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Regions of Finland

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Summary

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Field	Value
name	Regions
fi
sv
map	Regions of Finland labelled EN.svg
category	Unitary state
territory	Finland
current_number	19
population_range	30,344 (Åland) — 1,714,741 (Uusimaa)
area_range	1,553 km2 (Åland) — 92,674 km2 (Lapland)
government	Regional council
subdivision	Municipality

fi sv

Finland is divided into 19 regions (; ) which are governed by regional councils that serve as forums of cooperation for the municipalities of each region. The councils are composed of delegates from the municipal councils. The main tasks of regional councils are regional planning, the development of enterprises, and education. Between 2004 and 2012, the regional council of Kainuu was elected via popular elections as part of an experimental regional administration.

In 2022, new Wellbeing services counties were established as part of a health care and social services reform. The wellbeing services counties follow the regional borders, and are governed by directly elected county councils.

Åland

One region, Åland, has a special status and has a much higher degree of autonomy than the others, with its own Parliament and local laws, due to its unique history and the fact that the overwhelming majority of its people are Finland Swedes. The sole language of Åland is Swedish/Finland Swedish, unlike the rest of the country where Finnish and Swedish share official status. It has its own elected head of government who carries the title of Premier and heads the Lantråd, the regional executive. Most powers that would be exercised by the Government of Finland on the mainland are instead exercised by Åland-specific authorities which execute independent policy in most areas. The Åland islanders elect a single representative to the national legislature, while the Government of Finland appoints a Governor to represent the national government on Åland. Åland is a demilitarized zone and Åland islanders are exempt from conscription.

Representation of the state

In addition to inter-municipal cooperation, which is the responsibility of regional councils, there are 15 Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (, abbreviated ely-keskus), which are responsible for the local administration of labour, agriculture, fisheries, forestry and entrepreneurial affairs. They are each responsible for one or more of regions of Finland, and include offices of the Ministries of Employment and the Economy, Transport and Communications and Environment. The Finnish Defence Forces regional offices are responsible for the regional defence preparations and for the administration of conscription within the region.

List of regions

Flag	Coat of arms	English name	Finnish name	Swedish name	ISO	Capital	Area
(km2)	Population
(2021)	Density (per km2)
	[[File:Lapin_maakunnan_vaakuna.svg	54x54px	Lapland]]	Lapland	Lappi	Lappland	FI-10	Rovaniemi	92,674	176,494	1.90
	[[File:Pohjois-Pohjanmaan_vaakuna.svg	46x46px	North Ostrobothnia]]	North Ostrobothnia	Pohjois-Pohjanmaa	Norra Österbotten	FI-14	Oulu	36,815	415,603	11.29
[[File:Flag_of_Kainuu.svg	40x40px	Kainuu]]	[[File:Kainuu.vaakuna.svg	47x47px	Kainuu]]	Kainuu	Kainuu	Kajanaland	FI-05	Kajaani	20,197	71,255	3.53
[[File:North_karelia_flag.svg	40x40px	North Karelia]]	[[File:Pohjois-Karjala.vaakuna.svg	42x42px	North Karelia]]	North Karelia	Pohjois-Karjala	Norra Karelen	FI-13	Joensuu	17,761	163,281	9.19
[[File:Flag_of_Northern_Savonia.svg	40x40px	North Savo]]	[[File:Pohjois-Savo.vaakuna.svg	46x46px	North Savo]]	North Savo		Pohjois-Savo	Norra Savolax	FI-15	Kuopio	16,768	248,363	14.81
[[File:Flag_of_South_Savonia.svg	40x40px	South Savo]]	[[File:Etelä-Savo.vaakuna.svg	46x46px	South Savo]]	South Savo	Etelä-Savo	Södra Savolax	FI-04	Mikkeli	14,257	131,688	9.24
	[[File:Etelä-Karjala.vaakuna.svg	46x46px	South Karelia]]	South Karelia	Etelä-Karjala	Södra Karelen	FI-02	Lappeenranta	5,327	126,107	23.67
[[File:Keski-suomi_lippu.svg	40x40px	Central Finland]]	[[File:Keski-Suomi_Coat_of_Arms.svg	40x40px	Central Finland]]	Central Finland	Keski-Suomi	Mellersta Finland	FI-08	Jyväskylä	16,703	272,683	16.33
[[File:Flag_of_Southern_Ostrobothnia.svg	40x40px	South Ostrobothnia]]	[[File:Etelä-Pohjanmaan_maakunnan_vaakuna.svg	56x56px	South Ostrobothnia]]	South Ostrobothnia	Etelä-Pohjanmaa	Södra Österbotten	FI-03	Seinäjoki	13,444	191,762	14.26
	[[File:Pohjanmaan_maakunnan_vaakuna.svg	47x47px	Ostrobothnia]]	Ostrobothnia	Pohjanmaa	Österbotten	FI-12	Vaasa	7,753	176,041	22.71
[[File:Keski-Pohjanmaa.lippu.svg	40x40px	Central Ostrobothnia]]	[[File:Keski-Pohjanmaa.vaakuna.svg	51x51px	Central Ostrobothnia]]	Central Ostrobothnia	Keski-Pohjanmaa	Mellersta Österbotten	FI-07	Kokkola	5,020	67,915	13.53
[[File:Flag_of_Pirkanmaa.svg	40x40px	Pirkanmaa]]	[[File:Pirkanmaa.vaakuna.svg	41x41px	Pirkanmaa]]	Pirkanmaa	Pirkanmaa	Birkaland	FI-11	Tampere	12,585	527,478	41.91
[[File:Satakunta-flag.svg	40x40px	Satakunta]]	[[File:Satakunta.vaakuna.svg	56x56px	Satakunta]]	Satakunta	Satakunta	Satakunta	FI-17	Pori	7,820	214,281	27.40
[[File:Päijät-Häme.lippu.svg	53x53px	Päijät-Häme]]	[[File:Päijät-Häme.vaakuna.svg	47x47px	Päijät-Häme]]	Päijät-Häme	Päijät-Häme	Päijänne-Tavastland	FI-16	Lahti	5,125	205,124	40.02
[[File:Flag_of_Tavastia_Proper.svg	40x40px	Kanta-Häme]]	[[File:Kanta-Häme.vaakuna.svg	48x48px	Kanta-Häme]]	Kanta-Häme	Kanta-Häme	Egentliga Tavastland	FI-06	Hämeenlinna	5,199	170,213	32.74
	[[File:Kymenlaakson_maakunnan_vaakuna.svg	44x44px	Kymenlaakso]]	Kymenlaakso	Kymenlaakso	Kymmenedalen	FI-09	Kotka and Kouvola	5,149	161,391	31.34
[[File:Flag_of_Uusimaa.svg	40x40px	Uusimaa]]	[[File:Uusimaa.vaakuna.svg	47x47px	Uusimaa]]	Uusimaa	Uusimaa	Nyland	FI-18	Helsinki	9,097	1,714,741	188.50
	[[File:Varsinais-Suomen.vaakuna.svg	55x55px	Southwest Finland]]	Southwest Finland	Varsinais-Suomi	Egentliga Finland	FI-19	Turku	10,663	483,477	45.34
[[File:Flag_of_Åland.svg	40x40px	Åland]]	[[File:Coat of arms of Åland 3.svg	55x55px	Åland]]	Åland	Ahvenanmaa	Åland	AX and
FI-01	Mariehamn	1,553	30,344	19.54

Former region

Regions of Finland in 2000.

Coat of arms	Name	Official English name	Finnish name	Swedish name	Capital	Dissolution (date)
[[File:Itä-Uusimaa.vaakuna.svg	40px]]	Eastern Uusimaa	Itä-Uusimaa	Itä-Uusimaa	Östra Nyland	Porvoo	1 January 2011

Regional border changes

Border changes between the regions:

1997

Kiikoinen transferred from Pirkanmaa to Satakunta.

2001

Kuorevesi transferred from Pirkanmaa to Central Finland by merging with Jämsä.

2002

Kangaslampi transferred from South Savo to North Savo.

2005

Punkalaidun transferred from Satakunta to Pirkanmaa.

2007

Längelmäki merged with Orivesi in Pirkanmaa and Jämsä in Central Finland.

2010

Himanka transferred from Central Ostrobothnia to North Ostrobothnia by merging with Kalajoki.
Part of Ruotsinpyhtää in Eastern Uusimaa transferred to Pyhtää in Kymenlaakso.

2013

Kiikoinen transferred from Satakunta to Pirkanmaa by merging with Sastamala.
Suomenniemi transferred from South Karelia to South Savo by merging with Mikkeli.

2016

Vaala transferred from Kainuu to North Ostrobothnia.

2021

Heinävesi transferred from South Savo to North Karelia.
Iitti transferred from Kymenlaakso to Päijät-Häme.
Isokyrö transferred from Ostrobothnia to South Ostrobothnia.
Joroinen transferred from South Savo to North Savo.
Kuhmoinen transferred from Central Finland to Pirkanmaa.

Notes

References

"Sátnegirjjit, ''Dictionaries of Finnish, Swedish, the Sami Languages, English and Russian''".
(17 December 2012). "Historiallinen maakuntahallinto opetti valtiota".
"Health and social services reform". Finnish Government.
"Suomen hallintorakenteeseen ja maakuntauudistukseen liittyviä termejä sekä maakuntien ja kuntien nimet fi-sv-en-(ru)".
"Municipal key figures / With the 2021 regional division / Municipal key figures". [[Statistics Finland]].
"Regions of Finland 2010".
(22 October 2009). "Valtioneuvosto päätti Uudenmaan ja Itä-Uudenmaan maakuntien yhdistämisestä". Ministry of Finance.
"Statistics Finland".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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