Provinces of Finland

Republic of Finland

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Finland

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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.

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.

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

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.

See also

• Regions of Finland
• Historical provinces of Finland
• Subdivisions of the Nordic countries
• ISO 3166-2:FI

Notes

External links

• State Provincial Offices – Official site

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