What if The Nordic Countries United into One Country

it can be argued that there is a need for a common culture heritage and language to form a new country one group of countries that have these similarities are the Nordic countries namely Denmark Norway Sweden Finland and Iceland we also need to include the åland islands which is an autonomous region of Finland the Faroe Islands and Greenland which are autonomous countries within the Kingdom of Denmark in the past Denmark Norway Sweden were united under a single monarch in the Kalmar Union but this union was often shaky and unstable battles were fought between a Germanic Confederation of merchant guilds and towns known as the Hanseatic League this led to severe trade disruptions within the Union while an increase of taxes continued revolts a rebellion within the Union became more frequent and in 1523 Sweden declared independence from the Union these facts are now written in the history books however what if the politics were to change these countries and agencies what if the Nordic countries United today to form a single country the potential for these countries to unite is currently greater than any other region in the world the Nordic people have a greater tolerance of each other often displayed in trust and close cooperation achieving in a high standard of living and little government corruption all these countries were placed in Forbes is 10 happiest countries in the world in its 2018 list with Finland place first Norway second Denmark third Iceland fourth and Sweden ninth they're so sad because PewDiePie doesn't live there anymore let's explore in terms of population and land size how large this united country would be compared to the rest of the world in terms of population Denmark has 5.7 million sweden has just over 10 million Norway has a population of 5.3 million Finland 5.5 million and Iceland is the smallest just 340 thousand citizens the unification with the current populace with results in a population of 20 6.8 million its population would be higher than countries such as Australia room 8 kazakhstan and sri lanka however it be below countries like Angola Saudi Arabia and Poland if all the Nordic countries combined into one nation it would have a land area of 3.4 million square kilometers it would result in a larger landmass than India but slightly less than Australia making it the seventh largest country in the world according to the International Monetary Fund these countries ranked high in terms of gross domestic product or GDP Sweden has a GDP of 600 point seven billion dollars Norway has four hundred and forty three point two billion Denmark has 369 point seven billion and the GDP of Finland is two hundred and eighty nine point five billion Iceland is the only country to not reach the top 50 with a GDP of twenty-three point nine billion hypothetically our United Nordic nation would have a GDP of one point seven trillion dollars this country would be ahead of countries like Spain Indonesia and Russia but behind countries such as Brazil India and the UK if we look at GDP per capita which is the GDP divided by population Norway leads the way with seventy thousand six hundred dollars per capita Iceland has 52 thousand one hundred dollars per capita Sweden follows not far behind at fifty one thousand three hundred dollars per capita Denmark has 49 thousand six hundred dollars per capita and finally Finland with 44 thousand dollars per capita this is evidence of the high standard of living that the current countries achieve let's consider its military power the military defence budget of Denmark is currently 4.4 billion Sweden's is 6.2 billion Norway has a budget of 7 billion Finland has 3.6 billion and Iceland 45 million Iceland's military budget is very low as it does not have a standing army instead they only have a Coast Guard to patrol its waters the combined defence budget of these countries would be twenty one point six billion placing it ahead of Turkey and similar to Israel but less than Italy the combined active personnel of this newly united country would be 99 thousand and its reserve personnel would be 1.2 million considering its economic and military strength the country would likely not become a major global superpower but would certainly be able to stand its ground a good example is when Finland managed to defend itself against the Soviet invasion of superior numbers and technology in 1939 during the winter war the success was partially the tactics of used in their cold wintery terrain and implementing the rid of warfare to hinder Soviet invasion utilizing tactics of Molotov cocktails and ski warfare to this day it is compulsory that all young adults in Finland at the age of 18 served in the military for at least nine months to train and learn to defend their country currently Denmark Norway and Iceland are a part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization otherwise known as NATO but if these countries wanted to join together it's likely they would leave and form their own United military alliance another fundamental question would be where the capital would reside many of the nordic capitals are often seen as clean safe and attractive compared to other cities around the world the capitals of these countries are Reykjavik for Iceland Oslo for Norway Copenhagen for Denmark Stockholm for Sweden and House Enki for Finland however there are other unique cities like gottenberg Bergen and the capital of the Faroe Islands tórshavn the potential for Copenhagen to be cited for this new nation would hold much credence as it was once the capital of the count Mar Union however Stockholm is currently the largest city and is often referred to as the capital of Scandinavia the candidates for this unified capital city would undoubtedly be between the exist capitols however if agreement was not unanimous then a South African model could be implemented in South Africa there is not a single capital city instead they give this honor to three cities one for each branch of government but if a single capital was to be allocated the status of gottenberg as a substantial and successful city with a centralized location must be considered as a viable option what do you think the capital should be leave your thoughts in the comments below Swedish citizens can comprehend the region but have some trouble understanding Danish because of its pronunciation however difficulty may arise with integrating Finnish within a communal language as it's not a North Germanic language the Finnish language has its roots from the finnick language group which is a branch of the Uralic language family globally is estimated there are around twenty five point four million native speakers of these languages there would be nine million speakers of Swedish six million speakers of Danish 5.4 million speakers of Finnish 5 million Norwegian speakers 320,000 Icelandic speakers and 90,000 Faroese speakers if this coalition were to be preceded the decision of either remaining a monarchy or becoming a republic would need to be decided Denmark Sweden and Norway have a ruling monarch although they do not hold political significance or power and are often considered as a ceremonial head of state if these nordic countries were to unite they would likely dominate sporting events at the Winter Olympics become a major player in the FIFA World Cup Finland Sweden have proven to be great players in the sport of ice hockey Denmark and Sweden have competitive football teams normally tend to dominate skiing winning gold medals in speed skiing cross-country skiing ski jumping an alpine skiing in the 2018 Winter Olympics so if these nations United they would likely become a major player in the world of international sporting events this country would also boast a wide variety of natural wonders stunning location the aurora borealis commonly known as the Northern Lights can be seen in all Nordic countries except Denmark Aurora's are produced when the magnetosphere is sufficiently disturbed by the solar wind this natural phenomenon emits stunning lights of various color and complexity producing a stunning display for all to see Norway has some of the most greatest and most beautiful scenery in the form of these fuels all of which have their own unique characteristics the cities of Oslo Roskilde and Stockholm contain grand museums of the region's history in the form of the Vasa and Viking ship museums Iceland is one of the world's most active volcanic islands featuring new risk eise's volcanoes glaciers and is known as the land of ice and fire while Finland attracts a lot of tourism for as many lakes and natural beauty and is known as the land of lakes this newly formed country would also need to decide on a single flag design this may be adopting historic Kalmar Union Flag or creating an entirely new one perhaps by combining the current Nordic Flags currently all flags of these countries with the exception of Greenland contain the Nordic cross therefore it's highly likely this design would be featured all these countries also have a high life expectancy with Iceland ranking high 82.7 years eighty two point four for Sweden eighty one point four four Norway eighty one point one for Finland and eighty point six for Denmark all Nordic countries have highly developed hospital services and all have a universal public health system that is taxation based having discussed many of the benefits of living in these nations it must also be noted that residents are required to pay high taxes and not forgetting the difficulties of living within the northern hemisphere notably the long cold winters and lack of lights in many regions what do you think of this theoretical country do you think it would take the name from its historic past the kalmar union or come up with something completely new let us know your thoughts in the comments leave a like if you enjoyed this video and thank you all for watching

Channel: VC3 Productions

Views: 528,325

Rating: 4.834981 out of 5

Keywords: Nordic Countries, Scandinavia, united scandinavia, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Denmakr, Denmark, Education, facts, vc3 productions, what if

Id: vGRQLwwRvH8

Length: 10min 22sec (622 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 08 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/hvusslax]

The only union that Icelanders would ever accept would be with the Faroes. I'm not sure that feeling is mutual though.

As far as the other Nordics are concerned, we already have a good thing going with a pretty deep cooperation in many fields.

[u/Quatih]

There is already a movement of national socialists that wish this to be a thing, the Nordic Resistance Movement.

[u/hth6565]

Small correction - it is rare, but the Northern Lights can sometimes be seen from Denmark. I saw it vaguely on the horizon last month. Not anywhere near as awesome as it can be further north though.

I think a lot of Danes would be happy to replace the EU with a Nordic Union (that would have close ties to the EU). Not giving up our status as an independent country, but coordinating efforts on climate change, foreign policy, defense and so on - but not giving up NATO membership.

[u/Blomsterhagens]

Estonia, forever alone

[u/picardo85]

Finland doesn't have a minimum conscription time of 9 months. The Minimum is 6 months.

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A reserve army of 2.1 million sounds small. Finland Alone can crap out 2 million reserves over the time of a year...

[u/fanatical]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf1WT8VEZxk

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It's gonna take several generations for this to be even probable.

[u/Sartum]

Why leave out Svalbard? :(

[u/Hyddan92]

Still just an average German Bundesland.

[u/Hyddan92]

I nominate Flensburg for the Nordic Federal capital.