Provinces of Finland

The state of Finland consists of 6 provinces (Finnish: "läänit", Swedish: "län"). The provincial authority is part of the central government's executive branch, not directly elected. 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 linguistic and cultural boundaries do not follow the borders of the provinces. The provinces will be abolished altogether in 2010. [cite news | title = Kiviniemi: Läänit lakkautetaan 2010 | work = Yle Uutiset | date = 2008-03-25 | url = http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/24h/id86191.html | accessdate = 2008-03-25 | language = Finnish ]

Since the late 19th century the state of Finland has been 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 on the recommendation of the cabinet. The governor is the head of the State Provincial Office ("lääninhallitus", "länsstyrelse"), which acts 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, prosecution, and bailiff services. These do not necessarily correspond to municipal level (municipality, sub-region, region) divisions of the country.

The Governor's post is widely seen as a post for "disposal" of retiring politicians.Fact|date=November 2007

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.__NOTOC__

Former provinces

Former provinces of the Republic of Finland that existed between 1917 and 1997, unless stated otherwise.

*Province of Central Finland ( _fi. Keski-Suomen lääni, _sv. Mellersta Finlands län), 1960-1997
*Province of Häme ( _fi. Hämeen lääni, _sv. Tavastehus län)
*Province of Kuopio ( _fi. Kuopion lääni, _sv. Kuopio län)
*Province of Kymi ( _fi. Kymen lääni, _sv. Kymmene län), 1947-1997
*Province of Mikkeli ( _fi. Mikkelin lääni, _sv. St. Michels län)
*Province of Northern Karelia ( _fi. Pohjois-Karjalan lääni, _sv. Norra Karelens län), 1960-1997
*Province of Turku and Pori ( _fi. Turun ja Porin lääni, _sv. Åbo och Björneborgs län)
*Province of Uusimaa ( _fi. Uudenmaan lääni, _sv. Nylands län)
*Province of Vaasa ( _fi. Vaasan lääni, _sv. Vasa län)
*Province of Viipuri ( _fi. Viipurin lääni, _sv. Viborgs län), 1917-1947

See also

*Regions of Finland
*Historical provinces of Finland
*Subdivisions of the Nordic countries

Notes

External links

* [http://www.laaninhallitus.fi/lh/home.nsf/pages/indexeng State Provincial Offices] ndash Official site