Terrain: mostly low, flat to rolling plains interspersed with lakes and low hills lowest point: Baltic Sea 0 m highest point: Haltiatunturi 1,328 m
Natural resources: timber, copper, zinc, iron ore, silver
Land use:
arable land: 8%
permanent crops: 0%
meadows and pastures: 0%
forest and woodland: 76%
other: 16%
Irrigated land: 620 sq km (1989 est.)
Environment:
current issues: air pollution from manufacturing and power plants
contributing to acid rain; water pollution from industrial wastes,
agricultural chemicals; habitat loss threatens wildlife populations
natural hazards: NA
international agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Air
Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air
Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic Treaty,
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental
Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Marine Life
Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship
Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Wetlands, Whaling; signed, but not
ratified - Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Antarctic-Environmental
Protocol, Desertification, Law of the Sea
Geographic note: long boundary with Russia; Helsinki is northernmost national capital on European continent; population concentrated on small southwestern coastal plain
People ———
Population: 5,105,230 (July 1996 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 19% (male 492,616; female 471,736)
15-64 years: 67% (male 1,725,113; female 1,687,974)
65 years and over: 14% (male 275,927; female 451,864) (July 1996
est.)
Population growth rate: 0.1% (1996 est.)