About Finland

     Finland, or the Republic of Finland (Finnish: Suomi; Swedish: Finland (help·info)), is a Nordic country situated in Northern Europe. It has borders with Sweden to the west, Russia to the east, and Norway to the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland. The capital city is Helsinki.

     Finland has a population of 5,238,460 people, spread over an area of 338,145 square kilometres (130,559 square miles). The majority of the population is concentrated in the southern part of the country. Finland is the sixth largest country in Europe in terms of area, with a low population density of 15.5 persons per square kilometre, making it the most sparsely populated country in the European Union. As their mother tongue, most Finns speak Finnish, one of the few official languages of the European Union that is not of Indo-European origin. The second official language, Swedish, is spoken natively by a 5.5 percent minority.

     Previously part of Sweden and from 1809 an autonomous Grand Duchy within the Russian Empire, Finland declared its independence in 1917. Today, Finland is a democratic, parliamentary republic and has been a member state of the United Nations since 1955 and the European Union since 1995. Finland has thriving services and manufacturing sectors and is a highly democratic welfare state with low levels of corruption, consistently ranking at or near the top in international comparisons of national performance.

    Finland is eleventh on the United Nations' Human Development Index and ranked as the sixth happiest nation in the world. According to the World Audit Democracy profile, Finland is the freest nation in the world in terms of civil liberties, freedom of the press, low corruption levels and political rights. Finland is rated the sixth most peaceful country in the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit and since 1945, Finland has been at peace, adopting neutrality in wartime.

     Finland was rated the best country to live in by Reader's Digest study released in October 2007, which looked at issues such as quality of drinking water and greenhouse gas emissions as well as factors such as education and income.

About Hanko

     Hanko (IPA: /ˈhɑŋko/), or Hangö in Swedish, (Гангут in Russian), is a small bilingual port city on the south coast of Finland, 130 km west of Helsinki. Its current population is 9,905 (2004-12-31), with a majority being Finnish speakers and a strong minority being (44,3 %) Swedish speakers.

     The Hanko Peninsula, on which the city is located, is the southernmost tip of continental Finland. The soil is a sandy moraine, and vegetation consists mainly of pine and low shrubs. Hanko is known for its beautiful archipelago.

     The city has a coastline of approximately 130 kilometers (80 miles), of which 30 km (19 miles) are sandy beaches. There are also over 90 small islands and islets within the city limits.

    The skyline of Hanko is dominated by the church and the water tower. Both of them received their current appearance after World War II, as their predecessors were either damaged or destroyed by the Soviet Army.

     A number of ferries operated up until 2006 between Hanko and Rostock in Germany.

     The Hangon Regatta has been a traditional fixture on the Finnish social scene, and is the major summer event in Hanko. Sailing enthusiasts attend in order to compete, as well as mostly young people who have very little or no interest in sailing, and attend only in order to party and drink. The latter constitute the "Regatta tail", not appreciated by most of the town's residents, and which causes huge expenses for clean-up of the parks and streets.

     Other traditional summer activities are the "Tennis Week", the "Sea Horse" riding competitions, and the "Summer Theatre" events.

     Several sandy beaches and a multitude of leisure harbors attract tourists during the summer months.