Nordic countries

Not to be confused with Scandinavia.

Nordic countries
Land controlled by the Nordic countries shown in dark green. Bouvet Island and Antarctic claims not shown.
Land controlled by the Nordic countries shown in dark green. Bouvet Island and Antarctic claims not shown.
Capitals
Largest citySweden Stockholm
Official languages
Recognised regional languages
Composition5 sovereign states

2 autonomous territories

1 autonomous region

2 unincorporated areas

1 dependency

2 Antarctic claims

Establishment
• Inauguration of the Nordic Council
12 February 1953
23 March 1962
• Inauguration of the Nordic Council of Ministers
July 1971
Population
• 2021 estimate
27,562,156 (52nd)
• 2000 census
24,221,754
• Density
7.62/km2 (19.7/sq mi) (225th)
GDP (PPP)2019 estimate
• Total
$1.6 trillion[1] (19th)
• Per capita
$58,000 (13th)
GDP (nominal)2021 estimate
• Total
$1.8 trillion (10th)
• Per capita
$66,900 (15th)
Currency
Drives onright
Calling code

The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or Norden; lit. 'the North')[2] are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway[a] and Sweden; the autonomous territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland; and the autonomous region of Åland.[4]

The Nordic countries have much in common in their way of life, history, religion and social and economic model. They have a long history of political unions and other close relations but do not form a singular entity today. The Scandinavist movement sought to unite Denmark, Norway and Sweden into one country in the 19th century. With the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden (Norwegian independence), the independence of Finland in the early 20th century and the 1944 Icelandic constitutional referendum, this movement expanded into the modern organised Nordic cooperation. Since 1962, this cooperation has been based on the Helsinki Treaty that sets the framework for the Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers.

The Nordic countries cluster near the top in numerous metrics of national performance, including education, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life and human development.[5] Each country has its own economic and social model, sometimes with large differences from its neighbours. Still, they share aspects of the Nordic model of economy and social structure to varying degrees.[6] This includes a mixed market economy combined with strong labour unions and a universalist welfare sector financed by high taxes, enhancing individual autonomy and promoting social mobility. There is a high degree of income redistribution, commitment to private ownership and little social unrest.[7][8]

North Germanic peoples, who comprise over three-quarters of the region's population, are the largest ethnic group, followed by the Baltic Finnic Peoples, who comprise the majority in Finland; other ethnic groups are the Greenlandic Inuit, the Sami people and recent immigrants and their descendants. Historically, the main religion in the region was Norse paganism. This gave way first to Roman Catholicism after the Christianisation of Scandinavia. Then, following the Protestant Reformation, the main religion became Lutheran Christianity, the state religion of several Nordic countries.[9][10]

Although the area is linguistically heterogeneous, with three unrelated language groups, the common linguistic heritage is one factor that makes up the Nordic identity. Most Nordic languages belong to North Germanic languages, Finno-Ugric languages and Eskimo–Aleut languages. Danish, Norwegian and Swedish are considered mutually intelligible, and they are the working languages of the region's two political bodies. Swedish is a mandatory subject in Finnish schools and Danish in Faroese and Greenlandic schools. Danish is also taught in schools in Iceland.

The combined area of the Nordic countries is 3,425,804 square kilometres (1,322,710 sq mi). Uninhabitable ice caps and glaciers comprise about half of this area, mainly Greenland. In September 2021, the region had over 27 million people. Especially in English, Scandinavia is sometimes used as a synonym for the Nordic countries, but that term more properly refers to the three monarchies of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Geologically, the Scandinavian Peninsula comprises the mainland of Norway and Sweden and the northernmost part of Finland.[11][12][13][14][15]

  1. ^ "Report for Selected Countries and Subjects". International Monetary Fund. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  2. ^ Leaders (2 February 2013). "The next supermodel". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Archived from the original on 22 March 2022. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  3. ^ "Facts about Norway | Nordic cooperation". 5 January 2022. Archived from the original on 5 January 2022. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  4. ^ Kronvall, Alf (n.d.). "Facts about the Nordic countries". Nordic Co-operation. The Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers. Archived from the original on 20 March 2022. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  5. ^ Munch Haagensen, Klaus (2013). Nordic Statistical Yearbook. Nordic Council of Ministers. p. 8. doi:10.6027/Nord2013-001. ISBN 978-92-893-2350-5. Archived from the original on 17 April 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  6. ^ Lane, Kenworthy (3 December 2013). Social Democratic America. New York City: Oxford University Press. p. 138. ISBN 9780199322527. Archived from the original on 17 April 2023. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  7. ^ Hicks, Alexander (20 January 2000). Social democracy and Welfare Capitalism: A Century of Income Security Politics. Cornell University Press. p. 130. ISBN 978-0801485565. By the late 1950s, labor had been incorporated alongside Swedish business in fully elaborated corporatist institutions of collective bargaining and policy making, public as well as private, supply-side (as for labour training) as well as demand side (e.g., Keynesian). During the 1950s and 1960s, similar neocorpratist institutions developed in Denmark and Norway, in Austria and the Netherlands, and somewhat later, in Belgium and Finland.
  8. ^ Sandbu, Martin (28 August 2018). "What the Nordic mixed economy can teach today's new left". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 30 August 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  9. ^ "Protestantism in the Scandinavian countries". Musée protestant. Archived from the original on 27 July 2015. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  10. ^ Markkola, Pirjo (2015). "The Long History of Lutheranism in Scandinavia. From State Religion to the People's Church" Archived 29 August 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Perichoresis. 13 (2): 3–15. doi:10.1515/perc-2015-0007.
  11. ^ "Scandinavia" Archived 23 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine. In Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary. Retrieved 10 January 2008: "Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, Sweden – sometimes also considered to include Iceland, the Faeroe Islands, & Finland." (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines "Nordic" Archived 17 April 2023 at the Wayback Machine as an adjective dated to 1898 with the meaning "of or relating to the Germanic peoples of northern Europe and especially of Scandinavia.").
  12. ^ "Scandinavia" (2005). The New Oxford American Dictionary, second edition, ed. Erin McKean. Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-517077-6: "a cultural region consisting of the countries of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark and sometimes also of Iceland, Finland, and the Faroe Islands".
  13. ^ Scandinavia Archived 20 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine (2001). The Columbia Encyclopedia, sixth edition. Retrieved 31 January 2007: "Scandinavia, region of N Europe. It consists of the kingdoms of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark; Finland and Iceland are usually, but incorrectly, considered part of Scandinavia".
  14. ^ Scandinavia Archived 11 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine (2007). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 31 January 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: "Scandinavia, historically, part of northern Europe, generally held to consist of the two countries of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Norway and Sweden, with the addition of Denmark".
  15. ^ Scandinavia Archived 28 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine (2006). Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved 30 January 2007: "Scandinavia (ancient Scandia), name applied collectively to three countries of northern Europe – Norway and Sweden (which together form the Scandinavian Peninsula), and Denmark". Archived 1 November 2009.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).