Finland is a country in the far north of Europe, next to Sweden, Norway and Russia. Here are fun, easy facts about Finland — for school projects, curious kids, or anyone who wants the short and simple version.
The capital city of Finland is Helsinki. About 5.6 million people live in Finland, and most of them speak Finnish. Finland uses the euro as its money, and it's part of a group of countries in Europe called the European Union. Finland's flag is white with a blue cross — the white stands for snow, and the blue stands for Finland's thousands of lakes and its sky.
Finland is famous for its wild, natural landscapes.
Finland has about 188,000 lakes. That's why people call it the "Land of a Thousand Lakes," even though it has way more than a thousand.
About three out of every four trees you'd walk past in Finland are part of a forest — around 75% of the whole country is covered in trees.
Around 200,000 reindeer live in Finland, mostly up north in Lapland. They're looked after by reindeer herders, not wild and untouched like moose.
Finland's national animal is the brown bear. Its national bird is the whooper swan, and its national flower is the lily of the valley.
Some things that make growing up in Finland a little different.
There are more saunas than cars in Finland! Most homes have one, and going to the sauna together is a normal family activity, not a special treat.
Finnish kids don't start school until they're 7 years old, and they get very little homework, especially when they're young. Finland's schools are ranked among the best in the world anyway.
The town of Rovaniemi, in Finnish Lapland, calls itself Santa's official hometown. You can visit Santa Claus Village there, right on the Arctic Circle line, any day of the year.
Thanks to a rule called "everyone's right," any kid in Finland can pick wild berries and mushrooms in almost any forest, even one they don't own.
Finland's most famous storybook characters are the Moomins — round, white, friendly trolls created by a Finnish artist named Tove Jansson. You can meet them at Moominworld, a theme park in the town of Naantali. Want the full story? Read our Moomins deep dive.
Finnish is the main language. Swedish is also an official language, spoken by about 5% of people, mostly near the coast.
Finland's flag is white with a blue cross. The white stands for snow, and the blue stands for Finland's lakes and sky.
Yes! There are around 200,000 semi-domesticated reindeer in Finland, mostly in Lapland in the north, herded by Sami and Finnish reindeer keepers.
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