Recent figures from the Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare (THL) have revealed that Finland has the lowest rate of induced abortions among Nordic countries. 

It also has the strictest abortion laws, being the only Nordic country where women need to acquire the signature of at least one doctor (in some cases two) to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. 

According to the latest statistics from the Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare (THL), alcohol consumption in the country dropped significantly last year, with per capita consumption reaching a record low. 

THL also revealed that deaths related to the synthetic psychoactive drug MDMA, also known as ecstasy or molly, have more than tripled between 2011 and 2017.

Police investigate a crime scene in Perno, Turku, where two people were shot dead on Saturday/Lehtikuva

Finnish police had their hands full over the Easter weekend as they received significantly more emergency calls this year compared to the same time last year, particularly in Southwest Finland.  

Ilta-Sanomat reports that police responded to a total of 1,566 emergency calls in Southwest Finland and Satakunta (Western Finland) between Thursday and Monday. 

Finnish police busted a widescale criminal operation that smuggled drugs into the country through flower shipments this year/Lehtikuva

Drug trafficking in Finland is on the rise due to the presence of international crime syndicates, according to police. Transnational organised crime groups have long since been a problem in neighbouring countries such as Sweden, where they control the drug trade. 

Similar organisations have also gained a strong foothold in Finland, accounting for a growing number of drug-related offences in recent years, particular in the Helsinki metropolitan area.

French street dancer B-Boy Mounir is photographed in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris on April 2, 2021. LEHTIKUVA / AFP

The most eye-catching images of this week, from all around the world.

The number of students applying for higher education in Finland has increased over the past year. According to the Finnish National Agency for Education, higher education institutions across Finland received almost 158,000 applications this year— at least 6,000 more than last year.

Additionally, students applied for nearly 51,000 open spots in courses offering higher education in Finnish and Swedish that are set to begin this Autumn.

A former employee of the Helsinki Police Department has published a detailed list of abuses allegedly committed by police officers over the past few years in an online blog. 

The author of the blog, who claims to have been a police officer at the time, allegedly witnessed his coworkers using excessive force on multiple occasions. 

Finnish police have revealed that the number of traffic offences committed by minors increased by 45 per cent last year compared to the previous year.

While the legal driving age in Finland is 18, reforms introduced in 2018 have made it easier to acquire an age exception permit, which enables 17-year-olds to get a driving licence in case of special circumstances.

The government has adopted more rigid measures to tackle the virus, including temporarily shutting down restaurants/Lehtikuva

A new survey by Yle indicates that a majority of Finns support the government’s proposed restrictions on movement within areas that have been worst hit by the COVID-19 virus. 

In other news, the latest data from Statistics Finland has revealed that the number of unemployed people in the country increased by 35,000 this February, compared to the same time last year. 

Hewlett Packard's illustration of LUMI/Lehtikuva

LUMI, a highly powerful supercomputer, is set to begin operations in Finland this year. Worth an estimated 200 million euros and hailed as one of the fastest computers of all time, it is capable of performing a whopping 552 million billion calculations per second, according to MTV. 

LUMI’s computing abilities are reportedly equivalent to that of over 1.5 million modern-day laptops. Preparations are underway to house the computer at the state-owned CSC’s (IT Center for Science) data centre in the town of Kajaani in Kainuu, Eastern Finland.