Finnish version
Finland is a Nordic country situated between the West and the East and offering the best of both traditions. It has land boundary with Sweden 614 km, with Norway 736 km and with Russia 1 340 km. Length of coastline is 4 600 km. Maximum distances are 1 157 km north to south, 542 km east to west. Total area is 338 145 sq. km. Vast forests, a unique archipelago and thousands of lakes present a striking mixture of wooded hills and waters. The biggest part of area is covered by forests 69 %. Rest of the total area 10 % is water, 8 % cultivated land and 13 % other. Finland is known as the ‘land of the thousand lakes’, but in fact there are a total of 188 000 lakes. |
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Finland has 5,2 bln inhabitants. Most of them live in the South of Finland. Helsinki is the capital. Population density is 17 people/sq. km. People live mostly (65 %) in towns or urban areas. Finland has a Sami population of 6 500, of which 4 000 live in Lapland. About 84 % of Finns are Lutherans, 1 % Orthodox and 12 % unaffiliated. Finland is officially bilingual: Finnish, a Finno-Ugric language, is spoken by 92 %, and Swedish by 6 %. About 1700 people in Lapland speak Sami languages. The around 300 000 Swedish speaking Finns mainly live along the coast in the archipelago and in Ostrobothnia (on the Gulf of Bothnia). Since Finnish is the mother tongue of only about five million people in the world, it follows that the ability to speak foreign languages is a must for the Finns. After a collapse of the Russia Empire in 1917, Finland declared herself independent on December 6 of that year. Today Finland is a prosperous country with good social security, a high standard of living and advanced technology. Finland is a Western democracy with a President elected to a 6-year term, and a 200-member, single-chamber parliament elected every four years. |
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| The president
for the current term is Ms Tarja Halonen. She is the first female president in
Finland.
Kainuu situated at the geographical centre of mainland Finland. It is 500 km north of Helsinki. County of Kainuu belongs to the Province of Oulu. Kainuu consists of 10 municipalities. Two towns are Kajaani, the administrative and economic center of Kainuu, and Kuhmo. Eight rural municipalities are Hyrynsalmi, Paltamo, Puolanka, Ristijärvi, Sotkamo, Suomussalmi, Vaala and Vuolijoki. The number of inhabitants in Kainuu region is 90 000. Total area is 24 451 sq. km. Many residents of Kainuu still live in rural areas but increasing numbers are moving to the municipal centers or South of Finland. Kainuu has one of the biggest unemployment of Finland (20 %). Area is sparsely populated with a population density of 3,9/km2. Main economic sectors are public sector (35,1 %), service (26,4 %), industry (15,2 %) and agriculture and forestry (13,6 %). The most important industries are paper- and saw-milling, railway rolling stock and electronics. |
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Distances are long but this situation is ameliorated by good
road, rail and
flight connections as well as a well developed data communications
infrastructure. Kainuu has a 260 km border with Russia and has longstanding
trade and project connections with her Russian neighbor regions.
The region is characterized by extensive forests, spa cious landscapes and unpolluted nature. Kainuu was the first province in Finland to initiate the integration of the well-being of wildlife and the forests, and of a comprehensive survey of the regional natural resources. The size of the forest area is 2 044 000 hectares, near to 20 hectares of real forest land per every citizen of Kainuu. |
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46 % of forests belong to the private owners. The amount of private estates being 18 000. State owned forests make 40 %, and 14 % belong to the companies. About 65 000 hectares (4 %) of forest land has been protected. People of Kainuu are used to be in and make use of the forests in many ways. More than a half of the annual yield of collected wild berries in Finland has been picked up in Kainuu to be sold or used by the family itself the value of collected berries rising to 10 % of the value of timber sales (stumpage price value). Hiking and hunting are very important for local residents. Forests have had a strong influence in culture, too. Several foremost Finnish authors and poets are from Kainuu. The national epic, Kalevala, was written in Kainuu. The climate has distinctive seasons. The average growing season is 140 days and for about six months a year Kainuu lies under snow. This increases both housing and transport costs but also attracts tourists. |
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FINLAND
Kainuu - The Region in The Heart of Finland