Finland
Finland was a province and then a grand duchy under Sweden from the 12th to the 19th centuries, and an autonomous grand duchy of Russia after 1809. It won its complete independence in 1917. During World War II, it was able to successfully defend its freedom and resist invasions by the Soviet Union - albeit with some loss of territory. In the subsequent half century, the Finns made a remarkable transformation from a farm/forest economy to a diversified modern industrial economy; per capita income is now among the highest in Western Europe. A member of the European Union since 1995, Finland was the only Nordic state to join the euro system at its initiation in January 1999. In the 21st century, the key features of Finland's modern welfare state are a high standard of education, equality promotion, and national social security system; currently challenged by an aging population and the fluctuations of an export-driven economy.[1]
Economical characteristics
- Currency: Euro (ISO code: EUR)
- Central bank discount rate: 3% (31 December 2008)[1]
- Commercial banks lending rate: 5.79% (31 December 2008)[1]
- is part of the Eurozone
Statistics
| Statistic / Year | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GDP (million USD)[2] | 130 711 | 121 797 | 125 091 | 135 336 | 164 554 | 188 914 | 195 336 | 209 521 | 245 893 | 272 700 |
| Govt. debt (% of GDP)[3] | 64.057 | 55.150 | 49.632 | 47.457 | 49.255 | 47.950 | 44.061 | 40.173 | 37.287 | |
| Govt. revenue (% of GDP)[4] | 39.069 | 41.001 | 38.914 | 39.138 | 38.601 | 38.541 | 38.964 | 38.730 | 38.708 | |
| Govt. expenses (% of GDP)[5] | 37.851 | 34.984 | 34.181 | 35.358 | 36.202 | 36.021 | 36.326 | 35.378 | 33.809 | |
| Debt to revenue (years) | 1.640 | 1.345 | 1.275 | 1.213 | 1.276 | 1.244 | 1.131 | 1.037 | 0.963 |
References
Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedCIA_FI - ↑ World Bank. "Finland: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
- ↑ World Bank. "Finland: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
- ↑ World Bank. "Finland: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
- ↑ World Bank. "Finland: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
External links
- Finland on Wikipedia
- Central bank of Finland
- Studies from the Library of Congress (1986-1998)
- BBC country profile