Country	Finland
Width	150
Caption	Finnish euro coins
Currency	Euro (EUR)
Year	calendar year
Organs	European UnionWorld Trade Organization (WTO)Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)others
Rank	51
Gdp	$187.6 billion (2010 est.) (PPP)
Growth	3.1% (2010 est.)
Per capita	$35,300 (2010 est.) (PPP)
Sectors	agriculture: 2.6%; industry: 29.1%; services: 68.2% (2010 est.)
Inflation	1.2% (2010 est.)
Poverty	N/A
Gini	26.8 (2008)
Edbr	13th
Labor	2.68 million (2010 est.)
Occupations	agriculture and forestry 4.5%, industry 18.3%, construction 7.3%, commerce 16%, finance, insurance, and business services 14.5%, transport and communications 7%, public services 32.4% (2008)
Unemployment	8.1% (December 2010)
Average gross salary	3,463 € / 4,675 $, monthly (2006)
Average net salary	2,043 € / 2,758 $, monthly (2006)
Industries	metals and metal products, electronics, machinery and scientific instruments, shipbuilding, pulp and paper, foodstuffs, chemicals, textiles, clothing
Exports	$73.53 billion (38th; 2010 est.)
Export-goods	electrical and optical equipment, machinery, transport equipment, paper and pulp, chemicals, basic metals; timber
Export-partners	Germany 10.32%, Sweden 9.79%, Russia 9%, United States 7.85%, Netherlands 5.9%, United Kingdom 5.24%, China 4.1% (2009)
Imports	$69.11 billion (37th; 2010 est.)
Import-goods	foodstuffs, petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals, transport equipment, iron and steel, machinery, textile yarn and fabrics, grains
Import-partners	Russia 16.28%, Germany 15.76%, Sweden 14.65%, Netherlands 6.99%, China 5.29%, France 4.22% (2009)
Fdi	$87.99 billion (31 Dec. 2010 est.)
Gross external debt	$370.8 billion (30 June 2010)
Debt	45.4% of GDP (2010 est.)
Revenue	$66.58 billion (2010 est.)
Expenses	$65.33 billion (2010 est.)
Credit	AAA (Domestic)AAA (Foreign)AAA (T&C; Assessment)(Standard & Poor's)
Reserves	US$11.492 billion (March 2011)
Aid	donor: ODA, $1.023 billion (2007)
Cianame	fi

Finland has a highly industrialised, mixed economy with a per capita output equal to that of other western economies such as France, Germany, Sweden or the United Kingdom. The largest sector of the economy is services at 65.7 percent, followed by manufacturing and refining at 31.4 percent. Primary production is 2.9 percent. With respect to foreign trade, the key economic sector is manufacturing. The largest industries are electronics (21.6 percent), machinery, vehicles and other engineered metal products (21.1 percent), forest industry (13.1 percent), and chemicals (10.9 percent). Finland has timber and several mineral and freshwater resources. Forestry, paper factories, and the agricultural sector (on which taxpayers spend around 2 billion euro annually) are politically sensitive to rural residents. The Greater Helsinki area generates around a third of GDP. In a 2004 OECD comparison, high-technology manufacturing in Finland ranked second largest after Ireland. Knowledge-intensive services have also ranked the smallest and slow-growth sectors – especially agriculture and low-technology manufacturing – second largest after Ireland. Investment was below expected. Overall short-term outlook was good and GDP growth has been above many EU peers. Finland has the 4th largest knowledge economy in Europe, behind Sweden, Denmark and the UK.

Finland is highly integrated in the global economy, and international trade is a third of GDP. The European Union makes 60 percent of the total trade. The largest trade flows are with Germany, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, Netherlands and China. Savings rate hovered among the world's highest, at around 8% until the 80s. In the beginning of the 1970s, Finland's GDP per capita reached the level of Japan and the UK. Finland's economic development shared many aspects with export-led Asian countries. The growth in the 1980s was based on debt, and when the defaults began rolling in, GDP declined by 13% and unemployment increased from a virtual full employment to one fifth of the workforce. The crisis was amplified by trade unions' initial opposition to any reforms. Politicians struggled to cut spending and the public debt doubled to around 60% of GDP. After devaluations the depression bottomed out in 1993.

Liberalization

Like other Nordic countries, Finland has modified its system of economic regulation since late 1980s. Financial and product market regulations were modified. Some state enterprises were privatized and some tax rates were altered. However, unlike Denmark, Finland has not adopted polices such as a basic income or negative income tax.

European Union

Finland joined the European Union in 1995. The central bank was given an inflation-targeting mandate until Finland joined euro zone. Outsourcing resulted in more manufacturing being transferred abroad, with Finnish-based industry focusing to a greater extent on R&D; and hi-tech electronics.

Electronics

The Finnish electronics and electrotechnics industry relies on heavy investment in R&D;, and has been accelerated by the liberalisation of global markets. Electrical engineering started in the late 19th century with generators and electric motors built by Gottfried Strömberg, now part of the ABB Group. Other Finnish companies – such as Instru, Vaisala and Neles (now part of Metso) - have succeeded in areas such as industrial automation, medical and meteorological technology. Nokia is a world leader in mobile telecommunications.

Metals, engineering and manufacturing

Finland has an abundance of minerals, but many large mines have closed down, and most raw materials are now imported. For this reason, companies now tend to focus on high added-value processing of metals. The exports include the production steel, copper, zinc and nickel, and finished products such as steel roofing and cladding, welded steel pipes, copper pipe and coated sheets. Outokumpu is known for developing the flash smelting process for copper production and stainless steel.

The manufacturing industry is a significant employer of about 400,000 people

Chemical industry

The chemical industry is one of the Finland's largest industrial sectors with its roots in tar making in the 17th century.

Pulp and paper industry

Forest products has been the major export industry in the past, but diversification and growth of the economy has reduced its share. In the 1970s, the pulp and paper industry accounted for half of Finnish exports. Although this share has shrank, pulp and paper is still a major industry with 52 sites across the country. Furthermore, several of large international corporations in this business are based in Finland. Stora Enso and UPM were placed #1 and #3 by output in the world, both producing more than ten million tons. M-real and Myllykoski also appear on the top 100 list.

Energy industry

Finland's energy supply is divided as follows: nuclear power - 26%, net imports - 20%, hydroelectric power - 16%, combined production district heat - 18%, combined production industry - 13%, condensing power - 6%. One half of all the energy consumed in Finland goes to industry, one fifth to heating buildings and one fifth to transport. Lacking indigenous fossil fuel resources, Finland has been an energy importer. This might change in the future since Finland is currently building its fifth and approved the building permits for its sixth and seventh reactors.

Companies

, a commercial street in Helsinki.]] Notable companies in Finland include Nokia, the market leader in mobile telephony; Stora Enso, the largest paper manufacturer in the world; Neste Oil, an oil refining and marketing company; UPM-Kymmene, the third largest paper manufacturer in the world; Aker Finnyards, the manufacturer of the world's largest cruise ships (such as Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas); KONE, a manufacturer of elevators and escalators; Wärtsilä, a producer of power plants and ship engines; and Finnair, the largest Helsinki-Vantaa based international airline. Finland has sophisticated financial markets comparable to UK in efficiency.

Around 70-80% of the equity quoted on the Helsinki Stock Exchange is owned by foreign-registered entities. The larger companies get most of their revenue from abroad, and the majority of their employees work outside the country. Cross-shareholding has been abolished and there is a trend towards an Anglo-Saxon style of corporate governance. However, only around 15% of residents had invested in stock market, compared to 20% in France, and 50% in the US. Invest in Finland and other programs attempt to attract investment. In 2000 FDI from Finland to overseas was 20 billion euro and from overseas to Finland 7 billion euro. Acquisitions and mergers have internationalized business in Finland.

Household income and consumption

Finland's income is generated by the approximately 1.8 million private sector workers, who make an average 25.1 euro per hour (before the median 60% tax wedge) in 2007. In 2003 residents worked on average around 10 years for the same employer and around 5 jobs in lifetime. 62 percent worked for small and medium-size enterprises. Female employment rate was high and gender segregation on career choices was higher than in the US. In 1999 part-time work rate was one of the smallest in OECD. Directly held public debt has been reduced to around 32 percent in 2007. In 2007, the average household savings rate was -3.8 and household debt 101 percent of annual disposable income, a typical level in Europe.

In 2008, the OECD reported that "the gap between rich and poor has widened more in Finland than in any other wealthy industrialised country over the past decade" and that "Finland is also one of the few countries where inequality of incomes has grown between the rich and the middle-class, and not only between rich and poor."

In 2006, there were 2,381,500 households of average size 2.1 people. Forty percent of households consisted of single person, 32 percent two and 28 percent three or more. There were 1.2 million residential buildings in Finland and the average residential space was 38 square metres per person. The average residential property (without land) cost 1,187 euro per square metre (without land) and residential land on 8.6 euro per square metre. Consumer energy prices were 8-12 euro cent per kilowatt hour. 74 percent of households had a car. There were 2.5 million cars and 0.4 other vehicles. Around 92 percent has mobile phone and 58 percent Internet connection at home. The average total household consumption was 20,000 euro, out of which housing at around 5500 euro, transport at around 3000 euro, food and beverages excluding alcoholic at around 2500 euro, recreation and culture at around 2000 euro. Upper-level white-collar households (409,653) consumed an average 27,456 euro, lower-level white-collar households (394,313) 20,935 euro, and blue-collar households (471,370) 19,415 euro.

Unemployment

The unemployment rate was 6.8% and 6.9% in early 2008. The unemployment security benefits for those seeking employment are at an average OECD level. The labor administration funds labour market training for unemployed job seekers, which is often vocational. The aim of the training is to improve the channels of finding employment. Very much like in Sweden, the government is often accused (often by foreigners, especially in Anglo-Saxon countries) of "cleaning the unemployment statistics" by vocational training programmes.

Public policy

Finnish politicians have often emulated other Nordics and the Nordic model. Nordics have been free-trading and relatively welcoming to skilled migrants for over a century, though in Finland immigration is a relatively new phenomenon. This is due largely to Finland's less hospitable climate and the fact that the Finnish language shares roots with none of the major world languages, making it more challenging than average for most to learn. The level of protection in commodity trade has been low, except for agricultural products. Recently, Finland has topped the patents per capita statistics, and overall productivity growth has been strong in areas such as electronics. While the manufacturing sector is thriving, OECD points out that the service sector would benefit substantially from policy improvements. The IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2007 ranked Finland 17th most competitive, next to Germany, and lowest of the Nordics. while the World Economic Forum report has ranked Finland the most competitive country. Finland is one of the most fiscally responsible EU countries.

Product market

Economists attribute much growth to reforms in the product markets. According to OECD, only four EU-15 countries have less regulated product markets (UK, Ireland, Denmark and Sweden) and only one has less regulated financial markets (Denmark). Nordic countries were pioneers in liberalising energy, postal, and other markets in Europe. For instance, starting a business takes an average of 14 days, compared to the world average of 43 days and Denmark's average of 6 days. Property rights are well protected and contractual agreements are strictly honored.

Job market

According to the OECD, Finland's job market is the least flexible of the Nordic countries. with deductions applied, and directly funds the municipality (a city or rural locality). The state income tax is a progressive tax; low-income individuals do not necessarily pay any. The state transfers some of its income as state support to municipalities, particularly the poorer ones. Additionally, the state churches - Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church and Finnish Orthodox Church - are integrated to the taxation system in order to tax their members. Value-added tax is 23% for most items. Capital gains tax is 28% and corporate tax is 26%, about the EU median. Property taxes are low, but there is a transfer tax (1.6% for apartments or 4% for individual houses) for home buyers. - restricting service supply and demand - though some taxation is avoided in the black market and self-service culture. Another study by Karlson, Johansson & Johnsson estimates that the percentage of the buyer’s income entering the service vendor’s wallet (inverted tax wedge) is slightly over 15%, compared to 10% in Belgium, 25% in France, 40% in Switzerland and 50% in the United States. Tax cuts have been in every post-depression government's agenda and the overall tax burden is now around 43% of GDP compared to 51.1% in Sweden, 34.7% in Germany, 33.5% in Canada, and 30.5% in Ireland.

State and municipal politicians have struggled to cut their consumption, which is very high at 51.7% of GDP compared to 56.6% in Sweden, 46.9 in Germany, 39.3 in Canada, and 33.5% in Ireland. The Economist Intelligence Unit's ranking for Finland's e-readiness is high at 13th, compared to 1st for United States, 3rd for Sweden, 5th for Denmark, and 14th for Germany. Also, early and generous retirement schemes have contributed to high pension costs. In education, child nurseries, and elderly nurseries private competition is bottom-ranking compared to Sweden and most other Western countries.

The long trend of growth in living standards paired with diminishing differences between social classes was dramatically reversed during the 1990s. For the first time in the history of Finland income differences have sharply grown. This change has been mostly driven by the growth of income from capital to the wealthiest segment of the population.

References

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/tax_tot_tax_wed_sin_wor-total-tax-wedge-single-worker

See also

Finnish Maritime Cluster

Economy of Europe

List of Finnish companies

List of banks in Finland

Current statistics from Statistics Finland

Finland Finland

Playername	Bob Chapman
Fullname	Robert Dennis Chapman
Dateofbirth	August 18, 1946
Cityofbirth	Aldridge
Countryofbirth	England
Position	Defender
Years1	1964-1977
Clubs1	Nottingham Forest
Clubs2	Notts County
Clubs3	Shrewsbury Town
Clubs4	Burton Albion
Caps1	359
Caps2	42
Caps3	37
Caps4	?
Goals1	17
Goals2	0
Goals3	6

Bob Chapman (full name Robert Dennis Chapman, but who was often known as Sammy Chapman - born 18 August 1946) is an English footballer who played as a defender in the Football League during the 1960s and 1970s, most notably with Nottingham Forest.

He made his debut for Forest in 1964 at the age of 17 years 5 months, which at the time made him the youngest ever Forest player, and he was to go on to make 422 senior appearances for the club (scoring 23 goals).

In 1977 he left them to join Notts County and after a season he moved to Shrewsbury Town, before moving to non-league with Burton Albion.

His son Robert has played cricket for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club.

References

Category:English footballers Category:The Football League players Category:Nottingham Forest F.C. players Category:Notts County F.C. players Category:Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Category:Burton Albion F.C. players Category:People from Aldridge Category:Living people