page_title: Finland–Sweden border
section_title: Course of the border
hierarchical_section_title: Finland–Sweden border / Course of the border
caption_attribution_description: English: The rail bridge between the towns of Haparanda (Sweden) and Tornio (Finland). It crosses Torne River. Seen from Finland. Suomi: Tornionjoen ylittävä rautatiesilta Haaparannan ja Tornion välillä.
context_page_description: The Finnish-Swedish border is the border between the countries of Finland and Sweden. Almost the entire border runs through water: along the Tornio River and its tributaries, and in the Gulf of Bothnia. Only a few kilometres of the border are on dry land. Because of the Schengen treaty and the Nordic Passport Union, the border can be crossed mostly freely.
context_section_description: In the north, the Finnish–Swedish border begins from the Treriksröset tripoint at the border of Norway, located in the Koltajärvi lake near Kilpisjärvi, which is also the northernmost point of Sweden. The first 230 m (750 ft) of the border are in straight lines and marked with border signs. The border continues as a river border: first along a small river to Kuohkimajärvi, then along Kuohkimajoki to Kilpisjärvi, then along the rivers Könkämäeno, Muonionjoki and Tornionjoki, a total of 555.5 km (345.2 mi) down to Tornio. The river border runs along the deepest parts of the rivers (the Thalweg), and is not marked with border signs; instead the border location is defined by the official maps of the border protocol. There are some border markers near Tornio where the border runs on land.
  In Tornio, the border departs from the river: the centre of Tornio is located west of the river, but belongs to Finland. The border runs in straight lines for 4.03 kilometres between the cities of Tornio and Haparanda, and from there in straight lines 25.31 km as a maritime border mostly through sea, but also through islands including one called Kataja. In 1809 the border went between the islands Kataja and Inakari, but the post-glacial rebound has caused them to join into a single island. The border continues as a maritime border to a point in the Bothnian Bay, where the Finnish and Swedish territorial waters depart from each other.
  In the Bothnian Bay and the Bothnian Sea, the Finnish and Swedish territorial waters are separated by international waters. In the Norra Kvarken, the distance between land is down to 22.4 kilometres (12.1 nmi), giving less than the normal 12 nautical miles (22 km) to each country. Here a narrow channel of international water go along an agreed path. The territorial waters meet again in the Sea of Åland, where the countries have a maritime border of 15 kilometres. The border crosses the island of Märket, which has a 470-metre long, complexly shaped border marked with border signs.
  The international waters between the countries are divided into economic zones. The border between the economic zones mainly runs in straight lines through defined coordinate points. There have been agreements about the borders in 1972 and in 1994. The zone border continues south into the northern Baltic Sea to a point where it meets the zone border of Estonia. The tripoint between the economic zones is defined by a treaty signed in 2001.
caption: The Tornionjoki railway bridge with two sets of tracks with different gauges.
exif: {}