FINLAND

The Republic of Finland is one of the Nordic countries. Situated in Northern Europe, Finland is bounded by the Baltic Sea with the Gulf of Finland to the south and the Gulf of Bothnia to the west. The Aland Islands, off the south-western coast, are an autonomous, demilitarised administrative province of Finland.

Finland has a population of 5,276,571 people spread over more than 330,000 km² (127,000 sq mi) making it one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. Finland is a democratic republic with a semi-presidential system and parliamentarism. Finland was previously part of the Swedish kingdom and later an autonomous Duchy in the Russian Empire, until it declared its independence on December 6, 1917. Finland is 11th on the 2006 United Nations Human Development Index and ranked as the 6th happiest nation in the world by an independent scientific study.