Provinces of Finland
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. Below the local names are given in Finnish/Swedish:
- Province of Southern Finland
(Etelä-Suomen lääni/Södra Finlands län) - Province of Western Finland
(Länsi-Suomen lääni/Västra Finlands län) - Province of Eastern Finland
(Itä-Suomen lääni/Östra Finlands län) - Province of Oulu
(Oulun lääni/Uleåborgs län) - Province of Lapland
(Lapin lääni/Lapplands län/Saami: Lappi) - Province of Åland¹
(Ålands län²)
² The Åland Islands are unilingually Swedish. The name of the province in Finnish language is: Ahvenanmaan lääni.
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
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Abolished provinces
Before the redesign in 1997 the provinces were:
See also
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