Geography Quiz Arcade

Finland 🇫🇮

Finland is a country in Europe with a population of 5,540,745. Its capital is Helsinki. The official currency is EUR, and the main languages are Finnish, Swedish.

Quick facts

  • Capital: Helsinki
  • Continent: Europe
  • Population: 5,540,745
  • Area: 338,424 km²
  • Density: 16.4 people per km²
  • Currency: EUR
  • Languages: Finnish, Swedish
  • ISO code: FI

Where Finland sits

Finland 🇫🇮 is one of 46 countries in Europe, with its capital at Helsinki. It covers 338,424 square kilometres — 65th in the world — and is home to about 5,540,745 people, 117th globally.

The countries it shares a continent with include Russia, Germany, United Kingdom, France and Italy. If you are learning geography region by region — which works far better than alphabetically, because memory for places is spatial — those are the ones to learn alongside it.

How Finland compares

Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Finland sits closest to Central African Republic and Lebanon. In land area, its nearest counterparts are Congo and Vietnam.

At 16.4 people per square kilometre it is about 3.6 times below the world average of 59.4. It ranks higher by area than by population, so it is more spacious than its population alone suggests.

Finnish is listed as official in Finland alone. The EUR is shared with 25 other countries, including Andorra, Austria and Belgium, and 22 others.

To see Finland next to every other country, sort the country rankings by population, area or density; its currency and languages are listed alongside every other country's in world currencies and world languages.

How to remember Finland

Helsinki is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is nicknamed 'the Daughter of the Baltic'. For the flag, think of a blue lake cross on white snow.

The flag of Finland: white and blue

🇫🇮 The flag is a white flag with a blue Nordic cross, shifted towards the flagpole. The blue stands for the country's thousands of lakes, and the white for snow.

Region and neighbours

Finland is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, between Sweden and Russia, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south. It shares land borders with 3 countries: Sweden, Norway and Russia.

Three facts about Finland

  1. Finland has more than 180,000 lakes, and most of its land is covered by forest.
  2. Finland declared its independence on 6 December 1917.
  3. The writer and artist Tove Jansson, creator of the Moomins, is one of the most translated Finnish authors.

Sources: Wikipedia: Finland, Wikipedia: Flag of Finland, Wikipedia: Helsinki, CIA World Factbook.

Quiz yourself on Finland

Quizzes that include Finland

Three angles are worth covering for any country — where it is, what its flag looks like, and what its capital is. For Finland those are:

Doing all three for one continent before moving on is far more efficient than learning flags globally, then capitals globally, then the map.

Read more about Finland

Nearby countries

Frequently asked questions

What are the colours of the Finland flag?

The flag of Finland is a white flag with a blue Nordic cross, shifted towards the flagpole. The blue stands for the country's thousands of lakes, and the white for snow.

Which countries border Finland?

Finland shares land borders with Sweden, Norway and Russia.

How can I remember the capital of Finland?

Helsinki is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is nicknamed 'the Daughter of the Baltic'. For the flag, think of a blue lake cross on white snow.