Provinces of Finland

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|} The state of Finland divides its organization into 6 provinces (Finnish: läänit, Swedish: län). The provincial authority is part of the central government's executive branch, and as such, not directly democratically controlled. 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 the linguistic or cultural variations do not follow the borders of the provinces. Provincial authority does not have elected political organs, which are the municipal councils and the Parliament of Finland.

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. Each province is led by a governor (maaherra, landshövding) who is appointed by the president after a proposal by the cabinet. The governor is the head of the State Provincial Office (lääninhallitus, länsstyrelse) which act 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), and State Local Districts (Finnish kihlakunta, Swedish härad), which are districts for police, prosecution, and bailiff services. These do not necessarily correspond to municipal level (municipality, sub-region, region) divisions of the country.

The Governor's post is widely known as a post for "disposal" of retiring politicians.

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

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

External links

[State Provincial Offices] - Official site

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Provinces of Finland

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