the capital of finland is helsinki; the second largest city is tampere. the official currency of the country is the euro (eur); before 2002 it was the markka, the finnish mark (fim). the president of finland is sauli niinistö. 5.5 million people live in finland. finnish and swedish both are the official languages of finland; the most spoken languages is finnish, mother tongue of about 90% of the population. swedish is spoken by the swedish speaking minority of finland, called the finnish swedes, who make up 5% of the total population. finland became independent of russia on 6 december 1917.