2009 Finland

Finland
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Capital: Helsinki
Official Language: Finnish, Swedish (Sami recognised as a regional language)
Government: Parliamentary republic
Head of State: Anna Esko
Formation: 	December 6, 1917
Population: 	5,320,102 (2008)
Currency: Euro (€)(EUR)
¨Human Rights Record¨ Wikipedia Article, Finnish government comments
¨Territorial Disputes¨ Whilst technically Finland could claim Karelia any such claim has been dropped by successive governments as there is no longer any realistic "claim" that they could make due to the lack of ethnic Finns in the territory. Also there was a conflict between Sweden and Finland over the Aaland Islands in the 1920's read here for more
¨Ongoing Conflicts¨ (If any)
Welcome to the international embassy of Finland! (Player added remarks)
=Diplomatic Relations=
Nation currently enjoys diplomatic relations with (List)
Nation is a member of (List)
Nation is a signatory to the following treaties (list)
//We will do this bit later, just have the template up so we can do it.
=Summary=
Finland [officially the Republic of Finland (Finnish: Suomi; Swedish: Finland), is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It has borders with Sweden to the west, Russia to the east, and Norway to the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland. The capital city is Helsinki.
Around 5.3 million people reside in Finland, with the majority concentrated in the southern part of the country. It is the eighth largest country in Europe in terms of area and the most sparsely populated country in the European Union. The native language for most of the population is Finnish, a member of the Finno-Ugric language family most closely related to Estonian and one of the four official EU languages not of Indo-European origin. The second official language, Swedish, is spoken by a 5.5 percent minority. Finland is a democratic, parliamentary republic with a mostly Helsinki-based central government and local governments in 415 municipalities. A total of a million residents live in Greater Helsinki (including Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen) and a third of the GDP is produced there. Other major cities include Tampere, Turku, and Oulu.
Finland has seen excellent results in many international comparisons of national performance such as the share of high-technology manufacturing, public education, the rate of gross domestic product growth, and the protection of civil liberties.
=Brief History=
Finland was historically part of Sweden and from 1809 an autonomous Grand Duchy within the Russian Empire. Finland's declaration of independence in 1917 from Russia was followed by a civil war, wars against the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, and a period of official neutrality during the Cold War. Finland joined the United Nations in 1955 and the European Union in 1995 and participates in the Eurozone. Finland has been ranked the second most stable country in the world, in a survey based on social, economic, political, and military indicators.
=Diplomatic Messages=
(Please post them here)
=Resources=
*Finland on Wikipedia
*Finland on the BBC
*Finland on the CIA world factbook
* Homepage of the Finnish government