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Finland is perhaps the least known of the Nordic countries. Historically, geographically, and conomically, the country straddles East and West, trading and maintaining links with both. Western Europe and the former states of the Soviet Union. The Finnish have a strong sense of nationalidentity, and are rightly proud of their beautiful unspoiled landscape of forest, lakes, coast, and islands.

About a third of Finland (Suomi in Finnish) is covered by native pine, spruce, and birch forests. Most of the rest is covered by water — an estimated 188,000 lakes, numerous rivers, and extensive areas of marshland. Finland's coastline is extremely indented and clotted with thousands of islands, most of which can he found in the archipelagos of the southwest. The land is generally flat, apart from mountainous areas in Lapland. About one third of the territory lies within the Arctic Circle, where the landscape is strikingly beautiful, if sometimes bleak.

Most of Finland's towns and cities are found in the southern coastal region, where they vie for space with extensive stretches of farmland. The lake district, at the heart of Finland, is not so populous, but industrialization of the area has been steadily increasing since the mid-20th century. Northern Finland is still fairly undeveloped, with small pockets of Finns inhabiting the south, while the Sarni (the nomadic people of Lapland) are spread over the far north.

Although by nature modest and not very practised at marketing themselves, the Finns have achieved much economic success, excelling in the fields of technology and design. Nokia, the mobile phone giant, is Finland's best-known success story in global terms, although many people are unaware of the company's Finnish origins.