Finland is the most sparsely populated country within the European Union.

Finland shares a land border with Sweden, Norway, and Russia.

The official languages of Finland are Finnish, native to 90% of the population and Swedish, native language to 5.4% of the population. The indigenous Sami language is an official language in the area of northern Lapland.

The population of Finland is over 5.5 million as of 2023.

Helsinki is the capital and largest city of Finland.

In the far north of Lapland on the Finland and Norway border is the highest point in the country, the mountain Halti at 1,324 metres (4,344 ft).

Between the 12th and 19th centuries, Finland was part of Sweden, before it became a part of the Russian Empire until gaining independence during the Russian Revolution in 1917.

Finland has thousands of lakes (about 188,000) and islands (about 179,500) leading to the nickname for the country "Land of the Thousand Lakes".

Another nickname for Finland is "land of midnight sun". During summer the sun does not drop below the horizon in the north instead shining all day and night.

Finland has some interesting and unique wildlife including the gray wolf, wolverine, elk, its national animal the brown bear and national bird the whooper swan.

Forests including pine, spruce, and birch cover over 86% of Finland, making the country the largest forested area and largest producer of wood, in all of Europe.

Finnish software engineer Linus Torvalds, created the open-source operating system called Linux.

Telecommunications company Nokia is from Finland, it is headquartered in Espoo, and is one of the world's largest manufacturers of mobile phones.

There are millions of saunas in Finland and they are very popular, most homes feature their own.

Rovio Entertainment, creators of the phone app Angry Birds are from Finland.

Drivers use the right-hand side of the road in Finland.

Karelian pasty is a traditional Finnish dish made from a rye crust filled with rice.

Finland ranked number one out of all countries in the 2022 World Happiness Report.

The national sport of Finland is called Pesapallo, which is a bit like baseball.

By gold medals won per capita, Finland is the most successful country in Olympic history. Success in javelin throw and distance running with the "Flying Finn" Hannes Kolehmainen in 1912 (won 3 gold medals), and another "Flying Finn" Paavo Nurmi in 1920, 1924, 1928 (won 9 gold medals) has helped contribute to the success.

For more information, check out maps of Finland or take a closer look at the Finnish flag.