Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a peninsula in Northern Europe. Geographically, it is made up of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and parts of Denmark and Russia. However, politically, "Scandinavia" and the "Scandinavian countries" have a different meaning.

The Political Scandinavian Countries: These 3 countries have similar languages, culture, and history, and are always considered a part of Scandinavia.
 * Denmark
 * Sweden
 * Norway

Different definitions also include Finland, which is on the peninsula and has been closely connected to the rest of Scandinavia (particularly Sweden) throughout history. However, Finland is not as close to the others; and the Finnish language is very different to the other Scandinavian languages (though most Finns do speak Swedish at some level.)

Other definitions of Scandinavia even include the Danish constituent countries of Greenland and the Faroe Islans, and Iceland, though these are all far from the Scandinavian peninsula itself.

Politics
Scandinavian politics are dominated by liberal and Social Democratic parties, and because of this, they are generally some of the happiest, healthiest, most peaceful, freest and richest-per-capita countries in the world. All of the Scandinavian countries - including Finland, Iceland, and the Danish constituents - have universal health care.