Finland

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

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Finland consists of 19 regions called maakunta in Finnish and landskap in Swedish. The regions are governed by regional councils, which serve as forums of cooperation for the municipalities of a region. The main tasks of the regions are regional planning and development of enterprise and education. In addition, the public health services are usually organized on the basis of regions. Currently, the only region where a popular election is held for the council is Kainuu. Other regional councils are elected by municipal councils, each municipality sending representatives in proportion to its population.

In addition to inter-municipal cooperation, which is the responsibility of regional councils, each region has a state Employment and Economic Development Centre, which is responsible for the local administration of labour, agriculture, fisheries, forestry and entrepreneurial affairs. The Finnish Defence Forces regional offices are responsible for the regional defence preparations and for the administration of conscription within the region.

Regions represent dialectal, cultural and economic variations better than the former provinces, which were purely administrative divisions of the central government. Historically, regions are divisions of historical provinces of Finland, areas which represent dialects and culture more accurately.

Six regional state administrative agencies (Etelä-Suomi, Itä-Suomi, Lounais-Suomi, Länsi- ja Sisä-Suomi, Pohjois-Suomi, Lappi) were created by the state of Finland in 2010, each of them responsible for one of the regions called alue in Finnish and region in Swedish; in addition, Åland was designated a seventh region. These take over some of the tasks of the earlier Provinces of Finland (the läänis), which were abolished.

Regions

Coat of Arms	In English	In Finnish	In Swedish	Capital	Map
	Lapland	Lappi	Lappland	Rovaniemi	Lapland Northern Ostrobothnia Kainuu North Karelia Northern Savonia Southern Savonia Southern Ostrobothnia Ostrobothnia Pirkanmaa Satakunta Central Ostrobothnia Central Finland Finland Proper South Karelia Päijänne Tavastia Tavastia Proper Uusimaa Kymenlaakso Åland Islands
	Northern Ostrobothnia	Pohjois-Pohjanmaa	Norra Österbotten	Oulu
	Kainuu	Kainuu	Kajanaland	Kajaani
	North Karelia	Pohjois-Karjala	Norra Karelen	Joensuu
	Northern Savonia	Pohjois-Savo	Norra Savolax	Kuopio
	Southern Savonia	Etelä-Savo	Södra Savolax	Mikkeli
	Southern Ostrobothnia	Etelä-Pohjanmaa	Södra Österbotten	Seinäjoki
	Central Ostrobothnia	Keski-Pohjanmaa	Mellersta Österbotten	Kokkola
	Ostrobothnia	Pohjanmaa	Österbotten	Vaasa
	Pirkanmaa	Pirkanmaa	Birkaland	Tampere
	Satakunta	Satakunta	Satakunda	Pori
	Central Finland	Keski-Suomi	Mellersta Finland	Jyväskylä
	Finland Proper	Varsinais-Suomi	Egentliga Finland	Turku
	South Karelia	Etelä-Karjala	Södra Karelen	Lappeenranta
	Päijänne Tavastia	Päijät-Häme	Päijänne Tavastland	Lahti
	Tavastia Proper	Kanta-Häme	Egentliga Tavastland	Hämeenlinna
	Uusimaa	Uusimaa	Nyland	Helsinki
	Kymenlaakso	Kymenlaakso	Kymmenedalen	Kouvola
	Åland Islands	Ahvenanmaa	Åland	Mariehamn

The region of Eastern Uusimaa was consolidated with Uusimaa on January 1, 2011.

See also

• Regions of Eastern Finland
• Regions of Oulu
• Regions of Southern Finland
• Regions of Western Finland
• County Councils of Sweden
• Household pennants of Finland

Regions of Finland Regions Åland · Central Finland · Central Ostrobothnia · Finland Proper · Kainuu · Kymenlaakso · Lapland · North Karelia · Northern Ostrobothnia · Northern Savonia · Ostrobothnia · Päijänne Tavastia · Pirkanmaa · Satakunta · South Karelia · Southern Ostrobothnia · Southern Savonia · Tavastia Proper · Uusimaa Former regions Eastern Uusimaa

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