency International, a non-governmental organization that monitors corruption in countries around the world, released the 2012 Global Corruption Perceptions Index report. Among 176 countries and regions, Finland ranked first and was the most corrupt country. In February 2019, the 2018 Global Happiness Index was released, and Finland ranked first.

Population

The total population of Finland is 5.401 million (as of the end of 2011), and most of the population lives in the south with a relatively mild climate. The Helsinki Region is the main densely populated area with a population of about 1.4 million. Other densely populated cities include Tampere (220,000), Turku (180,000), and Oulu (140,000). According to statistics from the Statistics Center of Finland, as of the end of 2011, the total number of local Chinese was 6,159, mainly distributed in Helsinki, Tampere, Turku and other cities.

About 12% of the population needed to be resettled after the Winter War. War reparations, unemployment and uncertainty about Finland’s prospects for maintaining independence led to large numbers of immigrants leaving Finland in the 1970s. After the dissolution of the “Warsaw Pact” in the 1990s, the great changes in Eastern Europe and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Finland began to receive a large number of refugees and immigrants.

Nationality

Most of the Finns are Finnish, of which 90.9% are Finnish, 5.4% are Swedish, and there are a small number of Sami (formerly known as Lapps).

Custom taboo

Finns are reserved and down-to-earth. Severe climatic conditions, beautiful natural environment, special geographical location and historical reasons have enabled the Finns to form a very distinctive national character and culture. They like to use the word “sisu” which cannot be translated in other languages ​​to describe their national character. It probably refers to the kindness and honesty of the Finns, law-abiding, introverted personality, not good at talking, as well as tenacious spirit and extraordinary patience. features.

It is considered everyone’s right to enjoy holidays, and there are relatively many holidays. On holidays (including Sundays), all shops are closed to thank customers, and even the number of buses is less than half of usual. Sauna is the quintessence of Finland. There are about 1.92 million saunas in the country, with an average of one for every three people.

Finns take off their shoes when they enter the house, don’t ask other people’s privacy, don’t take a shower after 8 or 9 pm, or make loud noises to disturb others, try not to go to bars, no matter where you are, if you go home so late, it’s annoying to open and close the door.

It’s the first time to bring a gift to someone’s home. Finns don’t pay attention to how much the gift is. You can buy some black tea from China (black tea is more common), and then you don’t bring it from China. You can buy a bottle of wine or coffee from the local supermarket.

The rest depends on their living habits. You can’t leave leftovers, how much you want, how much you eat (the same goes for water), no matter how bad the food is, if you put it on your own plate, you will eat it. It’s a very polite thing.