Talk:Provinces of Finland/Different version

Provinces of Finland

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Finland consists of 6 provinces (läänit/län), following a 1997 redesign that reduced their number from 12. The province authority is part of the central government's executive branch; a system that hasn't changed drastically since its creation in 1634.

The State of Finland is since the late 19th century bilingual. Its governmental offices and agencies use both domestic languages in contacts with the public

Provinces of Finland
Provinces of Finland
Name of Provinces Finnish/Swedish name Residence city Population Area in km² Old Province(s)
1. Southern Finland Etelä-Suomen lääni/Södra Finlands län Hämeenlinna, Tavastehus 2 000 000 34 378 Uusimaa, Kymi and (Southern-)Häme
2. Western Finland Länsi-Suomen lääni/Västra Finlands län Turku, Åbo 184 000 74 185 Vaasa, Turku-Pori, Keski-Soumi and (Northern-)Häme
3. Eastern Finland Itä-Suomen lääni/Östra Finlands län Mikkeli, S:t Michel 588 000 48 726 Kuopio, Pohjois-Karelien and Mikkeli
4. Oulu(some it is called Oulu-land) Oulun lääni/Uleåborgs län Oulu, Uleåborg 455 000 57 000 Oulu
5. Lapland Lapin lääni/Lapplands län Rovaniemi 188 000 98 946 Lapland
6. Åland¹ Ahvenanmaan lääni ²/Ålands län Mariehamn, Maarianhamina ² 26 000 6 784 Åland

¹ Some duties, which on 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.

Each province has a State Provincial Office (Lääninhallitus/Länsstyrelse) which act as the joint regional authority for seven ministries in the following domains:

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

Each State Provincial Office authority is led by a Governor (Maaherra/Landshövding) who is appointed by the president after a proposal by the cabinet.