The municipalities (kunta in Finnish, kommun in Swedish) represent the local level of administration in Finland and act as the fundamental administrative units of the country. Municipalities have the right to levy a flat percentual tax, which is between 16 and 20 percent, which makes up two thirds of the total tax burden. Municipalities control many community services, such as schools, health care and the water supply. They do not maintain roads, set laws or keep police forces, which tasks are the responsibility of the central government. A municipality is governed by an elected council (kunnanvaltuusto, kommunfullmäktige), which is legally autonomous and answers only to the voters. The size of the council is proportional to the population, the extremes being 9 in Sottunga and 85 in Helsinki. Municipal managers (kaupunginjohtaja, stadsdirektör for cities, kunnanjohtaja, kommunsdirektör for other municipalities) are civil servants named by the council. There are no mayors in the English sense in Finland, although the city manager of Helsinki is called ylipormestari "Lord Mayor" for historical reasons. Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Finland consists of 6 provinces (Finnish: läänit, Swedish: län). ... The Governor, Maaherra, or Landshövding, of a province of Finland heads the activities of the State Provincial Office, Lääninhallitus, or Länsstyrelse. ... Finland is divided into 20 regions (maakunta/landskap in Finnish/Swedish). ... In 2005 Finland is divided into 77 sub-regions (seutukunta in Finnish, ekonomisk region in Swedish). ... This is a listing in alphabetical order of the current municipalities in Finland as of 2005. ... This is a list of the municipalities of Finland sorted by population as of 2003: Helsinki (Helsingfors), 559716 (Helsinki Metropolitan Area 971825) Espoo (Esbo), 221597 Tampere (Tammerfors), 200104 Vantaa (Vanda), 181890 Turku (Åbo), 174618 Oulu (Uleåborg), 124588 Lahti (Lahtis), 97968 Kuopio, 87821 Jyväskylä, 81110 Pori (Björneborg), 75895... This is a list of the municipalities of Finland sorted by area as of 2003: 17321,32 km²: Inari/Enare 12416,81 km²: Sodankylä 8463,59 km²: Enontekiö/Enontekis 8411,79 km²: Kittilä 7915,51 km²: Rovaniemen_mlk/Rovaniemi_lk 6470,65 km²: Savukoski 5878,00 km²: Salla 5865,79 km²: Pudasj... The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics of Finland are used for statistical purposes in a European Union context. ... The ISO 3166-2 codes for Finland cover 6 provinces. ... A tax is a compulsory charge or other levy imposed on an individual or a legal entity by a state or a functional equivalent of a state (e. ... Sottunga is a municipality of Åland, an autonomous territory of Finland. ... Province Southern Finland Region Uusimaa Sub-region Helsinki City manager Jussi Pajunen Official languages Finnish, Swedish Area  - total  - land ranked 342nd 185. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... A mayor (from the Latin maÄ«or, meaning larger,greater) is the politician who serves as chief executive official of some types of municipalities. ...

As of 2005, there are 432 municipalities in Finland. Of these 114 are cities, 44 are bilingual and 3 are unilingually Finland-Swedish, and 16 are in the autonomous province of Åland. In population, the median is 4723 (Taipalsaari), the extremes being 132 (Sottunga) and 559716 (Helsinki). Although there are exceptions, the line between a city and a small town or rural municipality can be drawn at Hamina with 21720 inhabitants. In the population ranking, above Hamina there are only cities (and their surrounding areas). The areas of the municipalities vary, as the population is the primary criterion for forming a municipality. The largest are found in Lapland, of which the largest is Inari at 17321 km² (130 km square). The smallest municipalities are very small towns. Kaskinen is an independent town with the area of only 10 km² (3 km square). Kauniainen, which was originally a corporation in Espoo, is only 6 km² (2,5 km square). 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Montreal skyline at night For alternate meanings see city (disambiguation) A city is an urban area that is differentiated from a town, village, or hamlet by size, population density, importance, or legal status. ... The term bilingualism (from bi meaning two and lingua meaning language) can refer to rather different phenomena. ... ... National motto: none Official language Swedish Capital Mariehamn Governor Peter Lindbäck Premier Roger Nordlund Total Area  - Land  - Water 6,784 km² 1,527 km² 5,258 km² Population  - Total (2005)  - Density 26,711 17. ... Taipalsaari is a municipality of Finland. ... Sottunga is a municipality of Åland, an autonomous territory of Finland. ... Province Southern Finland Region Uusimaa Sub-region Helsinki City manager Jussi Pajunen Official languages Finnish, Swedish Area  - total  - land ranked 342nd 185. ... Hamina, or Fredrikshamn in Swedish, is one of Finlands most important harbors. ... The name may refer to one of the folloing. ... Kaskinen (Kaskö in Swedish) is a municipality of Finland. ... Kauniainen (IPA: /ˈkÉ‘uniÉ‘iËŒnen/; Grankulla in Swedish) is a small town of 8,426 inhabitants (as of March 2005) in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Finland. ... A corporation is a legal entity (distinct from a natural person) that often has similar rights in law to those of a Civil law systems may refer to corporations as moral persons; they may also go by the name AS (anonymous society) or something similar, depending on language (see below). ... Location within Finland Espoo (IPA: ; Esbo in Swedish) is a city on the Southern coast of Finland. ...

Municipalities were originally parishes. The old word for a municipality is pitäjä, 'keeper', because when the system was instituted, one municipality kept one minister. Furthermore, there was a system of tax areas, which was not necessarily convergent. Furthermore, cities were chartered separately. Until 1977 municipalities were divided into cities (kaupunki, stad), market towns (kauppala, köping) and rural municipalities (maalaiskunta, landskommun). The market towns were abolished and renamed as cities. The rest of the municipalities were classified as 'other municipalities'. From 1995 onwards only 'municipality' is recognized by law and any municipality is allowed to call itself a city if it so wishes. A parish is a type of administrative subdivision. ... A Royal Charter is a charter given by a monarch to legitimize an incorporated body, such as a city, company, university or such. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

There is currently a heated political debate in Finland about reforming the municipalities structure - essentially, the high amount of municipalities is seen as detrimental to the provision of public services, and there have been suggestions of reducing it. A workgroup led by Minister for Regional and Municipal Affairs Hannes Manninen has suggested creating a two-tier system of municipalities with different powers, while the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities (Kuntaliitto) favours a system where municipalities would be units of at least 20,000-30,000 inhabitants (as opposed to the current situation where they may only have a few hundred people, like for instance Sottunga and Velkua). The motion has been inspired by a similar reform in Denmark (see Municipalities of Denmark). Hannes Manninen (born December 20, 1946 in Kuusamo) is a Finnish politician of the Centre Party. ... Sottunga is a municipality of Åland, an autonomous territory of Finland. ... Velkua is a municipality of Finland. ... Denmark is divided into 13 counties (amter), and 271 municipalities (kommuner). ...

Municipalities by regions

• Municipalities of Central Finland
• Municipalities of Finland Proper
• Municipalities of Kainuu
• Municipalities of Kymenlaakso
• Municipalities of Lapland
• Municipalities of North Karelia
• Municipalities of South Karelia
• Municipalities of Ostrobothnia
• Municipalities of Central Ostrobothnia
• Municipalities of Northern Ostrobothnia
• Municipalities of Southern Ostrobothnia
• Municipalities of Pirkanmaa
• Municipalities of Satakunta
• Municipalities of Northern Savonia
• Municipalities of Southern Savonia
• Municipalities of Tavastia Proper
• Municipalities of Päijänne Tavastia
• Municipalities of Uusimaa
• Municipalities of Eastern Uusimaa
• Municipalities of Åland

The 30 municipalities of the Central Finland Region in Finland are divided on seven districts. ... The 54 municipalities of the Finland Proper Region in Finland are divided on five districts. ... The 10 municipalities of the Kainuu Region in Finland are divided on two districts. ... The 12 municipalities of the Kymenlaakso Region in Finland are divided on two districts. ... The 22 municipalities of Lapland in Finland are divided on five districts: Rovaniemi District Ranua Rovaniemi Rovaniemen maalaiskunta Kemi-Tornio District Kemi Keminmaa Simo Tervola Tornio (Torneå) Tornio Valley District Pello Ylitornio (Övertorneå) Eastern Lapland Kemijärvi Pelkosenniemi Posio Salla Savukoski Tunturi Lapland Enontekiö Kittilä Kolari Muonio Northern Lapland Inari... The 19 municipalities of North Karelia in Finland are divided on five districts: Joensuu District Eno Joensuu Kiihtelysvaara Kontiolahti Liperi Outokumpu Polvijärvi Pyhäselkä Ilomantsi District Ilomantsi (Ilomants) Tuupovaara Middle Karelia Kesälahti Kitee Rääkkylä Tohmajärvi Värtsilä Pielisen Karelia Juuka Lieksa Nurmes Valtimo See also Eastern... The 14 municipalities of South Karelia in Finland are divided on four districts: Lappeenranta District Joutseno Lappeenranta (Villmansstrand) Western Saimaa Lemi Luumäki Savitaipale Suomenniemi Taipalsaari Ylämaa Imatra District Imatra Parikkala Rautjärvi Ruokolahti See also Southern Finland Regions of Southern Finland Categories: Karelia ... The 18 municipalities of the Ostrobothnia Region in Finland are divided on four districts. ... The 12 municipalities of Central Ostrobothnia in Finland are divided on two districts. ... The 40 municipalities of Northern Ostrobothnia in Finland are divided on seven districts. ... The 27 municipalities of Southern Ostrobothnia in Finland are divided on six districts. ... The 33 municipalities of Pirkanmaa in Finland are divided into six districts. ... The 28 municipalities of the Satakunta Region in Finland are divided on four districts. ... The 25 municipalities of Northern Savonia in Finland are divided on five districts. ... The 22 municipalities of Southern Savonia in Finland are divided on four districts. ... The 16 municipalities of Tavastia Proper in Finland are divided on three districts: Hämeenlinna District Hattula Hauho Hämeenlinna (Tavastehus) Janakkala Kalvola Lammi Renko Tuulos Riihimäki District Hausjärvi Loppi Riihimäki Forssa District Forssa Humppila Jokioinen Tammela Ypäjä See also Southern Finland Regions of Southern Finland... The 12 municipalities of Päijänne Tavastia in Finland are divided on two sub-regions: Lahti Sub-region Artjärvi (Artsjö) Asikkala Hollola Hämeenkoski Kärkölä Lahti (Lahtis) Nastola Orimattila Padasjoki Heinola Sub-region Hartola Heinola Sysmä See also Southern Finland Regions of Southern Finland Category: Municipalities... The 24 municipalities of the Uusimaa Region in Finland are divided on three sub-regions: Helsinki Sub-region Espoo (Esbo) Helsinki (Helsingfors) Vantaa (Vanda) Hyvinkää Järvenpää Kauniainen (Grankulla) Kerava Kirkkonummi (Kyrkslätt) Mäntsälä Nurmijärvi Pornainen Siuntio (SjundeÃ¥) Tuusula (Tusby) Lohja Sub-region Karjalohja Karkkila Lohja (Lojo... The 10 municipalities of Eastern Uusimaa in Finland are divided on two sub-regions: Porvoo Sub-region Askola Myrskylä (Mörskom) Pukkila Porvoo (BorgÃ¥) Sipoo (Sibbo) Loviisa Sub-region Lapinjärvi (Lappträsk) Liljendal Loviisa (Lovisa) PernÃ¥ (Pernaja) Ruotsinpyhtää (Strömfors) See also Eastern Uusimaa Southern Finland Regions of Southern... The 16 municipalities of the Ã…land Islands are divided on three districts: Mariehamn, the country side and the archipelago. ...

External links