Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0130/01307.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 11KB | 210 lines

$Unique_ID{COW01307}
$Pretitle{367}
$Title{Finland
Front Matter}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Theodore L. Stoddard}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{miles
finland
country
government
percent
united
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finnish
handbook
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$Date{1974}
$Log{}
Country:     Finland
Book:        Finland, A Country Study
Author:      Theodore L. Stoddard
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1974

Front Matter

Authors:
William K. Carr, Shaheen Dil, John Johnson, Carlo La Prota, Nils Orvik,
Douglass K. Ramsey, Kirk H. Stone, Carla Loftberg Valenta, Jiri Valenta

Foreword

     This volume is one of a series of handbooks prepared under the auspices
of Foreign Area Studies (FAS) of The American University, designed to be
useful to military and other personnel who need a convenient compilation of
basic facts about the social, economic, political and military institutions
and practices of various countries. The emphasis is on objective description
of the nation's present society and the kinds of possible or probable changes
that might be expected in the future. The handbook seeks to present as full
and as balanced an integrated exposition as limitations on space and research
time permit. It was compiled from information available in openly published
material. An extensive bibliography is provided to permit recourse to other
published sources for more detailed information. There has been no attempt to
express any specific point of view or to make policy recommendations. The
contents of the handbook represent the work of the authors and FAS and do not
represent the official view of the United States Government.

     An effort has been made to make the handbook as comprehensive as
possible. It can be expected, however, that the material, interpretations, and
conclusions are subject to modification in the light of new information and
developments. Such corrections, additions, and suggestions for factual,
interpretive, or other change as readers may have will be welcomed for use in
future revisions. Comments may be addressed to:

The Director
Foreign Area Studies
The American University
5010 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20016

Preface

     After surviving centuries of Swedish or Russian domination, the Finns
established their independence as a republic in December 1917. Since World War
II they have rapidly industrialized their economy and have successfully
followed a foreign policy of active neutrality, serving as a buffer and as an
occasional interlocutor between Eastern and Western powers.

     This handbook attempts to provide a comprehensive view of the dominant
factors affecting the social, political, and economic life of the country. The
approach is interdisciplinary, but the results are not exhaustive. The authors
are indebted to numerous United States government officials and members of the
Finnish communities in Washington, D.C., and New York for their generous and
thoughtful guidance to the wealth of official and scholarly information
available. Nevertheless, there appears to be a serious lack of definitive
information on the Finnish social system.

     Many terms appearing in this handbook have Swedish alternates, but only
the Finnish spelling is used. Unless otherwise stated, tons used in production
and commodity figures are metric tons. An index has been compiled for the
benefit of the reader.

Country Summary

     1. COUNTRY: Republic of Finland, an independent country since December
1917, is the northernmost nation on the European continent.

     2. GOVERNMENT: A democracy with legislative power invested by the
Constitution of 1919 in a unicameral Parliament and president. Executive power
is vested in the president and the State Council (cabinet), appointed by the
president and responsible to Parliament. The Constitution of 1919 has been
supplemented by fundamental laws including the Parliament Act of 1928,
governing legislation; the Impeachment Act of 1922, creating a High Court of
Impeachment; and the Ahvenanmaa Islands Act of 1951, granting them internal
autonomy.

     3. POPULATION: 4,683,000 people in December 1970, declining from a peak
of 4,704,321 people the preceding January. The decline is attributed primarily
to emigration (mainly to Sweden), which peaked in 1970 at 45,565 people.

     4. GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION: Topography. The land slopes gradually from
low northern mountains toward narrow coastal plains on the south and west. A
massive lake district occupies the southeastern part of the country. Soils are
thin and poorly developed but they support a dense boreal forest covering 70
percent of the land surface and providing the country's major natural
resource. Area including lakes is 130,126 square miles; greatest length, 724
miles north to south; greatest width, 337 miles east to west. Borders Sweden
on the west for 335 miles, Norway on the north for 453 miles, the Soviet Union
on the east for 788 miles. About 690 miles of coast extends along the western
(Gulf of Bothnia) and southern (Gulf of Finland) shores. Climate. Ameliorating
effects from the gulf stream keep temperatures higher than the Arctic
situation suggests. The February mean ranges from 26F in the south to minus
7F in the north; the July mean ranges from 63F in the south to 55F in the
north. Precipitation ranges from twenty-seven inches per year in the southwest
to sixteen inches in the northwest.

     5. LANGUAGES: Finnish is spoken by 93 percent of the population and
Swedish, by about 6.5 percent; both are official languages.

     6. RELIGION: Freedom of religious belief and association is guaranteed by
law. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland is the state church, and its
membership claims about 93 percent of the population. The Finnish Orthodox
Church claims about 1.6 percent, and the remainder belongs to smaller
religious groups or is not affiliated with any organized religion.

     7. EDUCATION: Compulsory and free for first eight years. Private and
public secondary schools provide either vocational or liberal arts curriculum.
Seven universities and eight other institutions of higher learning located in
seven cities. Adult education in folk high schools is free. Literacy is
virtually 100 percent.

     8. HEALTH: Medical care and facilities thoroughly socialized. Facilities
provided one hospital bed for each seventy-two persons in the late 1960s. One
physician per 1,081 persons. Diseases of the circulatory system accounted for
the highest death rate (372 per 100,000 persons in the 1960s). Malignant
tumors and tuberculosis also major health problems.

     9. JUSTICE: Administered by independent courts, including courts of
justice, circuit courts, town courts, courts of appeal, and the Supreme Court.
Law is codified and some derives from the eighteenth century.

     10. ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS: Twelve provinces, each with a governor
appointed by the president. Local government units are communes, which
undertake such functions as local planning, providing local services, schools,
and welfare. There were 515 communes in 1971 of which 78 were urban, 437 were
rural.

     11. ECONOMY: Basically industrial. Public utilities, transports, and
services are the largest industries in terms of production and employment.
Private enterprise predominates in an essentially free market.

     12. EXPORTS: Primarily wood and wood products, especially paper; also
machinery and metal products. Primarily to the United Kingdom the Soviet
Union, and Sweden.

     13. IMPORTS: Raw materials, especially fuels, minerals, and chemicals.
Primarily from the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), the United
Kingdom, and Sweden.

     14. FINANCE: The Bank of Finland, a bank of issue supervised by
Parliament, controls the monetary system. The markka, or Finnmark (Fmk), is
the monetary unit. The currency is convertible, and the rate of exchange
established with the International Monetary Fund in 1967 is Fmk4.2 equal US $1.

     15. COMMUNICATIONS: At the close of 1969