A country, between European and Russian cultures, a modern country with a great technological development, independent and eclectic but at the same time respectful of nature Finland is famous all over the world for the huge number of lakes in the area. Although it is usual to associate it with the words “land of the 1000 lakes”, in Finland there are as many as 187,888 lakes.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE COUNTRY
Time zone: (compared to Italy): +1
Surface area: 338.435 square km
Population: 5.495.096 (+0.3)
Italian Community: 2.810
Capital: Helsinki
Main cities: Helsinki (628,208); Espoo (269,802); Tampere (225.118); Vantaa (214,605); Oulu (198.525); Turku (185,908)
Currency: euro
Official languages: Finnish and Swedish. Finnish speakers are 92% and Swedes only 5.5% of the population.
Other languages: Sami is the mother tongue of about 1,700 people in Lapland in northern Finland
Business Language: English is the language of business throughout Finland
State order: Parliamentary Republic with presidential connotation.
Administrative subdivision: 19 regions (Maakunta); 70 subregions (Seutukunta); 320 municipalities (Kunta).
FRAMEWORK OF THE ECONOMY
Macroeconomic frameworkFinland’s economic performance over the last decade has been among the slowest in the EU. In decline since 2007 (in 2015 the real GDP was 7.4% lower than its pre-crisis peak in the last quarter of 2007) with negative values until 2014, it recorded a first turnaround in 2015. In During the course of 2017, the Finnish economy saw a sharp acceleration, which surprised industry experts. A year ago, the forecasts forecast growth of just over 1 per cent. Forecasts that have been revised upwards during the year. It was from 2010 that the economy did not record such levels of growth. At the moment, it is believed that this year the country’s GDP will manage to rise to pre-financial crisis levels (Finland was, as is known, one of the slowest countries to recover from the crisis).
Domestic demand increased by 3.6 percent – driven above all by growth in investments and an increase in exports. Investments grew by 6.3% compared to 2016. Private consumption volume increased by 1.6% and public sector consumption by 1.3%.
In general, profits increased by 10 percent.
The Finnish economy is increasingly characterized as a service economy with the tertiary sector, which accounts for 70% of GDP, the only sector in constant growth. There was a slight decline for the primary sector, which represents 2.8% of the gross domestic product, while the manufacturing sector fell by 1.5% (26.5%) on an annual basis.
Positive results were recorded in the IT and telecommunications sectors, in the technology industry (especially in the mechanical and metallurgical sectors) and in the forest industry. Important contractions have occurred in the chemical, electronic and textile industries.
Tourism is increasingly developing especially during the Christmas period for the Christmas atmosphere and during the summer period for wildlife and sports tourism.