What's in a Name, Scandinavia

Scandinavia is an area of Northern Europe that shares a common historical, cultural, and linguistic Germanic heritage. This area includes the modern countries of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It is a cultural term often confused with the geographical term: Scandinavian Peninsula.

The Scandinavian Peninsula is made up of Norway, Sweden, and Finland (plus a bit of Russia). Denmark is physically separate from the peninsula.

The Scandinavian languages, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish are similar and can mostly be understood by people in each of the Scandinavian countries. Finnish is unrelated to the Scandinavian languages.

Finland, although a part of the Scandinavian Peninsula, is not usually considered a Scandinavian country. Despite its close location to Sweden and Norway, it does not share the same Germanic cultural and linguistic heritage as those countries.

Internet Usage

Iceland (96%), Norway (95%), and Sweden (94%) have the highest percent of populations using the Internet. The Netherlands, Denmark, Luxembourg, Bermuda, and Finland all have over 90% of their respective populations using the net.

Canada is 16th with 86% of its population using the Internet. The US ranks 28th, with 78% (244 million people) online.

China has 591 million people using the Internet, but that is just 44% of the country's 1.3 billion population.