The Nordic countries and their cooperation
The Nordic countries are Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, and the self-governing regions Faroe Islands, Greenland (both Denmark) and Åland (Finland). All five countries and the three self-governing regions are members of the Nordic Council.
Languages
The Nordic languages are Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Faroese and Icelandic that all originate from Old Norse and are North Germanic languages. Finnish is the only Nordic language that is not related to the other languages. Sami is also spoken in the northern regions of Sweden, Norway and Finland as well as outside the Nordic countries in parts of Russia.
Swedish, Norwegian and Danish are so closely related that they can be regarded as different dialects of the same language. People from these countries can understand each other quite well, although they sometimes have to articulate more carefully and talk slowly.
Denmark, Finland and Sweden are members of the European Union, whereas Iceland and Norway are not, but are members of the EFTA and the Schengen Agreement.
Trade and the public sector
Trade is an important part of the small, open economies of the Nordic countries. Foreign trade amounts to more than one fourth of the Nordic countries’ GNP (calculated as a mean of the import and export). Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden have had considerably larger export than import every year since 1990, despite increased competition from Eastern Europe and Asia.
The Nordic countries’ export is mainly focused on a smaller amount of products.
Greenland and the Faroe Islands export mainly fish and fish products, and the same can be said of Iceland apart from their export of aluminium. Norway’s main export is oil and gas, and Finland’s are wood, paper and telecommunications. Denmark’s export is fairly evenly divided between food products, medicine and chemicals, while Sweden mainly exports cars, wood, paper and telecommunications.
The Nordic countries are often seen as welfare states because of the significance of the public sector, which is responsible for most areas apart from defence and the judicial system that is usually financed with taxes and social duties. These taxes and duties represent between 41-51 % of GNP and are highest in Sweden and lowest in Iceland.
About 25 million people live in the Nordic countries, which are divided as follows between the different countries and self-governing regions:
Sweden: |
9 million |
Denmark: |
5,4 million |
Finland: |
5,3 million |
Norway: |
4,6 million |
Greenland: |
56 000 |
Faroe Islands: |
48 500 |
Åland: |
26 000 |
Iceland: |
300 000 |
