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EU citizen in Finland
General information on Finland and its rural areas
SOURCE: Rural Development
Programme for Mainland Finland 2007-2013
Finland is the northernmost country of the European Union. It has 5.2
million inhabitants. Most of the population is living in the Helsinki area and
in Tampere and Turku in the south and the west. The country is located between the 60th and 70th latitudes. A quarter of Finland’s area lies to the north of the
Arctic Circle. It shares borders with Russia, Norway and Sweden. In the west and south, Finland
borders on the Baltic Sea: the Gulf of Bothnia, the Archipelago Sea and the Gulf of Finland.
The total area of Finland is 390,920 km², of which 78% is land and 22% is
water (sea and inland waters). Of the land area, 86% is covered by forests and
8.9% is agricultural land. There is little built environment in Finland
(approximately 3% of the total area).
Finland is by many indicators a very rural country. In terms of its population density, Finland is the most
sparsely populated EU Member State. According to the division of rural areas into
three types, more than 90% of the Finnish area is classified as rural areas, with approximately 42% of the
Finnish population. Only about 32% of the jobs are located in rural areas. The division of rural areas into
three types is used in this analysis to describe the special features which lead to considerable differences
within Finland.
Finland has lack of people and is looking for new citizens.
In this part of the website there is information and personal stories of
persons which have immigrate the country.
There are success stories, but also reports of obstacles and expectations
from Finnish bureaucracy.
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ALLAPRIMA MUSEUM