Formerly part of Sweden and from 1809 an autonomous Grand Duchy within the Russian Empire, Finland declared its independence in 1917. Soviet Union spurred one civil war, two wars, and a fierce political struggle during the Cold War. Today, Finland is a democratic, parliamentary republic divided to central government and several hundred municipalities, most notably Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere, Vantaa and Turku. -------------------------- Throughout its history Finland has remained economically quite free and GDP per capita reached Japan and UK in 1970s. After Nordic economic liberalization from the late 1980s to 1990s, it has seen a bloom of high technology companies, globalization and rankings at or near the top in international comparisons of national performance such as income levels, Human Development Index and other indices of life quality. According to the World Audit Democracy profile, Finland is the freest nation in the world in terms of civil liberties, freedom of the press, low corruption levels and high levels of political rights.Finland has strongly integrated with the Western Europe: it joined European Union in 1995 and has invested in NATO-compatibility, though it's not a member.