Outline of Finland
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Finland. Finland – sovereign Nordic country located in Northern Europe. Finland 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 5.4 million people reside in Finland, with the majority concentrated in the southern part of 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 Uralic language family most closely related to Estonian and one of the four 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 central government and local governments in 415 municipalities. Greater Helsinki (including Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen) totals a million residents and a third of the GDP. Other major cities include Tampere, Turku, and Oulu. 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. Finland has seen excellent results in many international comparisons of national performance such as the share of high-technology manufacturing, the rate of gross  domestic product growth, and the protection of civil liberties. Geography of Finland. Geography of Finland Regions of Finland. Regions of Finland Ecoregions of Finland. List of ecoregions in Finland Administrative divisions of Finland. Administrative divisions of Finland Provinces of Finland. Provinces of Finland Regions of Finland. Regions of Finland Municipalities of Finland. Municipalities of Finland Demography of Finland. Demographics of Finland Government and politics of Finland. Branches of the government of Finland. Government of Finland Judicial branch of the government of Finland. Judicial system of Finland Foreign relations of Finland. Foreign relations of Finland International organization membership. The Republic of  Finland is a member of: Law and order in Finland. Law of Finland Military of Finland. Military of Finland Local government in Finland. Local government in Finland History of Finland. History of Finland Culture of Finland. Culture of Finland Sports in Finland. Sports in Finland Economy and infrastructure of Finland. Economy of Finland Education in Finland. Education in Finland See also. Finland