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Finland, a country of about 5.6 million people, has an estimated two to three million saunas, depending on how they are counted.

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Counts vary: tallies of saunas in registered homes run above 2 million, while broader counts that add summer cottages, offices and public saunas pass 3 million. Most Finnish homes have one, and many blocks of flats share a sauna that residents book in turns. For Finns the sauna is a place to wash, rest and talk. It is traditionally heated with wood, and water thrown on the hot stones makes a burst of steam called löyly. In 2020 UNESCO added sauna culture in Finland to its list of the world's intangible cultural heritage. The popular line that Finland has more saunas than cars is less a statistic than a sign of how ordinary the sauna is there.

Türkçe oku
Yaklaşık 5,6 milyon kişinin yaşadığı Finlandiya'da, sayım yöntemine göre 2 milyon ile 3 milyonun üzerinde sauna olduğu tahmin ediliyor.

Sayımlar kaynağa göre değişir: kayıtlı konutlardaki saunalar 2 milyonu geçer; yazlık kulübeler, iş yerleri ve halka açık saunalar da eklenince sayı 3 milyonu aşar. Fin evlerinin çoğunda sauna vardır; birçok apartmanda da sakinlerin sırayla kullandığı ortak bir sauna bulunur. Finler için sauna yıkanmanın yanı sıra dinlenme ve sohbet yeridir. Geleneksel olarak odunla ısıtılır; kızgın taşlara dökülen su, löyly denen bir buhar dalgası çıkarır. UNESCO, Finlandiya'daki sauna kültürünü 2020'de İnsanlığın Somut Olmayan Kültürel Mirası listesine aldı. “Finlandiya'da arabadan çok sauna var” sözü ise bir istatistikten çok, saunanın orada ne kadar gündelik olduğunu anlatır.

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Background reading: Finnish sauna
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