Area: 338,145 sq km (130,559 sq ml).
Population: 5,101,000.
Currency: 1 Marka = 100 Pennia.
Religions: Evangelical Lutheran 89%.
Ethnic Groups: Finnish 93.6% Swedish 6%.
Languages: Finnish & Swedish.
A long coastline round the west and south, studded with over 6,000 Aland Islands, thrusts into the Baltic sea. Of the rolling , granitic land area, of which the Fennoscandian Shield forms part, only a tenth is cultivable, some 70% being coniferous forest, 11% tundra, and 9% lakes. Its 60,000 lakes are linked by short rivers, sounds, or canals to form busy waterways. A third of the country lies north of the Arctic circle and forms part of Lapland.