Capital: Helsinki
Area: 338,145 km²
Population: 5.2 million (December 2000 est.)
Ethnic groups: Finns (93 %), Swedish descent (6%), about 2500 Saami
Official language(s): Finnish, Swedish
Religion(s): Evangelical Lutheran (89%)
Currency: 1 euro = 100 cents
SOS Children's Villages' activities in the country
At the end of the 1950s a Finnish student visited the SOS Children's Village Imst and as a result published her impressions in a newspaper article. It received great feedback and soon afterwards in 1962, Albin Gebhardt, a Finnish businessman who had had ideas similar to the ones of Hermann Gmeiner after WW II, created a national association, today known as "SOS-Lapsikylä ry". In order to realize the SOS Children's Village concept, Albin Gebhardt donated the country estate that he had planned to provide for the construction of a foster home for abandoned children.
On 29 May 1965, construction work began on the first SOS Children's Village in Tapiola in the Southern Finnish city of Espoo near the capital Helsinki. In February of the following year, the first children could already move in. Right from the outset the demand for child care according to Hermann Gmeiner's concept was very strong. In Finland, there is a tradition of voluntary community work, on which the Finnish society puts great emphasis.
Consequently, after the Second World War the SOS Children's Villages' idea was also positively received in Finland, which among other things resulted in rapidly increasing membership numbers. In subsequent years additional SOS Children's Villages were established in various regions of Finland. In 1979 the third SOS Children's Village was opened in Ylitornio, a city in Lapland in Northern Finland, not far from the Polar circle. This SOS Children's Village was for a long time the northernmost SOS Children's Village in the world. In addition, SOS Youth Facilities were founded in which youths are guided on their path to an independent life with the help of professionals. For several years, the Finnish SOS Children's Village Association has also been supporting the SOS Children's Villages' projects outside the country.
At present there are five SOS Children's Villages, one SOS Youth Facility and one SOS Social Centre (holiday camp) in Finland