Finland Essay Research Paper FinlandFinland has a

Finland Essay, Research Paper

Finland

Finland has a common border with Sweden, Norway and Russia. The bedrock of Finland is over 1,5 billion years old, making it some of the oldest in the world. Three quarters of the area of Finland lies on granite, which breaks through the surface so often that the granite has become the symbol for the whole country. The total area of Finland is about 338 square km, and it is the fifth largest country in Europe. 306 square km of Finland is land and 32 square km is water. Finland lies between the 60th and 70th parallels, with a third of its area lying north of the Arctic Circle. It is the second most northern country in the world after Iceland. Most of the population of Finland live in the southern third of the country, either along the coast on the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland or around the edges of the numerous lakes. The highest point in Finland is Haltitunturi Fell in Northwest Lapland, which is 1.328 metres above the sea level. It is the Country of 187888 Lakes. The largest of which, Great Saimaa, has a total area of 4.4 square km and is the fourth largest in Europe. Finnish Lapland, with an area of 100 square km has the largest wilderness areas in the whole of Europe. Finland is rightly known as a land of forests as they cover roughly three quarters of the country’s surface area. Because Finland is sparsely populated area, there is lot of wild and unpolluted nature. Finland contains some of the last wilderness areas in Europe. In addition to the huge amount of lakes, Finland contains more islands than any other country in the world. In a recent count, the total number of islands in Finland was 179584. Forty-five percent are in the Baltic Sea, making the archipelago one of the densest in the world. The principal archipelago lies off the southwest coast.

Finland has four clearly distinguishable seasons, much alike Canada.s. One should not be misled by the northern position of Finland. Due to the closeness of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf Stream, but having a relatively dry climate, Finland often feels warmer than the actual temperature might suggest. The climate is marked by cold winters and warm summers. The summer lasts for 3 months, from June to August. On a warm day the temperature can be 25-30. C. The average summer temperature is 18. C. The first snowfall is usually in December and the heaviest snowfall occurs in March. The lakes and rivers may be frozen for nearly half a year. In the summer months, north of the Arctic circle, Lapland basks in 24 hours of daylight (known as the midnight sun, or white nights of summer), which lasts for about 73 days, while in winter a blue-tinged darkness falls, with the sun sinking below the horizon for 51 days. This sunless period is called “kaamos”, the Arctic night. At that time in Rovaniemi, the sun rises above the horizon for just a couple of hours. Although the sun is out of sight for weeks, Lapland does not fall into total darkness even in the deepest depths of winter. The snow on the ground enhances the light of the moon and the stars, and sometimes the or northern lights flicker across the sky. The frosts can be very severe in the heart of winter, but periods of extreme cold are usually brief, and for most of the winter all kinds of outdoor activities are possible. In the northernmost parts of Lapland, snow may still lie thick on the ground in late April or early May.

The population of Finland is approximately 5,132,000, and one of the most sparsely populated countries in Europe, with 16 inhabitants per square km. Population density is 16 people per square kilometer. The urban population is 62%, while about 38% remain in a rural environment. Although cities are never located far from a forest. Helsinki has a population of 525,031. The Helsinki metropolitan region is home to roughly a sixth of the country’s total population. Finland’s population has adapted to life under peripheral conditions in the north. Finns make up 35% of the world’s population north of latitude 60.N. In 1995 the average life expectancy for females was 80 years and for males 72 years. In 1995 there were 1.4 million families in Finland. Among families with children the average number of offspring was 1.8. Finland’s population figures increase very slowly. The contribution of natural population growth to the increase is falling and net migration is the strongest effect on population growth. Finland, formerly a source of emigrants, is now becoming a destination for immigrants. The birth rate and natural population growth is higher in the north of Finland than it is in the south.

There are many language groups in Finland: the Finnish, the Finland Swedish (from the coastal area and the Aland islands), the Sami (spoken by the Samis of Lapland, a minority of 2,000 people with guaranteed rights to their own language and sources of livelihood) and the Romany. There are two official languages – Finnish and Swedish. 93.5% of the total population is Finnish speaking, 5.9% is Swedish speaking and 0.6% speak other languages. A very interesting aspect of the Finnish tongue is that everything is spelt just as it sounds. For example, photo in English is pronounced the same way in Finn, but is spelt foto. The Finnish language is a member of the Finno-Ugric linguistic family that includes, in one branch, Finnish, Estonian and a number of other Finnic tongues and, in the other, Hungarian, by far the b