People

Although Finland is one of the bigger European countries, it has one of the smallest populations. This is because most of the country is so cold and remote that no one wants to live there. Most of the 5 million people are Finns, while about 6% are from Sweden. Finland's native people are called the ‘Sami’, but only a few thousand of them remain. The Sami live in the cold far north of Finland, while nearly everyone else lives in the warmer south. Although most Finns live in towns or cities, nearly everyone has a house in the country too.

Children in Finland start school when they are six, one year later than in Britain. They stay at primary school for nine years, until they are about 15, and then choose whether they want to learn a trade, like cooking or carpentry, or go on to secondary school. About half choose secondary school. Because education is so important to Finns, the government pays for kids' expenses while they're at university.

Although they like to work and study hard, the Finns like to think that they are easy-going, friendly people who say what they mean, and mean what they say. They pride themselves on their honesty.

Food

Finns usually have three square meals a day. A typical Finnish breakfast would include coffee or hot chocolate and bread, yoghurt or cereal. In the winter porridge is popular; it keeps them warm! They often have a small lunch at school or work before going home for a big dinner. Dinner is similar to our evening meal in Britain. Families try to eat together, and like us the Finns eat a lot of potatoes, meat, fish, sausage, cheese and egg.

Finns enjoy cooking at home rather than eating out and, as in Germany, what they eat depends on whether they live in the north, south, east or west of Finland. In the north reindeer is often eaten; if you don’t like reindeer you could choose a fish-based meal. In the east, Finns like to eat fish pies, while near Sweden in the west they love black sausage.

Other Finnish specialities include salmon soup, pea soup – eaten on Thursdays - various types of casseroles and a brown pudding desert, which is eaten only during Easter. Finns also love fresh mushrooms and berries, which they pick in the countryside themselves.

Desserts usually include some kind of berries - strawberries, blueberries, raspberries or lingonberries.

As well as all of this traditional food, Finns also enjoy pizzas and hamburgers as much as the rest of us.

Sport

The Finns really enjoy sport, and like to get outdoors as much as possible. Popular sports include skiing, ice hockey, swimming, cycling and car racing. They are particularly good at winter sports, enjoying ice-hockey on the frozen lakes, downhill skiing in the mountains and cross-country skiing in the forests. Many Finns learn to ski almost before they can walk. In fact, sometimes they even race cars on ice tracks!

Another sport many Finnish people enjoy is orienteering. This involves finding your way on foot across an area of land using only a map and compass for direction. With all of those mountains and forests around, not to mention the snow, it isn’t as easy as it sounds.

Undoubtedly the strangest sport that the Finns play is winter golf. This is usually played on ice or snow with a bright orange or yellow ball. Finns really are sports crazy!

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