This survey represents a review of current knowledge concerning nickel and its compounds in the Finnish environment. Nickel, a naturally occurring element, is ubiquitous in the environment, especially in the divalent state. It was identified in the middle of the 18th century and its extraction process developed in the middle of the 19th century. In Finland, primary nickel production takes place by the direct high-grade nickel matte flash smelting process. Domestic production of nickel increased from 16 900 t in 1990 to 35 285 t in 1997. As a result of its versatile properties, more than 300 000 end-use applications of nickel have been reported. Its major use in Finland is in the production of stainless steel. In 1996 the release of nickel from industrial sources in Finland was as follows: 47 t to the atmosphere, 19 t to the aquatic environment, and 150 t to landfills and soils. The highest emissions stemmed from fuel-fired utility boilers. Nickel emissions to the atmosphere from the Harjavalta nickel smelter decreased from 7 t in 1993 to 1.2 t in 1996 as a result of technological developments and better gas cleaning equipment. In this study, nickel in the air, stream waters, soils, and lake and river sediments have been examined. It is noted that the background concentration of nickel in the air is about 0.5 ng·m-3, and nickel in stream water varies from 0.14 to 4.0 µg·L-1. There was no significant change of nickel concentration in arable lands between 1974 and 1987. In addition, nickel concentrations in terrestrial and aquatic species in Finland have been touched upon.Key words:nickel, occurrence, emissions, uses, Finnish environment.