Facts about the Nordic countries

The Nordic region has a population of 24.9 million. The Nordic countries consist of Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Finland, Åland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The Faroe Islands and Greenland are both part of the kingdom of Denmark, and Åland is part of the republic of Finland.

Denmark, Norway and Sweden are all monarchies. Iceland and Finland are republics.

Regardless of the form of government, the heads of state in the Nordic countries have relatively little power. All the countries have a democratic constitution dating from the 19th century, and, with the exception of the Norwegian constitution, they have all been revised several times.

The parliaments in the Nordic countries and the autonomous territories vary in size from 30 members in the Parliament of Åland to 349 members in Sweden's parliament.

For more detailed information about any of the Nordic countries, click the flag.

Edited October, 2009

News

14/05/2010

Nordic interest in Russia

15 MPs from the Nordic Council are heading for the Leningrad and Kaliningrad regions of Russia on 16 May. The politicians will meet their Russian colleagues and learn more about the challenges facing the two Russian regions.

Sinikka Bohlin,
photo - Magnus Fröderberg/norden.org
details

16/04/2010

Study visit to Denmark

A group of specialists from 9 municipalities of the Kaliningrad region is leaving for Denmark on 17 April 2010 to visit 6 Danish municipalities and to study experiences of Nordic countries on business development issues, municipal support of entrepreneurs, public-private partnership and companies’ staff upgrading.

photo - Nikolaj Bock, www.norden.org
details

26/03/2010

Attitudes are what have to change in order for accessibility to be achieved

There is a great deal of interest among the Russian and Baltic participants on the course in Universal Design that begun on Monday at the Nordic School of Public Health (NHV). The discussions during lectures are lively and questions posed many from participants representing various sectors and agencies.
– The problem is to change attitudes so that those working for public institutions accept that these should be accessible for all, rather than it being an issue of lack of funding, says Andrey Zonin, Director for the Institute for Cultural Programs in St. Petersburg.
details