Finland

From Mises Wiki, the global repository of classical-liberal thought
Jump to: navigation, search
Country summary

Capital

Helsinki

Borders

Norway 727 km, Sweden 614 km, Russia 1,313 km

Government type

republic

Population

5,250,275 (July 2010 est.)[1]

Population growth

0.098% (2010 est.)[1]

Life expectancy

78.97 years[1]

Unemployment

8.5% (2009 est.)[1]

Index of Economic Freedom

17[2]

Corruption Perceptions Index

6[3]

Doing Business ranking

16[4]


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]

See also: Scandinavia
See also: Scandinavia and the social state

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

Notable events:

  • Banking crisis: 1900, 1921, 1931, 1939, 1991-1994[5]
  • Years in inflation: 7.5% (share of years 1800-2009 with annual inflation above 20 per cent per annum)[6]

Statistics

Statistic / Year 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
GDP (million USD)[7] 130 711 121 797 125 091 135 336 164 554 188 914 195 336 209 521 245 893 272 700
Govt. debt (% of GDP)[8] 64.057 55.150 49.632 47.457 49.255 47.950 44.061 40.173 37.287
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)[9] 39.069 41.001 38.914 39.138 38.601 38.541 38.964 38.730 38.708
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)[10] 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. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 CIA - The World Factbook. "Finland", from The World Factbook. Referenced 2010-09-29.
  2. ↑ Heritage Foundation. "Finland", Economic Freedom Score. A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-09-29.
  3. ↑ Transparency International. "Finland", Corruption Perceptions Index 2009. A lower ranking is better; but please note that the numbers cannot be compared between countries or years due to different methodology. Referenced 2010-09-29.
  4. ↑ Doing Business. "Finland", Doing Business 2010 (part of The World Bank Group). A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-09-29.
  5. ↑ Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff. "This Time is Different", Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-14216-6, p. 362-363. (The list does not claim to be complete.) Referenced 2011-07-20.
  6. ↑ Carmen M. Reinhart. "This Time is Different Chartbook: Country Histories on Debt, Default, and Financial Crises" (pdf), March 3, 2010, p. 47. (The list does not claim to be complete.) Referenced 2011-07-20.
  7. ↑ World Bank. "Finland: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
  8. ↑ World Bank. "Finland: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
  9. ↑ World Bank. "Finland: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
  10. ↑ World Bank. "Finland: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.

Links

Retrieved from "https://wiki.mises.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=Finland&oldid=13512"