The Country
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland across Estonia to the south. Finnish and Swedish are the official languages.
From the late 13th century, Finland gradually became an integral part of Sweden as a consequence of the Northern Crusades. In 1809, after the Finnish War, Finland became part of the Russian Empire as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland.
In 1906, it became the first European state to grant universal suffrage, and the first in the world to give all adult citizens the right to run for public office. After the 1917 Russian Revolution, Finland declared independence from Russia, and in 1918, it was divided by the Finnish Civil War. During World War II, Finland fought the Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany, loosing parts of its territory.
Finland joined the United Nations in 1955 and adopted an official policy of neutrality; it joined the OECD in 1969, the NATO Partnership for Peace in 1994, the European Union in 1995, the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council in 1997, and the Eurozone in 1999.
Finland has ranked first in every annual World Happiness Report since 2018.