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surrounding us, blond Nordic types towered over us. The sweltering heat was replaced
by relatively chilly weather, the price of everything skyrocketed, and we found ourselves in
a totally underpopulated first world country for the first time. We actually didn’t plan to
visit Helsinki, but were forced to go when all the flights to Estonia were booked. Finland’s
population is 5 million (a fraction the size of a “small” city in China), and it has one of the
lowest population densities on Earth (17 people per square kilometer). Helsinki is a cute
little city, especially in the summer, when everyone is out and about and in a good mood.
The sun “sets” around 11pm, rises around 4am, but it never actually gets pitch black this
time of year.
in Helsinki, we
took the ferry to
Tallin, Estonia.
Area: 338,000 sq km sq km
Population: 5.19 million
Capital City: Helsinki (pop: 891,000)
People: Finns, minorities of Swedes,
Sami, Roma
Language: Swedish, English, Finnish
Religion: Lutheran & Orthodox
Government: presidential republic
Head of Government: President Tarja
Halonen
GDP: US$133.5 billion
GDP per capita: US$25,800
Annual Growth: 5%
Inflation: 2.6%
Major Industries: Metals and engineering
equipment, telecommunications, timber
and paper products
Major Trading Partners: EU (Germany,
Sweden, UK), Russia, USA
Member of EU: Yes
