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Finland (capital Helsinki) and neighboring states
Country Comparisons:
2010: see chart
2010: debt and reserves chart
World Factbook: "Finland has a highly industrialized, largely free-market economy with per capita output roughly that of the UK, France, Germany, and Italy. Its key economic sector is manufacturing -- principally the wood, metals, engineering, telecommunications, and electronics industries."
Health care is available to all and the responsibility of local government and include medical consultations, dental care and preventive care. Health centers exist in rural areas, in the larger urban centers employ as many as hundred of doctors and include specialized services. Most Finnish municipalities have adopted a family doctor system, with each doctor responsible for about 2000 patients. The Finns pay out of pocket about 20% of the cost of their health care.
In the average number of years spent in school, Finland is second only to Norway.
2004: A study by PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) comparing student skills in math, reading and science, puts Finland in first place. South Korea is second and Canada third. From Finland comes the remark that for the sake of economic survival and to compete with the low-cost economies of Asia, it was necessary to invest heavily in education and training. Finnish children learn at "their own pace" rather than being bunched together according to year.
A United Nations survey in 2003 ranked Finland's water as first among 122 nations surveyed.
Import/export ratio
2010: exports 106.3% of imports (favorable) compared to 102.5% for Sweden
Unemployment rate
2010: 8.4%
2009: 8.5%
2008: 6.4%
Currency is the euro.
2004: Seventy percent of mothers with young children work.
Finland ranks high in social security and welfare expenditures.
Wikipedia: "Finland's climate and soils make growing crops a particular challenge. The country lies between 60° and 70° north latitude, and has severe winters and relatively short growing seasons that are sometimes interrupted by frosts... Forests play a key role in the country's economy, making it one of the world's leading wood producers and providing raw materials at competitive prices for the crucial wood-processing industries."
In 2002, Finland bought 14.5% of its imports from Germany, 10.9% from Sweden, 9.9% from Russia 9.9, 5.7 from the UK, 4.3 from France and 4.2 from Denmark.
Military expenditures as a percentage of GDP
2005: 2.0%
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
2007: Top ten% of the population, 24.7%; bottom ten%, 3.6%
Distribution of Wealth
Finland's division of wealth is flatter than the United States. The top
10% in household income for 1991 did 21.6% of spending
for consumers goods. For the lowest 10% of households this
was 4.2%. In the United States these figures for 1997 were
30.5% and 1.8%.
Living in an urban area
2010: 85%
Ethnicities:
Swedish, 5.6 %. Russian, 0.5%.
Migrations
2011: More arriving than leaving, a net gain of 0.62 persons
per 1,000 population.
Divorce rate:
2004:
According to nationmaster.com, Finland's divorce rate is 1.85 per thousand per year. For the
U.S. this is 4.95 per thousand.
Olympics
Before the 2004 Olympic games, Finland led the world in per capita
medals won in summer games.
Helsinki is not a popular place to go during the winter. A complaint on the internet describes its streets in winter as having only drunks and the homeless. All of Helsinki's beautiful people are indoors keeping warm.
Between Sweden and Russia. Capital: Helsinki. Mostly flat, wooded, interspersed with lakes. Slightly smaller than Montana.
After World War II, the Finns transformed their economy from farm and forest to a diversified and highly industrialized largely free-market economy. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Republic of Finland was free of its agreement to remain neutral, and in 1995 it joined the European Union.
Copyright © 2009-2011 by Frank E. Smitha. All rights reserved.