FINLAND(SUOMI-FINLAND)

Main articles: Administrative divisions of Finland, Regions of Finland, Sub-regions of Finland, Municipalities of Finland, and Historical provinces of Finland

Municipalities and regions map of Finland (2009).
Thin borders refer to municipalities and thicker ones to regions.

The fundamental administrative divisions of the country are the municipalities, which may also call themselves towns or cities. They account for half of public spending. Spending is financed by municipal income tax, state subsidies, and other revenue. There are 342 municipalities,^[6] and most have fewer than 6,000 residents. People often identify with their municipality.

In addition to municipalities, two intermediate levels are defined. Municipalities co-operate in seventy-four sub-regions and twenty regions. These are governed by the member municipalities but have only limited powers. The Åland region has a permanent democratically elected regional council as a part of the autonomy. In the Kainuu region, there is a pilot project underway with regional elections. Sami people have a semi-autonomous Sami Domicile Area in Lapland for issues on language and culture.

In the following chart, the number of inhabitants includes those living in the entire municipality (kunta/kommun), not just in the built-up area. The land area is given in km², and the density in inhabitants per km² (land area). The figures are as of 31 December 2009. The capital region — comprising Helsinki, Vantaa, Espoo and Kauniainen— forms a continuous conurbation of one million people. However, common administration is limited to voluntary cooperation of all municipalities, e.g. in Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council.

City	Population[57]	Land area[58]	Density
Helsinki	583,484	213	2,739.36
Espoo	244,353	312.22	782.63
Tampere	211,544	524.97	402.96
Vantaa	197,663	238.38	829.19
Turku	176,157	245.63	717.16
Oulu	139,151	1,410.13	98.68
Jyväskylä	129,634	1,171.23	110.68
Lahti	100,861	135.06	746.79
Kuopio	92,642	1,124.03	82.42
Kouvola	88,193	2,560.06	82.42
Pori	76,641	517.14	148.2
Joensuu	72,718	2,381.84	30.53
Lappeenranta	70,447	1,072.54	65.68
Hämeenlinna	66,643	1,820.1	36.62
Rovaniemi	59,831	7,582.28	7.89

Further information: List of Finnish municipalities, List of Finnish municipalities by population, List of Finnish municipalities by area, and Former municipalities of Finland