Provinces of Finland Information & Provinces of Finland Links at HealthHaven.com

The state of Finland consists of 6 provinces (Finnish: läänit, Swedish: 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.^[1]

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 usually encompass multiple municipalities.

Provinces govern only state offices, such as the police. Most services, such as healthcare and maintenance of local streets, are the responsibility of municipalities of Finland.

No.	Provinces	Finnish and Swedish names	Residence city	Largest city	Population (2003)	Area (km²)	Merged Provinces (1997)
1.	Southern Finland	Etelä-Suomen lääni Södra Finlands län	Hämeenlinna Tavastehus	Helsinki	2,116,914	34,378	Uusimaa, Kymi, Häme
2.	Western Finland	Länsi-Suomen lääni Västra Finlands län	Turku Åbo	Tampere	1,848,269	74,185	Vaasa, Turku-Pori, Central Finland, Häme
3.	Eastern Finland	Itä-Suomen lääni Östra Finlands län	Mikkeli S:t Michel	Kuopio	582,781	48,726	Kuopio, North Karelia, Mikkeli
4.	Oulu	Oulun lääni Uleåborgs län	Oulu Uleåborg	Oulu	458,504	57,000	No changes
5.	Lapland	Lapin lääni Lapplands län	Rovaniemi Rovaniemi	Rovaniemi	186,917	98,946	No changes
6.	Åland¹	Ahvenanmaan lääni Ålands län²	Mariehamn² Maarianhamina	Mariehamn	26,000	6,784	No changes

1/ Some duties, which in Mainland Finland are handled by the provinces, are on the Åland Islands transferred to the autonomous Government of Åland.
2/ The Åland Islands are unilingually Swedish.

[edit] Former provinces

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

Province of Central Finland (Finnish: Keski-Suomen lääni, Swedish: Mellersta Finlands län), 1960–1997
Province of Häme (Finnish: Hämeen lääni, Swedish: Tavastehus län)
Province of Kuopio (Finnish: Kuopion lääni, Swedish: Kuopio län)
Province of Kymi (Finnish: Kymen lääni, Swedish: Kymmene län), 1947–1997
Province of Mikkeli (Finnish: Mikkelin lääni, Swedish: St. Michels län)
Province of Northern Karelia (Finnish: Pohjois-Karjalan lääni, Swedish: Norra Karelens län), 1960–1997
Province of Pechenga (Finnish: Petsamon lääni, Swedish: Petsamo län), 1921
Province of Turku and Pori (Finnish: Turun ja Porin lääni, Swedish: Åbo och Björneborgs län)
Province of Uusimaa (Finnish: Uudenmaan lääni, Swedish: Nylands län)
Province of Vaasa (Finnish: Vaasan lääni, Swedish: Vasa län)
Province of Viipuri (Finnish: Viipurin lääni, Swedish: Viborgs län), 1917–1947

In 1634, these administratives provinces were formed in Sweden and Finland. They have been changed over time, escecially 1831, so they are not the same as those existing in the Republic after 1917.

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.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

^ "Kiviniemi: Läänit lakkautetaan 2010" (in Finnish). Yle Uutiset. 25 March 2008. http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/24h/id86191.html. Retrieved 25 March 2008.

[edit] External links

State Provincial Offices – Official site

[0] "Kiviniemi: Läänit lakkautetaan 2010" (in Finnish). Yle Uutiset. 25 March 2008. http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/24h/id86191.html. Retrieved 25 March 2008.

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