59 Fun Facts About Finland

Finland shares land borders with Sweden, Norway and which other country?

The Russian border runs about 1,300 km along Finland's entire eastern flank, which is why NATO's land frontier with Russia more than doubled when Finland joined.

Which two languages are Finland's official national languages?

Swedish is the mother tongue of only about 5% of Finns, yet it keeps equal legal status, and street signs in bilingual towns carry both languages.

Roughly how many recorded lakes does Finland have?

Finland has over 180,000 lakes — the standard count is 187,888 bodies of water larger than 500 square metres — and together they cover about a tenth of the country's area.

Lake Saimaa, Finland's largest lake, is the only home of which endangered animal?

The Saimaa ringed seal has been cut off from the sea for around 9,500 years, since the land rose after the last ice age, and only about 500 remain.

Which Finnish company, rooted in an 1865 mill, was the world's largest mobile phone vendor from 1998?

The company took its name from a second mill by the town of Nokia in 1871, and spent decades making rubber boots, tyres and cables before phones.

What is the highest point in Finland, at 1,324 metres?

Halti's summit is actually just over the border in Norway; the highest peak entirely inside Finland is neighbouring Ridnitšohkka, eight metres lower.

In which year did Finland declare its independence?

Finland declared independence on 6 December 1917, a month after the Bolshevik revolution, and 6 December has been celebrated as Independence Day ever since.

Which arm of the Baltic Sea separates the country's south coast from Estonia?

The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea; Finland's capital and Tallinn face each other across it, about 80 km apart, with fast ferries crossing in around two hours.

Finnish Lapland promotes itself as the official hometown of which famous figure, with a village in Rovaniemi?

Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi opened in 1985 on the Arctic Circle, beside a cabin built for Eleanor Roosevelt's 1950 visit, and visitors can step across the painted Circle line outside Santa's office.

In December 2020, Finnish sauna culture was inscribed on which UNESCO list?

UNESCO inscribed sauna culture in Finland on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in December 2020, recognising a tradition kept alive in millions of saunas nationwide.

What is the national sport of Finland?

Pesäpallo is a Finnish take on baseball in which the pitcher lobs the ball straight up beside the batter, though ice hockey draws far bigger crowds.

By what nickname is Teemu Selänne, the highest-scoring Finn in NHL history, known?

The Finnish Flash was the nickname Selänne earned for his speed after scoring 76 goals as a Winnipeg Jets rookie in 1992–93, an NHL record for a first-year player.

In which year did Finland formally become a member of NATO?

Finland formally joined NATO on 4 April 2023, less than a year after its parliament voted 188–8 to apply in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.

What was Finland's currency before it adopted the euro?

The markka was introduced in 1860 while Finland was a grand duchy under the tsar, and in 1865 it was tied to silver, separating it from the rouble and bolstering Finnish autonomy.

Which monster-masked rock band won the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest for Finland?

Frontman Mr Lordi makes the band's costumes himself and redesigns them for every album; the winning song was Hard Rock Hallelujah.

Which Finnish writer and illustrator created the Moomins?

Jansson wrote in Swedish, and the first book, The Moomins and the Great Flood, appeared in 1945 in the shadow of the war.

Which Finnish studio created Angry Birds, the 2009 game that saved the company from bankruptcy?

Rovio Entertainment released Angry Birds in December 2009 after dozens of its earlier games had flopped; designer Jaakko Iisalo drew the birds, and Sega later bought the studio for about $776 million.

Which Finnish-born software engineer created both the Linux kernel and the version control system Git?

Linus Torvalds began Linux in 1991 as a 21-year-old student after buying an Intel 386 PC, wrote Git in 2005 to manage kernel development, and shared the 2012 Millennium Technology Prize.

Which Sibelius tone poem grew from the final tableau of an 1899 patriotic pageant?

Sibelius reworked the tableau 'Finland Awakens' from the 1899 Press Celebrations into Finlandia, premiered in its final form in 1900; its hymn section later gained words and serves as an unofficial second anthem.

What is Finland's national epic, compiled by Elias Lönnrot and published in 1835?

The Kalevala was assembled by Lönnrot, a district physician, from folk poetry gathered on eleven collecting trips; the 1835 first edition was expanded into the 1849 version that later influenced Tolkien.

Which Finnish company, founded in 1649, is best known for its orange-handled scissors?

Fiskars began as an ironworks chartered in 1649 and made its first orange-handled scissors in 1967, after prototypes in black, red, green and orange were put to a staff vote.

Which future first lady wore Marimekko dresses through the 1960 presidential campaign?

Jacqueline Kennedy was photographed in Marimekko for a December 1960 Sports Illustrated cover; the brand's most famous print, Maija Isola's Unikko poppy, did not yet exist and arrived in 1964.

Which country launched the Winter War against Finland on 30 November 1939?

The Soviet Union attacked on 30 November 1939 after Finland refused to cede border land; the assault got it expelled from the League of Nations two weeks later, and the war ended in March 1940.

By what nickname is Finnish Winter War sniper Simo Häyhä best known?

Häyhä was dubbed The White Death after reportedly killing around 500 enemy soldiers in under 100 days of the Winter War; he preferred iron sights so his head stayed lower and no lens could glint.

What did Finns sarcastically call Soviet cluster bombs, mocking the foreign minister's claim they were dropping food?

Finns named the RRAB-3 cluster bombs Molotov bread baskets after foreign minister Molotov claimed the planes were dropping food; the petrol bombs thrown at tanks became Molotov cocktails, 'a drink to go with the food'.

In 1906 Finland became the first country in Europe to do what?

Finland's 1906 reform was to grant universal suffrage, making it the first in Europe to give women the vote and the first anywhere to let them stand for parliament; 19 women won seats in 1907.

Which Finnish city hosted the 1952 Summer Olympics?

Helsinki staged the 1952 Summer Olympics after its 1940 Games were cancelled by war; Paavo Nurmi lit the stadium cauldron at the opening ceremony.

Which autonomous and demilitarised Finnish island region has Swedish as its sole official language?

Åland's thousands of islands stayed Finnish in 1921 when the League of Nations confirmed Finnish sovereignty with wide autonomy for the Swedish-speaking islanders, keeping the 1856 demilitarisation.

How many Olympic gold medals did the 'Flying Finn' Paavo Nurmi win?

At the 1924 Paris Games he won the 1,500 m and 5,000 m finals within about an hour of each other, running with a stopwatch in his hand.

Kimi Räikkönen won the 2007 Formula One World Drivers' Championship driving for which team?

Räikkönen took the 2007 title in his first season with Ferrari, beating McLaren's Alonso and Hamilton by a single point with victory in the Brazilian finale.

Which bird, Finland's national bird since 1981, appears on the Finnish one-euro coin?

The whooper swan became Finland's national bird in 1981 and two in flight decorate the one-euro coin; the Swan of Tuonela, gliding on the underworld river in Finnish myth, gave it that weight.

About 90% of the buildings in Rovaniemi were destroyed in 1944 by which retreating force?

After the armistice with Moscow, Finland had to expel its former German ally, and the Lapland War that followed left the city a scorched ruin.

What do the winners of the Wife Carrying World Championship in Sonkajärvi traditionally receive?

The prize is her weight in beer: the winning carrier receives beer equal to the weight of the carried partner; the Sonkajärvi course runs 253.5 metres with two dry obstacles and a water pit.

Finland has one of the world's highest per-capita consumption rates of which drink?

Finnish collective agreements guarantee coffee breaks at work, and the light-roast style there is much milder than Italian espresso.

The Karelian pasty is traditionally a thin crust of which grain wrapped around a rice filling?

Karelian pasties use a thin rye crust folded around a rice porridge filling; the recipe has carried EU traditional speciality guaranteed status since 2003, so deviations must be sold as 'rice pasties'.

Which chemical compound gives Finnish salmiakki liquorice its sharp, salty taste?

Ammonium chloride, known as sal ammoniac, gives salmiakki its sharp salty bite; the same compound flavours Salmiakki Koskenkorva, a black liquorice-vodka liqueur.

The Finnish word 'sisu' is usually translated as what?

Sisu means stoic determination and grit — the will to push on against the odds — and Finns treat it as a national trait; the 2022 action film Sisu took the name worldwide.

The standard 1849 edition of Finland's national epic is divided into how many runot, or cantos?

The 1849 edition has 50 runot and 22,795 verses, almost double the 32 cantos and 12,078 verses of Lönnrot's 1835 first version.

What is the name of Jean Sibelius's home near Lake Tuusula, where he lived from 1904 until his death?

Ainola, named for Sibelius's wife Aino, was designed by Lars Sonck; the couple moved in in 1904, and every symphony from the Third onward was written there before his death in 1957.

What kind of business was Nokia when it was founded in 1865?

Fredrik Idestam, a mining engineer, founded the company as a groundwood pulp mill on the Tammerkoski rapids in 1865; rubber and cables joined the group only through 20th-century mergers.

Which building, completed in 1932, first won Alvar Aalto worldwide attention?

Paimio Sanatorium, a tuberculosis hospital built 1929–33, made Aalto's name abroad; he designed everything down to the patients' bent-plywood Paimio chair, and the splayed plan drew on Duiker's Zonnestraal sanatorium in the Netherlands.

Which state was the first to recognise Finnish independence, within a month of the declaration?

Soviet Russia came first: Lenin's Council of People's Commissars recognised Finland on New Year's Eve, weeks after the declaration; Sweden, Germany and France followed on 4 January, and civil war erupted in Finland weeks later.

What was the original 18th-century name of the sea fortress now called Suomenlinna?

Sweden built it as Sveaborg ('Swedish fortress') from 1748; in Finnish it was Viapori until renamed Suomenlinna in 1918, and the island fortress off the capital became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991.

The Cold War term 'Finlandisation' was coined by the press of which country?

The phrase came from West Germany: commentators there coined 'Finnlandisierung' in the 1960s as a warning against deference to Moscow; President Urho Kekkonen ran Finland's relations with Moscow almost single-handedly from 1956 to 1982.

Who was elected in 2000 as Finland's first female president?

Tarja Halonen won the 2000 election and served two six-year terms to 2012; Sanna Marin later became prime minister, not president, in 2019.

Which former Finnish president was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008?

Martti Ahtisaari, president from 1994 to 2000, received the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize for some 30 years of mediation from Namibia's independence to Kosovo and the 2005 Aceh peace deal.

In Finland, 'jokaisenoikeus' (everyone's right) is the legal name for what?

Jokaisenoikeus is the freedom to roam on any land: anyone may walk, ski, camp briefly and pick berries or mushrooms almost anywhere, a right shared across the Nordic countries in its strongest form.

According to the popular explanation, the blue of the Finnish flag stands for the sky and what else?

Zacharias Topelius's popular reading makes the blue stand for the country's lakes and sky and the white for snow; a blue cross on white was first flown by a Finnish yacht club in 1861.

Which Finnish runner won both the 5,000 m and 10,000 m at the 1972 Munich Olympics?

Lasse Virén fell mid-race in the Munich 10,000 m final, got up and won in a world-record 27:38.4; he added the 5,000 m days later and repeated the double in Montreal in 1976.

By which nickname is the Finnish capital, built across a peninsula and 315 islands, romantically known?

Daughter of the Baltic (Itämeren tytär) is the old romantic name for a city spread over a peninsula and some 315 islands; founded in 1550, it became the capital in 1812.

How many distinct Sámi languages are spoken in Finland?

Three Sámi languages — Northern, Inari and Skolt Sámi — are spoken in Finland and have official status in the Sámi homeland, though only about a quarter of the country's 10,000-plus Sámi speak one natively.

'Juhannus' is the Finnish name for which holiday?

Juhannus is Midsummer, celebrated on the Saturday between 20 and 26 June; cities empty as Finns head to lakeside cottages for bonfires and saunas under a sun that barely sets.

What share of its territory did Finland cede under the 1940 treaty that ended the Winter War?

Finland ceded about 9% of its territory under the March 1940 Moscow Peace Treaty, including much of Karelia; some 400,000 Karelians were evacuated westward and Vyborg was lost for good after the Continuation War.

Approximately what is the population of Finland?

Finland's population is roughly 5.6 to 5.7 million in the mid-2020s, giving it the lowest population density in the European Union at about 18 people per square kilometre.

In 1812, Alexander I moved the Finnish capital away from which city, closer to St Petersburg?

He wanted the capital further from Swedish influence and closer to St Petersburg; the country's only university followed after Turku's great fire of 1827.

Which Swedish king founded the future Finnish capital in 1550?

Gustav Vasa ordered the town founded in 1550 as a trading rival to Tallinn across the gulf, forcing burghers from Porvoo, Rauma and other towns to move there.

How many members sit in Finland's unicameral parliament, the Eduskunta?

The Eduskunta has 200 members elected for four-year terms by proportional representation using the D'Hondt method, with seats divided among 13 electoral districts.

Who took office as President of Finland on 1 March 2024?

Alexander Stubb, a former prime minister, won the February 2024 runoff against Pekka Haavisto and was sworn in on 1 March 2024, succeeding Sauli Niinistö after his two terms.

Roughly what share of Finland's electricity came from nuclear power in the mid-2020s?

Nuclear supplied roughly 40% of Finland's electricity in the mid-2020s after Olkiluoto 3, Europe's most powerful reactor, finally entered regular output; the other units are Olkiluoto 1 and 2 and the two VVER-440 reactors at Loviisa.