Finland is a country of 5.3 million people in northern Europe, known for its excellence in education and acheivements in high technology, and also as a country of deep forests, thousands of lakes and unspoiled nature. A quarter of its area lies beyond the Arctic Circle, while forest covers 75% of the country with lakes accounting for another 10%. Finland is called Suomi in the Finnish language.
You can find quick facts on Finland from virtual.finland.fi. Finland lies between the 60th and 70th parallels, and features cold winters and mild summers. The average yearly temperaure in south Finland is 5 degrees Celsius, but summer days can be hotter than 30°C, while on cold winter days the mercury can drop to -30°C.
Finland has been a member of the European Union since 1995, and its capital city, Helsinki, has a population of about 500,000. The largest archipelago in Europe lies just off the coastline around Turku and extends well out into the Baltic Sea.
Finnish is a special language. It belongs to the Fenno-Ugric group, and shares affinities in Europe with Estonian and Hungarian. But the country has officially two langugaes, Finnish and Swedish, which reflect the fact that Finland was once a part of the Swedish realm. English is very widely spoken, and is the most popular language of many langauges learned in schools.
Education has a high priority in Finland. There are 20 universities and 29 polytechnical institutions. Finland frequently comes top of the listings in education, such as in the regular PISA survey run by the OECD.
A great starting place for learning much more about Finland is at virtual.finland.fi. You'll find information on the populace, government, the education system, the economy, arts and entertainment and much more.
Some fine picture portfolios can be found here. The images of icy winters, the Aurora Borealis and the island dotted coastlines are especially fine.
You can find lots of information on Research and Development in Finland at www.finland.fi. The site covers Research environments, such as in the Universities and Polytechnics, and also in the Business Sectors.