5 Curiosities about Finland

Finnish engineer Matti Makkonen (1952–2015) is known as the “father of the SMS”. The former civil servant is said to have suggested the idea for a mobile phone messaging service at a conference in 1984. He is remembered as a modest man who never claimed to be the sole inventor of the service, always referencing the collective effort it took to develop.

Makkonen never patented the idea because, as he stated in an interview with the BBC “I don’t think I made a patentable innovation, but was one of the early persons to understand the need and the concept.”

While, formally, the first text message was sent from a personal computer to a mobile device in 1992, using the Vodafone network in the UK, Makkonen believed that the real launch of the SMS service was in 1994. In that year, Nokia, the Finnish telecommunications giant, introduced the Nokia 2010 – the first phone that enabled the easy writing of messages.

Source: BBC

Since 2010, 13 October has been the National Day for Failure in Finland. Launched by a group of forward-thinking students at Aalto University, the day is intended to shine a spotlight on failure as a necessary part of progress.

The students believed that fear of such failure was holding many talented people back from realising their ideas and potential, which are essential to ensuring a bright future for Finland.

On the National Day for Failure, household names and high achievers share their stories of overcoming inevitable setbacks as a means to encourage others to go after their dreams. Special events take place at universities and other community institutions to encourage openness, honesty and understanding.

Personalities including Nokia’s chair of the board of directors Jorma Ollila, Angry Birds’ creator Peter Vesterbacka, and coach of the men’s ice hockey team Jukka Jalonen have supported the cause.

Source: The Culture Trip

Forests cover more than 75% of Finland’s land area. That amounts to 22,8 million hectares of forest. For perspective, the size of the entire country of Belgium is 3,0688 million hectares!

26% of Finland’s forests are state owned, and the total number of forest owners is around 620,000.

Approximately 13% of the forests in Finland are protected, and the total size of these protected areas has increased fivefold since the 1980s, indicating the political significance of nature, biodiversity and sustainability.

The most common trees found in the Finnish woods are spruce, pine, downy birch, and silver birch – all native species.

Source: Metsateollisuus

Finland offers generous maternity and paternity leave policies and benefits with parental leave lasting 320 working days. This is split equally between the parents. Before the child is born, the parent giving birth can choose to finish working 14 to 30 days before the estimated due date.

Parents receive a maternity package equipped with the first essentials – clothes and child care products – for taking care of their newborn. Alternatively, this can be retrieved in the form of a tax-free cash grant.

Starting from the age of nine months, children have access to municipal early childhood education. From the age of seven, all children must start attending a comprehensive school. This education is free of charge.

Source: Norden and Info Finland

Swamp football emerged when Finland’s cross-country skiers were looking for a way to train in the snowless summer months. Today, the Swamp Soccer Annual Championships are an international event, gathering close to 200 teams from around the globe. This has been happening in the town of Hyrynsalmi since 2000. Each team consists of six players, and they play on 30 m x 60 m fields.

In 2013, the national post office even issued a special stamp dedicated to this peculiar sport, celebrating the fun and humorous side of Finns.

Other curious sports, which Finns indulge in, include wife carrying and boot throwing. 

Source: The Guinness World Records