Finland, the Scandinavian country bordering Sweden, Norway and Russia, has some of the beautiful scenery in the world. Apart from it’s massive forested area and ultra friendly inhabitants, there are many interesting facts about Finland that you may not know.
From unique traditional food to an abundance of wildlife to the ubiquitous saunas, join us on a journey to Santa’s actual home to find out the most fun facts about Finland, the Land of a Thousand Lakes.
Finland is a gorgeous country with outstanding nature that is hard to beat. Yet they’re also known for Angry Birds. So you can have the best of both worlds when visiting this spectacular and happy country.
Wonder what’s so great about this Scandinavian country? Read these amazing facts about Finland that will surely make you want to visit.
Angry Birds & slithering snakes
If you were born before the millennium, you’ll remember the iconic Nokia 3310 cellphone. Not many people know this under-the-radar Finland fact, but Nokia is most definitely a Finnish brand. So let’s not forget the most played cellphone game of yesteryear, Snake, another Finnish invention. If you’re a bit on the younger side, you can check it out for free here. But Finland’s tech and games don’t stop with this, there are many other you can play here.
The smash hit Angry Birds is a prominent and proudly Finnish export. A surprise creation in 2003 from some student Jaakko Iisalo who teamed up with Markus Tupperainen and Peter Urbanics Founded, Rovio Entertainment was publicly listed in 2017 at a $1 billion valuation. It has become one of the most downloaded games of all time with over 4 billion downloads and counting, there are now two movies and several theme parks from Doha to Puerto Rico.
Trees as far as they can see
It’s no secret that Finland is super green and has gorgeous and untouched nature, but did you know this amazing fact about Finland, just over 74% of the country is forested. At 23 million hectares, this makes Finland Europe’s most heavily-forested country, larger than the entire United Kingdom (9 mill) or Italy (30 mill). That’s pretty impressive!
More lakes than you can imagine
Along with the enormous forested area, there is also an impressive amount of lakes in Finland, roughly 188,000, slightly higher than the nickname of “Land of a Thousand Lakes”. In a country with a size of 130,128 square miles, that means that 10% is covered in lakes. Some estimate that the country has one lake for every 26 people, quite an outstanding Finland fact. The impressive geographical plains of Finland were created tens of thousands of years ago through glaciation, the melting of glaciers that form impressive landscapes.
Finland will make you smile
The most uplifting fact about Finland is that it’s consistently ranked as the happiest country in the world according to the UN’s annual World Happiness Report. So, how is happiness measured in the UN’s eyes? They take into account six variables that include income, freedom, trust, healthy life expectancy, social support and generosity. The largest factor to their sustained happiness is the country’s outstanding health care system. It reminds us of Bhutan, where they measure the strength of the country by Gross National Happiness and not Product.
And who’s more jolly than Finland’s most jovial resident, Santa Claus. Santa’s official residence is Finland, in Rovaniemi in Lapland Finland Arctic to be precise, and can be visited. No wonder everyone’s so happy all the time.
A very unique language
Finnish, the language of Finland, is known to be extremely difficult to master. While the pronunciation is quite straight forward and the English alphabet is used, it’s the grammar that will get you. One example is that there are 15 different noun cases in Finnish, as opposed to only three in English; subjective, objective and possessive. It is radically different to other Scandinavian languages, it’s closer to Hungarian (both are Urgic) than Swedish, although Swedish is the second official language. If you do visit, know that the Finnish call their home Suomi and not Finland.
Helsinki is packed & liveable
The capital city of Helsinki is the northernmost metropolitan area in the world and has a population of 629,512, an urban population of 1,214,210, and a metropolitan population of over 1.4 million (when including the urban core of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Kauniainen, and surrounding commuter towns).
With a population of 5.5 million, this means that around 25% of the population lives in the metropolitan Helsinki area. Helsinki was selected as the World Design Capital for 2012 by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design and held the 1952 Summer Olympics and in 2007, the 52nd Eurovision Song Contest. It has also frequently been a top contender as the world’s most liveable city, although it hasn’t made the list since 2017.
Savory breakfasts & loads of coffee
While the Koreans eat kimchi and the Argentinians chow down dulce de leche, breakfast in Finland is a savory affair. The most prevalent meal is the classic porridge or oatmeal with a touch of jam. Other classics include rye bread (ruisleipa) with butter, cheese and a slice of cold cut or Karelian pie or Karjalanpiirakka, a traditional pastry with rye crust and globulous rice porridge inside.
If you’re looking for something uniquely Finnish, you’ll have to have a light lunch and then order most of your food during lunch or dinner. Some uniquely Finnish foods include Leipajuusto (bread cheese), Kalakukko (fish pie), Lihapullat (Finnish meatballs), Poronkaristys (sauteed reindeer), Salmiakki (salty liquorice) and of course Graavilohi (cured salmon).
One more foodie fact about Finland is that the Finns consume more coffee per capita than anywhere in the world, not only Europe. On average, a Finn drinks roughly 12kg of the delicious bean every year. You may think three cups is a lot per day, try eight! Just remember that while Finland has a high per capita consumption of coffee, it has a relatively small population (5.56 million), that’s about only 2% of the total European imports of green coffee beans.
All you can sauna
With an estimated 2 million saunas throughout the country, there is basically a sauna for each couple. As there are roughly 2.6 million households, it means one sauna per home! What’s more it’s even believed that the modern word ‘sauna’ comes from the proto-Finnic ‘sakna’ (‘stack’ in English). Saunas were originally pits dug into slopes where a stone-filled fireplace would heat up the household, much like the Korean Ondol system. The modern electric sauna stove was only introduced in 1938.
Saunas are found just about everywhere throughout the country and not just in houses. You’ll find them in city apartments, forest cabins, large corporations, state institutions and of course, hotels. Finns love the sport of sauna and ice swimming, where you run from the sauna and jump into a hole in the ice.
Be warned if you are prudent that there are coed saunas where men and women sweat it out in the nude, but as the Finns are accommodating, you will not be shunned if you wear a covering. And don’t forget to ask saunatonttu (the sauna elf) permission to enter the wooden cove.