Finland

Finland was a province and then a grand duchy under Sweden from the 12th to the 19th centuries, and an autonomous grand duchy of Russia after 1809. It won its complete independence in 1917. During World War II, it was able to successfully defend its freedom and resist invasions by the Soviet Union - albeit with some loss of territory. In the subsequent half century, the Finns made a remarkable transformation from a farm/forest economy to a diversified modern industrial economy; per capita income is now among the highest in Western Europe. A member of the European Union since 1995, Finland was the only Nordic state to join the euro system at its initiation in January 1999. In the 21st century, the key features of Finland's modern welfare state are a high standard of education, equality promotion, and national social security system; currently challenged by an aging population and the fluctuations of an export-driven economy.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Euro (ISO code: EUR)
* Central bank discount rate: 3% (31 December 2008)
* Commercial banks lending rate: 5.79% (31 December 2008)
* is part of the Eurozone
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Finland: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	130 711	121 797	125 091	135 336	164 554	188 914	195 336	209 521	245 893	272 700
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Finland: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	64.057 	55.150 	49.632 	47.457 	49.255 	47.950 	44.061 	40.173 	37.287 	
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Finland: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	39.069 	41.001 	38.914 	39.138 	38.601 	38.541 	38.964 	38.730 	38.708 	
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Finland: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.	37.851 	34.984 	34.181 	35.358 	36.202 	36.021 	36.326 	35.378 	33.809 	
Debt to revenue (years) 	1.640 	1.345 	1.275 	1.213 	1.276 	1.244 	1.131 	1.037 	0.963 	
==References==
Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.
==External links==
* Finland on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Finland
* Studies from the Library of Congress (1986-1998)
* BBC country profile
Category:Countries