Finland

The Republic of Finland is located in Northern Europe bordering Sweden, Russia, and the Baltic Sea. It is about the size of Montana and covers an area of 338,145 sq. kilometers. Finland’s total population is about 5.25 million and is heavily concentrated in the Southern parts of the country. The population is growing at a rate of 0.098% with 63% living in urban areas. The Finnish capital of Helsinki has a population of about 564,000 with other major cities including Espoo (235,000), Tampere (204,000), and Turku (175,000). The people are governed by a republic and are predominately members of the Lutheran Church of Finland. The primary language is Finnish with Swedish being a secondary official language used by a minority of the population, however many Finnish citizens are multilingual and have a strong understanding of English and German as well. Finland joined the EU in 1995 and adopted the Euro as currency in 1999.

Finland has a strong industrial economy heavily based in manufacturing and high-tech exports. Finland is one of the best performing economies in the EU with a GDP per capita comparable to the other European powers and is known for having some of the best living conditions in the world. Its main trade partners are Germany, Sweden, Russia, UK, Netherlands, US and China. Its primary imports are foodstuffs, petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals, transport equipment, iron and steel, machinery, textile yarn and fabrics, and grains. Exports consist of electrical and optical equipment, machinery, transport equipment, paper and pulp, chemicals, basic metals, and timber. Finland’s GDP (Purchasing Power Parity) is $195.2 billion and is growing at a real rate of 1.5% with an inflation rate of 4.1%. Finland ranked 13th out of 183 countries in the World Bank Group’s Ease of Doing Business Ranking.

Click the links below for articles with more information on Franchising in Finland

Doing Business in Finland(2012)

Reform of European Union Rules on Distribution(2010)

European Commission's New Block Exemption Rules Enter Into Force June 1(2010)

* CPI Score is published by Transparency International and relates to the perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by business people and country analysts and ranges between 100 (highly clean) and 0 (highly corrupt).

**Ease of Doing Business Ranking is determined by the World Bank Group and is ranked out of a possible 185 countries. www.doingbusiness.org

Most recent statistics have been taken from the CIA World Factbook unless noted otherwise.