Provinces of Finland

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Provinces of Finland

The state of Finland
Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a Nordic countries situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland....
consists of 6 provinces (Finnish

Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by Finnish people outside of Finland. It is one of the official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden....
: läänit, Swedish

Swedish language

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Finnish language

Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic languages language, spoken by around 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the coast and on the ?land islands....
: län). The provincial authority is part of the central government's executive branch, not directly elected. The system was created in 1634, and its makeup was changed drastically in 1997, when the number of the provinces was reduced from 12 to 6. This effectively made them purely administrative units, as linguistic and cultural boundaries do not follow the borders of the provinces. The provinces will be abolished altogether in 2010.

Since the late 19th century the state of Finland has been bilingual. Its governmental offices and agencies use both domestic languages in contacts with the public. Each province is led by a governor (maaherra, landshövding) who is appointed by the president on the recommendation of the cabinet. The governor is the head of the State Provincial Office (lääninhallitus, länsstyrelse), which acts as the joint regional authority for seven ministries in the following domains:

social services and health care
education and culture
police administration
rescue services
traffic administration
competition and consumer affairs
judicial administration

The official administrative subentities under the Provincial Office authorities are the Registry Offices (Finnish maistraatti, Swedish magistrat). Formerly there was a division to state local districts (Finnish kihlakunta, Swedish härad), which were districts for police, prosecution, and bailiff services, but there was reorganization such that 24 police districts were founded. These do not necessarily correspond to municipal level (municipality, sub-region, region) divisions of the country.

No.	Provinces	Finnish and Swedish names	Residence city	Largest city	Population (2003)	Area (km²)	Merged Provinces (1997)
1.	Southern Finland Southern Finland The Province of Southern Finland is a Provinces of Finland of Finland. It borders the provinces of Western Finland and Eastern Finland. It also borders the Gulf of Finland and Russia....	Etelä-Suomen lääni Södra Finlands län	Hämeenlinna Hämeenlinna H?meenlinna is a List of cities and towns in Finland and Municipalities of Finland of about inhabitants in the heart of the historical province of Tavastia in the south of Finland.... Tavastehus	Helsinki Helsinki Helsinki is the Capital and largest List of cities and towns in Finland of Finland. It is in the southern part of Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea....	2,116,914	34,378	Uusimaa, Kymi Province of Kymi The Province of Kymi was a Provinces of Finland of Finland from 1947 to 1997.The Province of Kymi was the remainder of the territory from the Province of Viipuri after the main part was left to Russia at the Moscow Armistice in 1944.... , Häme
2.	Western Finland Western Finland The Province of Western Finland is a Provinces of Finland of Finland. It borders the provinces of Oulu , Eastern Finland and Southern Finland. It also borders the Gulf of Bothnia towards ?land....	Länsi-Suomen lääni Västra Finlands län	Turku Turku Turku is a List of towns in Finland situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of Aura river. It is located in the region of Finland Proper in the Province of Western Finland.... Åbo	Tampere Tampere Tampere is a city in southern Finland located between two lakes, N?sij?rvi and Pyh?j?rvi . Since the two lakes differ in level by , the rapids linking them, Tammerkoski, have been an important power source throughout history, most recently for generating electricity....	1,848,269	74,185	Vaasa, Turku-Pori, Central Finland Province of Central Finland The Province of Central Finland was a Provinces of Finland of Finland from 1960 to 1997.It was established in 1960 when it was separated from the Province of Vaasa.... , Häme
3.	Eastern Finland Eastern Finland The Province of Eastern Finland is a Provinces of Finland of Finland. It borders the provinces of Oulu Province, Western Finland and Southern Finland....	Itä-Suomen lääni Östra Finlands län	Mikkeli Mikkeli Mikkeli is a List of towns in Finland and municipalities of Finland in Finland. It is located in the provinces of Finland of Eastern Finland and is part of the Southern Savonia regions of Finland.... S:t Michel	Kuopio Kuopio Kuopio is a Finland city and municipality located in the province of Eastern Finland and the region of Northern Savonia. A population of makes it the ninth biggest city in the country....	582,781	48,726	Kuopio, North Karelia Province of Northern Karelia The Province of Northern Karelia was a Provinces of Finland of Finland from 1960 to 1997.It was established in 1960 when it was separated from the Province of Kuopio.... , Mikkeli
4.	Oulu Oulu Province The Province of Oulu is a Provinces of Finland of Finland. It borders the provinces of Lapland, Finland, Western Finland and Eastern Finland. It also borders the Gulf of Bothnia and Russia....	Oulun lääni Uleåborgs län	Oulu Oulu Oulu is a List of cities and towns in Finland and Municipalities of Finland of inhabitants in the Provinces of Finland of Oulu and the region of Northern Ostrobothnia, in Finland.... Uleåborg	Oulu	458,504	57,000	No changes
5.	Lapland	Lapin lääni Lapplands län	Rovaniemi Rovaniemi Rovaniemi is a List of cities and towns in Finland and Municipalities of Finland of Finland. It is the administrative Capital and the centre of commerce of Finland's northernmost Province, Lapland, Finland.... Rovaniemi	Rovaniemi	186,917	98,946	No changes
6.	Åland Åland The ?land Islands form an archipelago in the Baltic Sea. It is situated at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia and forms an Federacy, Demilitarized zone, Monoglottism Swedish language Provinces of Finland, Regions of Finland and historical provinces of Finland of Finland.... ¹	Ahvenanmaan lääni Ålands län²	Mariehamn Mariehamn Mariehamn is the Capital of ?land, an autonomous territory under Finland sovereignty. Mariehamn is the seat of the Government of ?land and Parliament of ?land, and 40% of the population of ?land live in the city.... ² Maarianhamina	Mariehamn	26,000	6,784	No changes

1/ Some duties, which in Mainland Finland

Mainland Finland

'Mainland Finland' is a term used for instance in statistics to exclude the Autonomous entity ?land Islands under Finland sovereignty. Mainland Finland is not to be confused with Finland Proper, which is the Historical provinces of Finland adjacent to ?land....
are handled by the provinces, are on the Åland Islands transferred to the autonomous Government of Åland

Government of Åland

The Landskapsregering, is the government of ?land, an autonomous territory of Finland. The government is led by a Lantr?d, the premier of ?land, who is elected by the Parliament of ?land, the parliament of ?land....
.
2/ The Åland Islands are unilingually Swedish.

Former provinces

Former provinces of the Republic of Finland that existed between 1917 and 1997, unless stated otherwise.

Province of Central Finland
Province of Central Finland

The Province of Central Finland was a Provinces of Finland of Finland from 1960 to 1997.It was established in 1960 when it was separated from the Province of Vaasa....
(), 1960–1997
Province of Häme ()
Province of Kuopio ()
Province of Kymi
Province of Kymi

The Province of Kymi was a Provinces of Finland of Finland from 1947 to 1997.The Province of Kymi was the remainder of the territory from the Province of Viipuri after the main part was left to Russia at the Moscow Armistice in 1944....
(), 1947–1997
Province of Mikkeli ()
Province of Northern Karelia
Province of Northern Karelia

The Province of Northern Karelia was a Provinces of Finland of Finland from 1960 to 1997.It was established in 1960 when it was separated from the Province of Kuopio....
(), 1960–1997
Province of Pechenga
Province of Pechenga

The Province of Pechenga was a Provinces of Finland of Finland from 1921 to 1922.It was established in 1921 when Bolshevist Russia ceded the area of Pechenga to Finland....
(), 1921
Province of Turku and Pori ()
Province of Uusimaa ()
Province of Vaasa ()
Province of Viipuri (), 1917–1947

The division survives in telephone numbering areas and electoral districts. The exception is Helsinki. There is a telephone numbering area that comprises Greater Helsinki (code 09). In contrast, only the city of Helsinki proper comprises the electoral district of Helsinki, the rest of Greater Helsinki belonging to the Uusimaa electoral district.

External links

Official site

Provinces of Finland

Former provinces

See also

External links