The country is a democratic republic with an elected president. Finland's presidency lasts for six years, plus an eventual re-election of another six years, resulting in a maximum presidency of twelve years. Finland is a welfare state with a high GDP per capita. Finland is ranked highly in several international comparisons, including education, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life, happiness, and human

The area now known as Finland was first inhabited by people of the Suomusjärvi culture shortly after the Weichselian period, around 8500 BC. Finland was a part of the Swedish Empire from 1200 to 1809. During this period, Finnish adopted the Latin alphabet and adopted about 1,100 Swedish loanwords, although most of them originally came from Latin or Greek. In the seventeenth century, iron foundries were established in Finland.

To the south and west is a low-lying coastal strip (30 - 130 kilometers wide), where most of the country's main cities, including the capital Helsinki, are located and much of its arable land is located.