PEOPLE

The Finnish-speaking part of the population are called Finns, possibly including a subculture of Swedish-speaking Finns. Finns are somewhat genetically distinct from other Europeans. The major Y-haplogroup in Finland is haplogroup N. Y-haplogroup I is another haplogroup prevalent in Finland. The Finnish language is not an Indo-European language, and belongs to Finno-Ugric family of languages. Finns are traditionally divided to subgroups (heimo) according to dialect, but these groupings have only a minor importance due to 20th century urbanization and internal migration.

The Finnish society encourages equality and liberalism with a popular commitment to the ideals of the welfare state; discouraging disparity of wealth and division into social classes. Everyman's right (Ministry of Environment, 1999) is a philosophy carried over from ancient times. All citizens have access to public and private lands for agrarian activities or leisure. Finns value being close to nature, the agricultural roots are embedded in the rural lifestyle. Finns are also nationalistic, as opposed to self-identification with ethnicity or clan.

Religion began as paganism, mythology and magic. The traditions were partly indigenous, but also influenced by Norse paganism. Song magic and bear worship are distinctive marks of the ancient religion. However, modernization ended the traditions ultimately in the first decade of the 20th century. Christianity entered Finnish culture in the 12th century [4]. Today, 80.6% of Finns belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church[5] and 1.1% belong to the Finnish Orthodox Church[6]. In general, Finns are secular in their views.

With the emergence of reform, the Compulsory Education Act made education a civil right and available to all citizens, except for tertiary education, which is free of charge and admissions are based strictly on test scores. The beliefs of the Finns are future employment security necessitating higher education in today's increasingly technological world (Kyr, M. & Nyysol, K., 2006).