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Finland consists of 6 provinces (Finnish: läänit, Swedish: län). The provincial authority is part of the central government's executive branch. It is not democratically controlled except through the national parliament and the President of Finland. 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. 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, assessment and attorney 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 | 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. Image File history File links Suomen_laanit. ...
The Province of Southern Finland is a province of Finland. ...
Hämeenlinna or Tavastehus in Swedish is a municipality and city of about 47,000 inhabitants in the heart of the historical province of Häme in the south of Finland. ...
The Province of Western Finland is a province of Finland. ...
Province Western Finland Region Finland Proper Sub-region Turku City manager Mikko Pukkinen Official languages Finnish, Swedish Area - total - land ranked 311th 245. ...
Pirkanmaa, or the Tampere Region (official English name), is a region (maakunta / landskap) of Finland. ...
The Province of Eastern Finland is a province of Finland. ...
The city of Mikkeli Mikkeli or S:t Michel in Swedish is a town and municipality in Finland. ...
City Oulu (1605) Administrative Province Oulu province Historical Province Ostrobothnia Area (2004-01-01) – Total (excl. ...
The Province of Lapland is one of the Provinces of Finland, and a part of the larger geographical area of Lapland, which spans over four countries. ...
City scenery of Rovaniemi in January 2004 Rovaniemi (Roavenjárga in Northern Sami) is the administrative capital and the centre of commerce of Finlands northernmost Province, Lapland. ...
Motto: None Anthem: Ålänningens sång Capital Mariehamn Largest city Mariehamn Official language(s) Swedish Government Governor Premier Autonomous Province Peter Lindbäck Roger Nordlund Autonomy 1920 Area • Total • Water (%) 6,784 km² (n/a) 77. ...
Province Ã…land Region Ã…land Sub-region Mariehamn City manager Ritva Sarin Grufberg Official languages Swedish Area - total - land ranked 430th 11. ...
Mainland Finland (Manner-Suomi) is a term used for instance in statistics to exclude the autonomous Åland Islands under Finnish sovereignty. ...
The Landskapsregering, is the government of Ã…land, an autonomous territory of Finland. ...
See also
Finland is divided into 20 regions (maakunta/landskap in Finnish/Swedish). ...
The historical provinces (Finnish: maakunnat or provinssit – singular maakunta or provinssi), Swedish: landskap) of Finland is a legacy of the countrys joint history with Sweden. ...
Norden has some similiar named subnational entities whilst the translations into english partially differ. ...
External links - State Provincial Offices - Official site
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