Key facts about Finland

Where is Finland located?

• Finland is located in Northern Europe and is one of the Nordic countries together with Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland.
• Finland is a member of the European Union (EU) and NATO.
• Finland’s time zone is Eastern European Time EET (GMT +2).

The population of Finland

• Finland has 5.6 million residents, 1.4 million of whom live in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, i.e. close to Helsinki.
• Finnish-speaking Finns are the majority in Finland. In addition, the population also includes a variety of minorities with a different language, culture or religion.
• Traditional Finnish minorities include the Swedish-speaking Finns, Sami, Romani, Jews and Tatars.
• In addition, there are people from countries such as Estonia, Russia, Somalia, Iraq, China, India and Ukraine living in Finland.

Major Cities

The capital of Finland is Helsinki. The population of Helsinki is approximately 674,500. Other major cities include:

• Espoo: 314,024 inhabitants
• Tampere: 255,050 inhabitants
• Vantaa: 247,443 inhabitants
• Oulu: 214,633 inhabitants          
• Turku: 201,863 inhabitants

What language is spoken in Finland?

• 85% of the Finns speak Finnish as their native language, while 5% speak Swedish. The official languages of Finland are Finnish and Swedish. In Northern Finland, people also speak Sami.
• Many Finns speak fluent English.
• Some 10% speak a language other than Finnish, Swedish or Sami as their native language.
• The most widely spoken languages after Finnish and Swedish are Russian, Estonian, Arabic, Ukrainian and English.

Finland is a large and sparsely populated country with many lakes and forests.

• The surface area of Finland is 338,432 km².
• There are 187,888 lakes in Finland.
• The largest lake is called Saimaa.
• Over 70% of Finland’s surface area is forest.
• In the autumn and winter, you can see the Northern Lights.

You can find information about the Finnish climate on the InfoFinland page Finnish climate. 

Finland is an open market economy with a large public sector. Services are the largest sector of the economy, but industry is also important.

• The currency of Finland is the euro.
• Finland’s GDP per capita is EUR 40,553 (2024).
• The most common professions in Finland are salesperson and nurse.

Finland’s most common export products

• Forest industry products, such as paper and cardboard.
• Technology (electronics, machinery, telecommunications).
• Products of the chemical industry.
• Metals and metal products.
• Machinery and vehicles.

More information on job opportunities and the cost of living in Finland is available on the InfoFinland pages Employment opportunities in Finland, Wages and working hours and Cost of living in Finland. 

• Finland is the happiest country in the world (World Happiness Report 2025).
• Finns drink the most coffee in the world.
• There are more than three million saunas in Finland.
• Santa Claus lives in Finnish Lapland.
• The national animal of Finland is the bear.

On the InfoFinland page Finnish customs, you can find information about Finnish culture and customs.