Finland belongs to the Scandinavian countries and is located in the north of Europe. A direct border exists only with Sweden, Norway and Russia. The other two Scandinavian countries, Denmark and Iceland, have no common border with Finland. Finland is divided into 19 regions, one of which are the mostly autonomous Åland Islands.
Like the other Scandinavian countries, Finland’s flag is based on Dannebrog, Denmark’s flag. The blue cross of the flag is on a white ground. The Åland Islands region, with its extensive political autonomy, also has a cross flag. It corresponds in principle to the Swedish flag (yellow cross and blue background), but the cross is streaked with red. Red and yellow were the national colors of Finland at the time of creation.
The area of Finland is about the size of Germany, but with about 5,2 million only a fraction of the population. What Finland lacks in terms of population, the Nordic country can compensate with lakes.
There are over 168,000 lakes in Finland that are larger than 500 square meters. That’s one lake per 32.8 inhabitants. Finns can have even more peace and quiet in the sauna. There are over 2 million saunas in Finland. Every Finn has to share a sauna theoretically with only one and a half other person.
The Finnish cuisine of today combines influences from traditional country cuisine and contemporary cuisine. A speciality are the Karelian pasty (karjalanpiirakka), barley porridge, today mostly unsweetened or slightly salted rice pudding, wrapped in a thin dough of water and rye flour.
A liquid speciality of the country is the so-called Salmiakki, a deep black liquorice tasting spirit. You should not drink too much of it, the alcohol content is between 30 and 40 % by volume. This and the high price of alcohol are probably one of the reasons why the Finns’ favorite drink is coffee.
The Finns lead the worldwide ranking of coffee drinkers. The average coffee consumption per inhabitant is 12 kilograms, 2.1 kilograms more than Norway’s second place. The Finns are also good at drinking milk, not just coffee. Although 17 percent of the population is lactose intolerant, each Finn consumes 120 liters of liquid milk per year.
The most common surname in Finland is Korhonen. The origin of the name is not 100% clear, other Finnish surnames have a clearer origin. For example, Virtanen, the second most common name, is the Finish word for small stream and Nieminen can be translated into small peninsula.
