Transport and infrastructure in Finland
Our listing of the primary kinds of transport compares the infrastructure of Finland with the average of all countries in Europe. Overall, the traffic routes are above average and in good condition.In terms of the length of its rail network, Finland ranks 5th in the world with 1.07 meters per inhabitant. In total, the rail network is 5,923 kilometers long. Freight traffic on the rails most recently totaled 10.27 billion tons and kilometers traveled. Passenger traffic reached 4.53 billion passenger-kilometers in 2018.
The waterways listed refer to inland traffic on rivers and canals. The number of ports includes those located on the total 1,250 km of coastline. In 2020, about 1.53 million freight containers were transported.
› Airports in Finland
Back to overview: Finland
Road traffic
The network of roads and highways has a total length of 454,000 km. For each of the country's 5.53 million inhabitants, this corresponds to 82.10 meters. This puts Finland in 3rd place in the global ranking. However, it is also important to note the country's population density, which is very low at around 16 inhabitants per km². Like this, disproportionately long distances generally have to be covered to reach the more remote parts of the country.With an average of 252 traffic fatalities per year (2012 - 2019), road traffic in Finland is considered very safe. This corresponds to around 4.3 accident fatalities per 4.6 inhabitants per year. By comparison, this figure is 5.9 in the European Union as a whole and 17.1 worldwide.
In Finland, traffic drives on the right-hand side of the road, i.e. people drive in the right-hand lane and overtake on the left. Oncoming traffic comes toward you on the left side. This rule was introduced at the end of the 18th century during the Napoleonic Wars. Here you can also find an overview of all countries with left-hand traffic.
Finland | |||
| total | per 1 mio inhabitants | per km² | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roadways | 454,000 km | 82,104.43 km | 1,341.41 m |
| Railroads | 5,900 km | 1,071.16 km | 17.50 m |
| Waterways | 8,000 km | 1,446.77 km | 23.64 m |
| Commercial harbors | 272 | 49.19 | 0.001 |
| Airports | 148 | 26.77 | 0.437 |
Europe | |||
| total | per 1 mio inhabitants | per km² | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roadways | 6,708,300 km | 11,142.23 km | 1,111.61 m |
| Railroads | 258,600 km | 429.54 km | 42.85 m |
| Waterways | 53,100 km | 88.26 km | 8.81 m |
| Commercial harbors | 15,291 | 25.40 | 0.003 |
| Airports | 3,737 | 6.21 | 0.001 |
Data sources used
• Global Health Observatory Data Repository (World Health Organization)• UNCTAD
• Internation Union of Railways (UIC)
• CIA Factbook
• OECD Statistics
• Wikipedia (german)
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