Invest in Finland

Basic Facts on Finland

Total area: 338,000 square kilometers

Neighboring countries: Estonia, Sweden, Norway, Russia (1,269 km, Finland’s land border with Russia is the
eastern border of the European Union)

Population: 5.37 million; 67% live in towns or urban areas, 33% in rural areas

Main towns: Helsinki (588,549) Espoo (247,970), Tampere (213,217), Vantaa (200,055), Turku (177,326)
and Oulu (141,671)

Languages: Finnish 90.67%, Swedish 5.43%, Lappish 0.03%, Russian 0.97%, other 2.90%. Finnish and Swedish
are the official languages. English is an important business language.

Religion: Lutheran 79.9%, Orthodox 1.1%, other 1.3% (17.7% have no religious affiliation)

Government: Following the parliamentary elections of March 2011 the new centre-right governing coalition is comprised of 19 ministerial posts held by the National Coalition Party (6), the Social Democratic Party (6), the Green League (2), Left Alliance (2), Chritian Democrats (1), and the Swedish People’s Party (2).

Currency: euro (EUR) = 100 cents

GDP: 180 bn € (2010)

GDP per capita: at current market prices 33 600 € (2010)

GDP growth: 3,6 % (2010), 1,1 % (forecast for 2010)

Unemployment rate: 8,4 % (December 2010)

Monthly wages: average 2,978 €; men 3,288 €, women 2,667 € (2009)

Main industrial products: Paper and board, electronics and metal products. Forests are still Finland's most crucial
raw material resource, although the engineering and high technology industries, led by Nokia, have long been the leading
branches of manufacturing.

Taxation: Corporation tax (26%) is uniform for all types of corporate income, including sales profits, interest income, dividends, royalties and rental income; value-added tax (VAT) is charged at 23% on most goods and services. Food and animal feed tax is charged at 13%.