Finland is a nation of rather largely homogenous makeup, the majority claiming Finnish ancestry, save for fifteen percent of the population, consisting of a largely Swedish minority. Along with the Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, and Nordic peoples of other nations, the Finns share the common build, complexion, and ancient culture with most of these nations. However, their language is not even of Indo-European origin, having more in common with the Hungarians and Turkic peoples of the east.
Experiencing rule under several differing governments, including the kingdom of Sweden, the Russian Empire, the Kalmar Union, and brief existence as a Duchy prior to becoming independent of the Russians under the Brest-Litovsk treaty of 1918, an independent Finland is a relatively new concept. Its statehood was internationally recognized in January of 1919. More than half of the nation is under the denomination of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. Smaller pockets of Finnish and Eastern Orthodox Christian followers exist, along with Roman Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim populations. Finland also maintains in own baseball league, its rules varying slightly from that of the North American style. However, traditional foods are served, rather than that of their Yankee counterparts, beer still a common beverage at all athletic observances. From 1947 until the fall of the Soviet Union, Finland was practically forced by the Soviet Union to sign an agreement that barred it from joining NATO, essentially safeguarding Finland from invasion and occupation by Warsaw Pact forces, and also allowing cooperation and friendly mutual assistance with Finn-Soviet relations. Thus, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Finland filed for European Union membership.
Considered a model cooperative state with quick accession to the European Union, Finland always kept a strong feeling of friendliness toward all fellow Nordic nations. Seeking to further protect their regional identity, it was always common to see cooperation among the Nordic states, especially the peninsular trio of Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Relations of Russia are almost solely bureaucratic, however friendly. Disputes over border territories are known, but passive and not actively pursued by the Finnish government. Shared with most Nordic nations, Finland taxes its citizens greatly. Nearly two million members of the workforce support a sixty-five percent tax on the population, however most make at least a modest twenty-five Euros per hour, well above the salaries of many nations bordering them. Housing and medical fees are largely paid for, the healthcare provision of Finnish citizens remarkable compared to many nations, though uniform with other Nordic nations, especially Sweden.
Finnish medical experts claim that at most fifty percent of the male population is obese, with a strong thirty-eight percent in female obesity. However, this is one of more exaggerated studies, even though type I diabetes in Finland is one of the highest recurring diseases recorded in the world, along with suicide by males within this group. Though this is all detrimental to an already dwindling society, Finland's population is very conscious of health standards, less than fifteen percent of its population smoking. There is one doctor for ever three hundred citizens, eighteen percent of health insurance paid by households. The remainder is provided by the government. Finland currently maintains one of the most highly ranked education systems in the world, its universities and other tertiary institutions ranked first in the world according to the World Economic Forum, including state and private universities and trade schools.
Finnish research includes improvement of the forests, environmental repair, synthesis and introduction of new and alternative materials, brain and genetic study, and communications. Considered one of the oldest nations in the nation with most voters over the age of fifty and a median age of forty-one, only ten births are recorded per one thousand citizens in the country. Dually by far the most sparsely populated country in the European Union and Europe, save Russia, an estimated sixteen square kilometers for each person exists. However, this is primarily because at least a fifth of the nation is within the Arctic Circle, making in nearly inhabitable without proper precautions. An indigenous people to this area, known as the Sami (Lappish) and numbering in less than a few million, they congregate in this area as nomadic herders of reindeer, adopting many traditions that mirror that of the Uralic beginnings - if not keeping the majority. Within the past decade, Finland, Norway, and Sweden were able to recognize the Sami people as a legitimate indigenous people. Their herding of reindeer and other animals is, as protected by Finn law, completely legalized and recognized by the state. Also, efforts to make their previously unwritten language more mainstream, Finnish and Swedish researchers have made efforts at producing both the Bible and other works in Sami language. A dying culture, some dialects of Lappish have less than twenty speakers in the world, the language completely unwritten and solely verbal. Joining the European Union in 1995, Finland was one of the first members of a coalition that sought to unify the European continent.
Unlike the results proven by other nations both eastern and central, the economic success of Finland seemed to persist, unlike several nations which rely on each other to create and encourage trade. Known exclusively as the creator of the massively successful Nokia telecommunications and cellular telephone Corporation, Finland's economy has bolstered unimaginably, Nokia phones in use by people of every class and region. As handheld communication is an industry in only its earliest stages, Finland was able to bring the market into the international spectrum with cheap and easily used cellular phones, also providing the most advanced models consistently. Not only did this provide a good market for Finland, but also a gateway for the rest of the world for new enterprise. Nokia, often mistaken as a Japanese Firm, is also a word almost as well known as the corporate contenders of America, including Microsoft, Wal-Mart, and McDonalds.
Humble beginnings as a fishing and logging corporation would bring Nokia into the international spotlight as a headlining manufacturer for cellular phones and was adopted by almost every service provider, including AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile. Increasingly popular among the working class is the pay-as-you-go phone, for which older Nokia models are used because of simplicity as a mainstay. Finnish passion in telecommunications is also expressed via their unique status of being the only nation to own nearly as many internet protocol addresses as the United States, making internet access much less of an ordeal when in comparison to other nations. As such, Finland also maintains the second largest amount of constant internet users per capita next to the United States. Because of alleged internet addiction, several corporations and even the Finnish Defense Forces have removed personnel for their stated addiction and inability to perform because of a lack of internet or computer usage.
