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Finland SOCIETY
Population: About 4.9 million at end of 1985,
averaging
14.5 inhabitants per square kilometer. Population growth
0.5
percent per year during 1980-84 period. About 60 percent
of
population lived in urban municipalities in 1980s.
Language: Two official languages; Finnish spoken
by 94
percent of population; Swedish spoken by 6 percent, most
of whom
live in southwestern and western coastal areas and Aland
Islands.
Religion: Two official state churches; Lutheran
Church
of Finland with 88.9 percent of population as members;
Orthodox
Church of Finland with 1.1 percent. Constitutionally
guaranteed
freedom of religion permits existence of several dozen
other
religions. About 7 percent of Finns belong to no religion.
Education: A little more than 900,000 Finns
attended
schools and institutions of higher education in 1985.
About half
this number, aged seven to sixteen, enrolled in obligatory
comprehensive school system. Around 100,000 each studied
at
academic high schools and country's twenty
university-level
facilities, while remainder were at multitude of
institutions
that provided career training of varying levels and
duration.
Health and Welfare: Legislation guarantees all
Finns
high-quality health care regardless of income. Health
problems
resemble those of other countries of Northern Europe, with
cardiovascular diseases and cancer chief causes of death.
In mid1980s , Finland had world's lowest infant mortality rate.
Welfare
and social security legislation provide family and
unemployment
allowances and disability and retirement benefits.
Data as of December 1988
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