Quality of life comparison

compared to

If you lived in Finland instead of Belgium, you would:

Economy

be 17.6% less likely to live below the poverty line

In Belgium, 14.8% live below the poverty line as of 2018. In Finland, however, that number is 12.2% as of 2019.

be 23.7% more likely to be unemployed

In Belgium, 5.4% of adults are unemployed as of 2019. In Finland, that number is 6.6% as of 2019.

Life

be 40.0% less likely to die during childbirth

In Belgium, approximately 5.0 women per 100,000 births die during labor as of 2017. In Finland, 3.0 women do as of 2017.

be 33.2% less likely to die during infancy

In Belgium, approximately 3.2 children (per 1,000 live births) die before they reach the age of one as of 2022. In Finland, on the other hand, 2.1 children do as of 2022.

Expenditures

spend 14.0% less on healthcare

Belgium spends 10.7% of its total GDP on healthcare as of 2019. In Finland, that number is 9.2% of GDP as of 2019.

Geography

see 18.8 times more coastline

Belgium has a total of 66 km of coastline. In Finland, that number is 1,250 km.

The statistics above were calculated using the following data sources: The World Factbook.

Finland: At a glance

Finland is a sovereign country in Europe, with a total land area of approximately 303,815 sq km. Finland was a province and then a grand duchy under Sweden from the 12th to the 19th centuries, and an autonomous grand duchy of Russia after 1809. It gained complete independence in 1917. During World War II, it successfully defended its independence through cooperation with Germany and resisted subsequent invasions by the Soviet Union - albeit with some loss of territory. In the subsequent half century, Finland transformed from a farm/forest economy to a diversified modern industrial economy; per capita income is among the highest in Western Europe. A member of the European Union since 1995, Finland was the only Nordic state to join the euro single currency at its initiation in January 1999. In the 21st century, the key features of Finland's modern welfare state are high quality education, promotion of equality, and a national social welfare system - currently challenged by an aging population and the fluctuations of an export-driven economy.
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How big is Finland compared to Belgium? See an in-depth size comparison.

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