Finland

Since Santa's home is in Finland he doesn't need his sleigh. Instead, he rides his pet goat Ukko.

Because means of production are not state owned, Finland cannot be considered to be a socialist country. However, being a Nordic welfare country, Finland has socialist characters in the form a large public sector.

Finland has a thriving private sector, including e.g. worlds biggest mobile phone manufacturer Nokia. This has made Finland into a very prosperous country; according to World Bank (2008) Finland is the 10th richest country in the world, measured by nominal GDP per capita.

Finland's public sector is large, comprising about half of the GDP. Practically all health and education services are provided by the public sector. Even though this model could be called socialistic, it is very effective. High quality health care is available for all, and this costs only 7,5% of GPD (e.g. in USA the costs is 16%). Also education is free, and the quality of education especially in primary and secondary schools is among the best in the world.

Because of the large public sector, tax rates in Finland are high. Typically employees pay approximately 30% income tax, but the rate is heavily progressive, and can be much less with low salaries. Also the mandatory payments to various pension and other funds by both employer and employee account for about one fifth of actual salary. Additionally general VAT is 23% and there are also corporate taxes.

To summarize, the Finnish economical model is Nordic welfare country.

I have one Finnish Lapphund and it costed me 1500. It depends on were you live and were you get it from

If your looking for one good luck!

We decorate the usual stuff: Christmas tree (which is a spruce) and Santa lights ect...
Traditions vary through the land: Some cut their own trees and some will watch the Timothy Crickets Christmas Special (which airs every year at the same time).

And in (usually) January we take the tree out and take the decorations down.

it is written as made in finland

He rides a sleigh pulled by reindeers - Petteri Punakuono (Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer) in the front!

La Finlande (feminine, singular name)

Yes, there are tornados in Sweden, but they're very seldomly strong and destructive. The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute have some photos and information:

Citation: most tornados in Sweden are modest in relation to tornados in USA, and causes limited damage, about some trees felled and some roof tiles blown off, but in some few cases there is more damage.

Also, in Sweden very few tornados ever reach farther than Enhanced Fujita Scale EF2 (50-60 m/s).

Take care is "Pidä huolta." in Finnish.
If you want to say take care of yourself, then it's "Pidä huolta itsestäsi."

Yes, but relatively little. In 2007, Finland produced about 10 000 barrels/day of crude oil but consumed nearly 230 000 barrels/day.

No changes are needed.

It's complicated, but Norway and Sweden are friends and belong side by side like a hand inside a glove. Typicality, a Swede in Norway or the other way around; will not be looked upon like a foreigner. This is because the countries are so equal, and the people in it of course. The same goes for Denmark too, Norway-Denmark-Sweden, Scandinavia in other words, are all very good friends. If a Norwegian breaks his leg in Denmark, he will get patched up in a Danish hospital, and vice versa.

However - There are two things that Norwegians and Swedes got against each other. The biggest issue is that Sweden was neutral during the war, Swedes where not too popular in Norway in the recent post-WW2 times. Then some culture developed where Norwegians make fun of Swedes, and in Sweden it's the other way around. Those jokes still persist.

In Norway you usually earn about 20% more than in Sweden, so often Swedish students try to get work across the border. Those Swedes are called "party-swedes" and are often being looked down upon by Norwegians. Probably because Norwegians became too posh after the oil and forgot how to party hard.

Finland did not exist as an independent nation until December 6, 1917, when it declared its independence from Russia, and a Civil War immediately began over that issue. Finland owed no WWI war debt.

17,000 km. / 960km/hour = 17.7 hours

But no plane will have a straight flight of that distance.

The current prime minister of Finland is Mari Kiviniemi.

Most certainly not. It's a country, right between Sweden and Russia.

Depends on what you're after. Their winters can be pretty fierce, so if you don't like it cold you should stay away that time. Then maybe it's the whole frost-bitten experience that you're after? Summers are nice, particularly in the north where sun doesn't quite set even at midnight. OTOH summers also brings mosquitoes...

Finns play a lot of hockey and soccer. But they also have basketball, alpine skiing, biathlon, discus throw, car sports, cheerleading, curling, bowling... but Finns also have their own old woman's carrying (yeah I know), throwing a telephone and throwing a rubber boot!

Finns play baseball somewhere, but they also play another game nearly like baseball. It's in English "Finnish baseball" or baseball, even if baseball and the game aren't the same, not even nearly. It's called pesäpallo, straightly translated in English it's "nest ball".

They're located on the Scandinavian Peninsula which is in Europe.

Well there is no natural direct translation, that I' aware of.

You could say "What's up?" or "How are you?" instead.

"How are you?" would be "Miten menee?" in Finnish.

It sounds a lot like rock-house. Short a, pronounce the k twice. Kau sounds like Coe.

"Merry Christmas" is called "hyvaa joulua" in Finnish because "hyvaa" means "good" and "joulua" sort of means "Christmas". More specifically the word "joulua" means Yule in English. The term Yule or Yule-tide comes from an old Germanic midwinter festival (involving a sacrificial feast), that has absorbed into Christmas. Originally the festival was celebrated between late December and early January on a date determinded by the lunar Germanic calendar, but the festival was later placed on the 25th of December when the Christian calendar was adopted. The term is still used in the Nordic Countries to refer to Christmas. As in Finland they use the same term in countries like Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland. In Finland they say "hyvaa joulua" (as you know); in Norway nad Sweden they say "god jul"; in Denmark they say "glædelig jul"; and in Iceland they say "gledileg jol". The term meaning the same thing ("good Yule/Christmas") in all these languages.

In stores troughout the Finnland, or in Finnish net stores, Nettianttila.com, Discshop.fi and CDon.com. You can also get English texts if you need, but i bet you're really a Finnish.