The Republic of Finland, referred to as Finland, is located in northern Europe, one of the five Nordic countries, bordering Sweden, Norway and Russia, bordering on the Gulf of Finland in the South and bordering on the Gulf of Bothnia in the West. The coastline is 1100 kilometers long, and the inland water area accounts for 10% of the national area with about 179000 islands and 188000 lakes, known as "the country of thousands of lakes". One third of the country's land is in the Arctic Circle, belonging to the temperate marine climate. The average temperature is -14 ℃ -3 ℃ in winter, 13 ℃ -17 ℃ in summer, and the annual average rainfall is 600 mm.
Finland is the hometown of Santa Claus, the earliest residents are Lapland, so Finland is also known as Lapland. After the Finns moved in, they established the Grand Duchy of Finland. It was ruled by Sweden in the second half of the 12th century. After the Russo Swedish war in 1809, it was incorporated into the Russian Empire and became a grand duchy. In December 1917, the Republic of Finland declared its independence and became a permanent neutral state.
Finland is a highly developed capitalist country, as well as a highly industrialized and liberalized market economy. Finland is one of the EU Member States, but its per capita output is far higher than the average level of the European Union, which is equivalent to that of its neighboring Sweden. The citizens enjoy a very high standard of life. The civil servants of the Finnish government are clean and efficient, and have formed a broad consensus in the society. Transparency International, a non-governmental organization that monitors corruption around the world, released its 2012 global corruption index report, among 176 countries and regions, Finland ranks first and is the most honest country.
