Moving to Finland

Are you thinking of moving to Finland? What makes Finland different? Finland is situated in northern Europe. It is surrounded by Norway (north), Russia (east & south), Sweden (west), Gulf of Finland (south), Baltic Sea (southwest), Sweden and Gulf of Bothnia (west). It is among one of the Nordic countries. Nearly one-third of the country lies north of the Arctic Circle. The area of Finland is 338,145 sq km (130,559 sq mi). This area includes 33,551 sq km (12,954 sq mi) of inland water.

The capital of Finland is Helsinki. This is the largest city of Finland. Helsinki is the trade center of Finland. The estimated population of Finland in 2003 is 5,190,785.

The currency of Finland is the Euro.

Finland people speak Finnish and Swedish language, as it is their official language. According to the survey 93 percent of the population speaks Finnish and 6 percent speaks Swedish.

Some parts of Finland lie in north of the Arctic Circle, so the climate is considerably less severe because of the moderating influence of the surrounding water bodies. During winter the temperatures can fall as low as -30° C (-22° F). The average temperature of July on the southern coast is 16°C (60°F). In a year the snow covers the ground for about seven months in the north and four or five months in the south.

A system of canals and lakes connect Finland with one another. This system is also connected with the Gulf of Finland. This canal system provides cheap and efficient transport for the forest industry. The merchant marine of Finland’s carries the overseas cargoes. Finland has a passenger liner service, and car ferries. These services operate to Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Poland and Russia. The airlines are also adequate here. In the late 1960s an international air terminal was built in Helsinki. Finland also has domestic airports. The domestic airport in north of Finland is at Ivalo and at Lake Inari. The national airline of Finland is Finnair. This airline provides internal flights as well as international flights to major airports. Finnaviation and Karair airlines serve a number of Finnish cities.

In Finland the network of highways and roads is very good. These are linked with its neighboring countries. The two-thirds of the highways in Finland are paved. Thus, shipping to Finland can easily be done with the help of these transportations. Bridges and car ferries help road travel in the island archipelagoes and in the lake land areas. The example of this is off Turku. In north of the Arctic Circle the roads are still few but the lakes tend to make routes indirect in the southeast. The railways in Finland are less adequate than of the roads. The railways are fully owned and operated by the state. The railways in Finland are connected with Russia. Here, one-third of the rail lines are electrified.

In Finland schooling is free and compulsory for the children between the 7 to16 years. For higher learning in Finland there are 13 universities, several colleges and teacher-training schools. The largest university in Finland is the University of Helsinki. It is situated in Helsinki. For higher learning some other major institutions are the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration (1911), University of Turku (1920), University of Oulu (1958), and University of Tampere (1966).

If you are moving to Finland and looking for hotels, then logon to www.world-stay.com. This site will give you the information about different hotels, their offers, services, facilities, booking etc. If you want to know about the economy of Finland and its business, then you can logon to www.worldwide-tax.com/finland/. This site will give you the information about the business of Finland, data on taxes etc.

English speakers in Finland have formed International English Speakers’ Association of Finland. If you want to know more about the information and events about International English Speakers’ Association of Finland, then you can logon to www.iesaf.fi. You can get all the information you want.