You got two great countries that are right beside each other and although they literally are right next door
that doesn't mean the two are the exact same and there are many different aspects character traits and
Cultural differences that make the countries of Sweden and Finland different and with that today here on FTD facts
We're gonna find out what those differences are and explore some
Similarities to my regular followers, welcome back to another episode of FTD facts and for all you new people out there
My name is Dave Walpole and welcome to a channel where I look at
People cultures and places from all around the world now today as you can see from the title
I'm talking about the differences between Sweden and Finland and you may ask yourself
Well, why is a guy that's Canadian doing the differences between these two particular nations?
Well, first of all, I've just done a lot of videos on Sweden as a matter of fact
I've done five on the country itself
And as for Finland, I've done pretty much about the same exploring the military and different cultural aspects of the country
So I figured with that knowledge. Let's figure out what's different about them and also with that in mind
I also did a video just recently on the differences between
Poland and Sweden a lot of people really liked that video. So I'm continuing to do this yet again
so in Sweden the population as of a
2018 census is
Ten million two hundred and seven thousand eighty six people making this country ranked in 90th in the world in terms of population, Finland
however has population as of a
2018 estimate of five million five hundred and twenty thousand five hundred and thirty five people
Which makes this country ranked one hundred and 14th in the world and for population
Let's talk about the people within this country
now if you look at Finland while people in Finland or from Finland are called finns and
The people from sweden are just simply called swedes now
There is one thing that is very similar between these two nations and that is language
because for both of them they actually have each other's
Languages listed as official languages of each other's countries for example in Finland
The national languages are Finnish and Swedish and as well
You also have Sami sweetener also has those three particular languages listed as official languages
But on top of that there's also Yiddish Romani, and of course me and Kili which by the way, sorry
But Norwegians not in those languages is an official one
So maybe that's the reason why Norway did not want to join the European Union. Maybe I don't know
So one thing that I also find very similar between these two countries is the style of flag now
That's not going into the history or the colours of the flag because those are completely different and of course
Let's not forget the fact that both of these flags were adopted in a very separate time
For example, Sweden's flag was adopted on June 22nd 1906
Now the colors came from the coat of arms of the country and the style very similar to Finland comes from the Danish flag
Sweden also has seventeen listed days that are classified as National Flag days
which basically mean that the flag must be up on those days as
Well, the flag should theoretically be up during the day and always lower to no later than 9 p.m
However, for both of these countries one similarity is that if it's war time, the flag is always up even at night, Finland
However, its flag was adopted on May 29th
1918 and as stated earlier Finland uses the very similar Danish flag design
But they actually have 19 days that are classified as a flag national day interesting enough in Finland
The flag doesn't need to be raised on Christmas Day like it does in Sweden
They also do have similar rules to the flag when it comes to day time raising
But one thing that Finland does by itself or is unique to the country. Is that during midsummer XIV?
The flag is flown from 6 p.m. To 9 p.m
And of course you may wonder why is that? Well, it's to symbolize that darkness will not hit the country on that day
Also, it's the same day as National Flag Day and also consider we're talking about holidays
I should also mention the fact that Finland has one unique holiday that these Swedes would like and that is
Finnish Swedish heritage Day this holiday is celebrated on November 6 and it was created originally in
1908 the tradition is to celebrate the Swedish people that are located in the country and to acknowledge the bond and
historical bond between these two countries speaking history
Let's also talk about the roots of the names of these two countries because they come from separate places
for example
The name Finland is commonly believed to have come from rune stones actually written on three rune stones
But interesting enough these tickler stones were found in Sweden and two of them which were found in the upland region
The third one was found in the island of Gotland and all of them had the word Finlandia written on it
So I thought it was very interesting that the name Finland came from something that was written in Sweden
Didn't think that however keep in mind many of these rune stones that were created by the Norse people were actually found in a majority
of the Scandinavian countries
but most of them were commonly found in the country of Sweden also a little bit of a side note nothing really to do with
the differences between these two nations, but when it comes to these rune stones
I found it fascinating that the ones that were found in Upland which are a majority of the rune stones
About 70 percent of them have Christian inscriptions written on it or as I always thought most of them would have liked Norse or some
Form of like Viking inscriptions, but yeah Christianity is on them
Did you know that but getting back to Sweden and the reason for its name? Of course, it didn't get it from Finland
However, the name did derive from external tongues of other countries
The term Sweden was actually used by the Dutch when Sweden was becoming a bigger power in the 17th century
But however before all that the people from England referred to this land as swedeland now
Here's some things that the two countries are known for that are actually quite different from each other
And first of all, let's talk about the big one in Finland
They are known for saunas for most historians and sauna enthusiasts
It's widely believed that the sauna originated from Finland and still today. It is an extremely popular thing
If you go to Finland and you don't go in a sauna, you're pretty much crazy that's like going to Germany and not having
Schnitzel I don't know what happened to my brain there
But as for saunas getting an actual date of when these were created is a hard thing as some historians
calculate that it's over 2,000 years old, but many also believe that it might have been as far back as
7,000 BC. However, the earliest known descriptions of the saunas in Finland was in around
1112 AD however on the flipside sweden is also known for something that is actually very recent and is also
Winter-themed and that is of course the famous ice hotel and although there are many other ice hotels around the world
Sweden was known to create the first one
Located in the yuccas geography region
It has been built every single year between the months of December and April since 1990 and it's a really fascinating
Although I've never been there
It's crazy because everything is made out of ice from your chair to your bed to even the glasses you drink out of it
It's so cool speaking about the ukís, Oddie region. Let's also talk about land now
Finland has a land size of
Three hundred and thirty-eight thousand four hundred and twenty four kilometres square which makes that country ranked 64th in terms of land size
Sweden however is much bigger with four hundred and fifty thousand two hundred and ninety five square kilometers ranking
55th in the world now. I've been talking a lot about the differences, but let's talk about one major
Similarity and that is healthcare and I like talking about this because I'm Canadian
so
You know public healthcare is right when I'm down for because both are classified as a publicly
Government-funded health care and work on a three tier system in national regional and local districts
And of course in both countries, they do have private health care
However, the funding of these two countries is quite different for example in 2015
Sweden had spent the highest amount of GDP on health care compared to any other European nation and that came at eleven point nine percent
however to get an equal figure in the year of
2013 according to the OECD
Finland spent approximately eight point nine percent of their GDP on health care whereas Sweden was the third highest with eleven percent
And you know while we're at it
Let's just take a look at the differences in some of the things that you might buy in the country
For example, if we take 12 eggs in Finland, it is roughly two point four six. Euros were in Sweden
It's three point three seven euros
However, if you were to buy a pound of chicken, that would be quite the opposite in fact
Because in Finland for this amount of chicken, you would spend five hundred and fifty euros. We're in Sweden. It's only about
526 so also one thing that I really like looking at is the historical aspects of these two countries
And it's really quite hard to say which country has had a darker or lighter
History because they both been very different. For example in World War two Finland was actually contributing to two wars
there was the winter war and the continuation war in which the Winter War was between the Russians from 1939 to
1940 and the continuation war was between Finland and Nazi Germany from 1941 to
1944 Sweden however was doing its own thing during the Second World War
it did remain fairly neutral especially during the First World War and
Unfortunately during the Second World War Germany had cut off major trade routes to Sweden to other countries around the world
So therefore Sweden was pretty much left by itself
However, one thing to mention is that Sweden was more or less a major refugee place for the Danish Jews
And of course, it's shipped materials to Finland to support the wars that they were going through
I also want to mention that one thing. I find that is kind of different between these two nations
I mean I find Finland has had a harder time struggling to get independence after all
It's a country that pretty much announced its independence from Russia in 1917
And even before that it has just had a struggle for independence because not only was it a part of the Swedish Kingdom
But as well, it was a part of the Swedish Empire. Of course Finland was a part of the Kalmar Union from 1397 to about
1523 and of course it was part of the Swedish Empire from at least the 17th century to 1809
after that
Finland was also thrown into the Russian Empire in which it was known as the Grand Duchy of Finland and it was under Russian rule
from 1809 till about
1917 when it finally got its own independence
however
That is based simply only off of
Independence because when I talk about the conflicts it gets a little tricky because of course Sweden has also been through a lot more
It's been through a lot of wars as a matter of fact
However, I also want to mention that Finland being a part of Sweden was also probably thrown into those conflicts as well
But either way guys that is just a topic for another time
Which reminds me if you guys really like this video and you want more or you want to part two to this?
be sure to hit that like button because if I get over
5,000 likes that is what I will do on top of that if you think I missed any cool differences between these two
Particular nations feel free to write it down there in the comment section below because I always love to read about them
And yeah, maybe I'll throw them in the second part if we get to it, of course if you're new here
Don't forget hit that subscribe button and that Bell notification so you can keep into tune of what we're doing
But in that, my name is Dave Wawa, and I will see you guys in the next one. Okay. Bye
What?
Okay, yeah, by the way before you guys get out of here
Here's some really cool videos for you guys to check out. We got some really awesome stuff learning about countries militaries. You name it?
We've probably talked about it. So tune into me every single day, and I'll see you in the next one. Bye