The Nordic country of Finland
is one of the world's nothernmost countries. Finland is renowned for its
"midnight sun", exciting outdoor adventures, delicious cuisine,
beautiful scenery and interesting customs. The biggest cities in Finland are:
Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere, Vantaa, Oulu, Turku, Lahti, Kuopio, Jyväskylä, and
Pori. Finland's official languages are: Finnish (spoken by 88.9%) and Swedish
(spoken by 5.3%). Sami is recognized as a regional language. Finland's capital
is Helsinki. The country has a total population of 5.4 million people. The
currency used is the Euro. The president and prime minister of Finland
are Sauli Niinistö and Juha Sipilä respectively. Finland has a
high average life expectancy - 80.5 years. The life expectancy for men is 78
years and that for women, 83 years. Finland's official website is Finland.fi.
Take a look at these
distinctive facts about Finland.
1. Finland is the happiest
country in the world, as revealed by this year's World Happiness Report.
Finland toppled last year's winner, Norway. The World Happiness Report is
released annually by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions
Network.
3. Finland has the world's
highest annual consumption of milk per capita. In 2007, milk consumption per
capita in Finland was 361.19 kilograms, with milk per person at about 34.34 gallons
per person (latest available statistics).
4. Finland is home to the
"midnight sun". In June and July, the sun stays above the horizon,
casting a white light even in the middle of the night.
5. Finland was the first
European country to introduce women's suffrage. Women were allowed to vote in
Finland in the late nineteenth century (1906).
6. There are more saunas in
Finland than cars. Like the Finnish saying goes, "Build the sauna, then
the house." Finns take this saying very serious. For a population of only
5 million people, there are 2 million saunas in Finland. Saunas are a necessity
to Finns, just as rye bread and vodka are. It is the norm in Finland to have a
sauna in your home. Most Finns take a sauna at least once a week. Finland's
parliament has its own sauna wherein officials can debate.
7. Salty licorice/Salmiakki is
a popular treat loved by the Finns. Ammonium chloride gives Salmiakki its
distinctive salty taste. The more ammonium chloride salmmiaki contains,
the saltier and stronger it will be.
8. If you are a lover of weird
events and contests, Finland has got you covered. The infamous Wife Carrying
World Championship takes place in Sonkajärvi, Finland, every summer.
Wife carrying is a contest in which male competitors race while carrying a female
teammate. The male who carries the female through the specified obstacle in the
fastest time wins. The first price in the wife-carrying championship is the
wife's weight in beer.
The World Mobile Phone Throwing
championship takes place each August in Savolinna, Finland. It started in 2006.
It is an international sport in which participants throw mobile phones and are
judged on technique or distance.
The Air Guitar World
Championship is an event for music lovers organized in Oulu, Finland. Air
guitar playing consists of exaggerated strumming and picking motions, often
coupled with loud singing or lip-synching. The performer actually pretends to
play an imaginary rock or heavy metal-style electric guitar. The annual Air
Guitar World Championships have been a part of the Oulu Music Video Festival in
Oulu, Finland, since 1996.
The Kutemajrvi Sex Festival
takes place in Kangasniemi, Finland. During this festival, sex
education is given, a sex toy exposition takes place, there are exotic dances,
and there is the Aphrodite Competition in which people pose nude.
The World Sauna Championships
used to take place in Heinola, Finland, from 1999 to 2010. The purpose was to
test how long the competitors could tolerate a humid 110º Celsius in a
Finnish sauna.
Other weird competitions that
take place in Finland include: the Mosquito Swatting Championship, the Ant-Nest
Sitting Competition, ice swimming events, Snowshow Football, and the Swamp
Soccer World Championships.
9. Helsinki, Finland's capital,
ranks seventh in the the top ten cities with the cleanest air in the world.
10. Finland received a score of
100 in Freedom House's 2017 report, ranking first. However, she ranks fourth in
the 2018 World Press Freedom Index report.
11. The telecommunications
company Nokia is Finnish. Nokia's headquarters are in Espoo, in the Helsinki
metropolitan area. Nokia is one of the world's largest manufacturers of mobile
phones.
12. Finland has a National Day
of Failure, which is celebrated on October 13. The first Day for Failure was held
in 2010 by Finnish university students.
13. Finland is dubbed the
"prison break" capital of Europe. This is probably a drawback of
operating an open prison system - prisoners roam freely, and work and shop
among the locals. In 2013, 1084 escapes were recorded for every 10,000
prisoners in Finland.
Saramarki prison in Turku, Finland
14. The Finnish government has
been providing expectant mothers with sheets, nappies, clothes and a mattress
for the yet-to-be-born baby since 1938.
15. The creator and principal
developer of the Linux kernel (the basis for the Linux, Android and Chrome
operating systems), Linus Benedict Torvalds is a Finn. He was born on December
28, 1969, Helsinki, Finland.
You understand lots about saunas. I like your strategies and sights. How often does one sauna? saunajournal.com
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