Fun facts about Finland

1. Saimaa, Finland's largest lake, is Europe's fourth largest lake.
2. The first inhabitants of Finland were the Sami (Lapp) people
3. Finland is located on a peninsula geographically within the region of Scandinavia.
4. There are exactly 179,584 islands in and around Finland, a world record.
5. Finland is the eighth largest country in Europe yet it is the EU's most sparsely populated country.
6. There are 187,888 lakes (larger than 500 m_) within the boundaries of Finland. This also is a world record.
7. The erosion effects of heavy ice age glaciers left the Finnish landscape mostly flat.
8. Finland's terrain is risings steadily due to post-glacial rebound (about 1cm a year).
9. Finland's capital Helsinki has a nigher lattude than almost any other capital city, second only to Iceland's Reykjavik.
10. About 78 percent of Finland is forestland
11. Finland was the first country in Europe to provide equal voting rights to women.
12. Finland is an egalitarian society, uses gender-neutral words in their language.
13. Finland was the first country in Europe with both a female president (Tarja Halonen) and prime minister.
14. Finnish and Swedish are the official languages of Finland. The Sami language is the indigenous language.
15. Finland's population is predominantly an urban one (84 percent). Finland is also known as Suomi (common, Finnish).
16. Finland's education system ranks very high, even though children don't go to school until they are 7.
17. The Finnish people are modest, courteous, and value speaking plainly and openly.
18. Finland has the world's highest annual consumption of milk per capita.
19. The Finns love their coffee. The average Finn consumes 12 kg of coffee yearly, the highest in the world.
20. The Finns regard their country as the home of Santa Claus.
21. The sauna has a special place in the Finnish lifestyle.
22. There are approximately 2.2 million saunas in Finland. That's one sauna for every two and a half people.
23. Important business meetings may be followed by a sauna.
24. Traditional breads like ruisleip (a flat, crispy sour rye bread) are part of many meal.
25. Fish (salmon, whitefish and herring) and meat (pork, beef, and reindeer) are staples.
26. Potatoes are the favorite side dish at many meals.
27. A bread pastry filled with different meats or fish called Kalakukko is a popular packed lunch.
28. In Finland, indigenous fruits like bilberries, lingon berries and cloud berries are popular.
29. Finland was the first nation to make Internet access a legal right for their citizens.
30. Finland has the most heavy metal bands per capita in the world.
31. Karelian pastry is a traditional Finnish dish made from a rye crust filled with rice
32. It's the norm to have a sauna in your home and share it with family and friends
33. On average, Finns drink twice as much coffee as Italians
34. Finns believe their word is their bond and verbal commitments are considered agreements