Finland's Social Democrats elected a 34-year-old former transport minister to the post of prime minister in 2019, making her the youngest head of government in the country's history.

Sanna Marin was born on November 16, 1985.

Sanna Marin narrowly won the vote to replace outgoing leader Antti Rinne, who resigned after losing the confidence of the coalition partner Centre Party over his handling of a postal strike.

"We have a lot of work to do to rebuild trust," Marin said, while deflecting questions about her age.

"I have never thought about my age or gender, I think of the reasons I got into politics and those things for which we have won the trust of the electorate," she said.

At 34, Marin also becomes one of the world's youngest state leaders, ahead of Ukraine's prime minister Oleksiy Honcharuk, who is currently 35.

Former PM Antti Rinne had headed Finland's centre-left five-party coalition since June, and Marin's appointment is unlikely to lead to significant policy changes by the Social Democrat-led administration. "We have a shared government programme which we have committed to," Marin said.

Marin joins a small group of female leaders who have sought to counteract the rise of populism. That group includes Slovakian President Zuzana Caputova, 46, a progressive whose election this year bucked the trend of populism and nationalism in Central Europe.

A lawmaker since 2015, Marin is the party's vice chairwoman and was minister for transport and communications in the outgoing government.

And like New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern who is 39 Marin is a new mother, having given birth to a daughter in 2018.

Marin will be Finland's third female government leader. Women have been present in politics in the Nordic region for decades and today represent half of the party leaders in Sweden.

Four of Denmark's nine parties are headed by women.

Sanna Marin along with Finnish singer and songwriter, Alma.  

Marin graduated from the Pirkkala High School in 2004 at 19. She graduated from the University of Tampere with a Master of Administrative Sciences in 2017.

She joined the Social Democratic Youth in 2006 and served as its first Vice President from 2010 to 2012.