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The municipalities ( fi, kunta; sv, kommun) represent the local level of administration in
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...
and act as the fundamental, self-governing administrative units of the country. The entire country is incorporated into municipalities and legally, all municipalities are equal, although certain municipalities are called cities or towns ( fi, kaupunki; sv, stad). Municipalities have the right to levy a flat percentual
income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Ta ...
, which is between 16 and 22 percent, and they provide two thirds of public services. Municipalities control many community services, such as schools, health care and the water supply, and local streets. They do not maintain highways, set laws or keep police forces, which are responsibilities of the central government.


Government

Municipalities have council-manager government: they are governed by an elected council (, ), which is legally autonomous and answers only to the voters. The size of the council is proportional to the population, the extremes being 9 in Sottunga and 85 in
Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
. A subsection of the council, the municipal executive board (''kunnanhallitus''), controls the municipal government and monitors the implementation of decisions of the council. Its decisions must be approved by the council. Unlike national cabinets, its composition is derived from the composition of the council, not along government-opposition lines. Furthermore, individual decisions are prepared in specialized municipal boards (''lautakunta'') for a council meeting, which include, for example, zoning, social assistance, and education boards. Council, executive board, and municipal board memberships are elected positions of responsibility, not full-time jobs. Remuneration depends on the municipality and position, but is generally nominal or modest: a regular council member is paid 70 euro on average on a per-meeting basis (2017). Municipal managers (, for cities, , for other municipalities) are civil servants named by the council. The city manager of Helsinki is called / "Lord Mayor" for historical reasons. There were previously no mayors in Finland, but after a change in law,
Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population ...
was first city to elect a mayor ( / ) in 2007. The mayor is not, however, currently elected directly, but by the municipal council. The mayor acts as municipal manager and as a
speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...
of municipal council. Although municipalities do not have police or legislative powers, local ordinances concerning traffic can be set, and municipal parking inspectors can give parking tickets. Municipalities are
legal person In law, a legal person is any person or 'thing' (less ambiguously, any legal entity) that can do the things a human person is usually able to do in law – such as enter into contracts, sue and be sued, own property, and so on. The reason f ...
s and can appear in an administrative court. Likewise, the state of Finland is a separate legal person. Excluding judicial review of formal compliance to administrative law, municipalities are independent and not a part of a local state hierarchy. Municipalities cooperate in
regions of Finland Finland is divided into 19 regions ( fi, maakunta; sv, landskap)., smn, eennâmkodde, and sms, mäddkåʹdd. The regions are governed by regional councils that serve as forums of cooperation for the municipalities of each region. The council ...
. State agencies have jurisdictions spanning one or more regions: each region is served by an ''ely-keskus'' (''elinkeino-, liikenne- ja ympäristökeskus'') on matters of employment, the economy, transport and environment, while law and environmental enforcement is handled by the local ''aluehallintovirasto'', governing multi-region jurisdictions termed ''alue''.-G.H-


Taxation and revenue

Residents pay a municipal tax that is a form of
income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Ta ...
, which is the mainstay of the income of a municipality (42% of income). Municipal tax is nominally a flat tax that is levied from a broader population (including lower income levels) than progressive state income tax, which is collected only from medium to high income earners. However, in practice even the municipal tax is progressive due to generous deductions granted to the lowest income levels. The pre-deduction base tax varies from 16% in affluent
Kauniainen Kauniainen (; sv, Grankulla) is a small town and a municipality of inhabitants () in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Finland. It is surrounded and enclaved by the City of Espoo, in the Capital Region of Greater Helsinki. Kauniainen was fou ...
to 20% or more in a number of small rural municipalities. Next to the municipal tax, municipalities receive funding from the state budget (, 19% of income). This funding is means-tested to municipality wealth and serves to balance the differences in municipal tax revenue. Besides taxes, sales revenue, fees and profit of operations also form a substantial share of municipal income (21%). Additionally, municipalities levy a property tax, amounting to 3.6% of income, which is comparatively low: the annual fee is 0.32-0.75% of net present value for permanent residences and 0.50-1.00% for leisure properties like summer cottages as well as undeveloped plots. This is always paid by the owner, never a tenant directly, unlike the council tax. Municipalities receive a share of corporate tax revenue () from companies having a place of business in the municipality (3.8% of income). Some municipal functions receive direct funding both from the municipality and the state, e.g. AMK vocational colleges.


Tasks and services

Finland has an extensive welfare state, and municipalities are responsible for much of the services to that end. Tasks of the municipalities are as follows: * Healthcare ** Preventative, basic and specialized healthcare ** Dental healthcare * Social services ** Children's daycare ** Elderly care ** Disabled care ** Social welfare service *** Subsistency security *** Child protection * Education (see Education in Finland) and culture ** Peruskoulu (primary education, grades 1–9) ** Lukio (gymnasiums) ** Ammattioppilaitos (secondary vocational schools) **
Ammattikorkeakoulu An ammattikorkeakoulu (yrkeshögskola in Swedish, polytechnic or university of applied sciences in English), abbreviated ''AMK'', is a Finnish institution of higher education. The term literally means "school of higher vocational education". A ...
(tertiary vocational schools) ** Kansanopisto (
folk high school Folk high schools (also ''Adult Education Center'', Danish: ''Folkehøjskole;'' Dutch: ''Volkshogeschool;'' Finnish: ''kansanopisto'' and ''työväenopisto'' or ''kansalaisopisto;'' German: ''Volkshochschule'' and (a few) ''Heimvolkshochschule; ...
) ** Public libraries ** Youth centres ** Public exercise facilities (public tracks, etc.) * Infrastructure and land use ** Zoning **Public transport ** Maintenance of local streets ** Water ** Energy ** Waste collection ** Environment * Economic development ** Promotion of the local economy and employment * Law enforcement ** Food safety inspection ** Animal welfare inspection ** Environmental protection inspection ** Parking enforcement ** Public transport payment enforcement Although municipalities are responsible for their own finances, there is much highly specific legislation and regulation that requires the services to be provided up to a standard. Thus, although municipalities have the power to voluntarily spend tax-generated income, they are required to first allocate funds to legally prescribed services. Municipalities may provide some of these services through corporations that they own or from private companies that they regulate. For example,
Helsinki Regional Transport Authority The Helsinki Regional Transport Authority ( fi, Helsingin seudun liikenne, HSL; sv, Helsingforsregionens trafik, HRT) is the inter-municipal authority that maintains the public transportation network of the nine municipalities of Greater ...
(HSL) provides public transport services in the capital area.


Statistics

, there are 310 municipalities in Finland, of which 107 are cities or
town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...
s (''kaupunki''). Sixteen municipalities are unilingually Swedish (all in the autonomous Åland region), while 33 are bilingual: 15 with Swedish as the majority language (all but four in Ostrobothnia) and 18 with Finnish as the majority language (all but five in
Uusimaa Uusimaa (; sv, Nyland, ; both lit. 'new land') is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso. Finland's capital and largest city, ...
region). Four municipalities in northern Lapland ( Utsjoki, Inari, Sodankylä and
Enontekiö Enontekiö (; sme, Eanodat ; sv, Enontekis; smn, Iänudâh; sms, Jeänõk) is a municipality in the Finnish part of Lapland with approx. inhabitants. It is situated in the outermost northwest of the country and occupies a large and very spa ...
) have one or all of the three Sami languages spoken in Finland as an official language. Finnish municipalities can choose to be called either ''kaupunki'' (
city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
or
town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...
) or ''kunta'' (small town or rural municipality). Although the
Finnish Environment Institute The Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) ( fi, Suomen ympäristökeskus, sv, Finlands miljöcentral) is a multidisciplinary research and expert institute under the Ministry of the Environment, Finland. SYKE has four office and research facilitie ...
classifies urban settlements with over 15,000 inhabitants as ''kaupunki'', municipalities can name themselves ''kaupunki'' with fewer inhabitants. There are inhabitants in
Nurmijärvi Nurmijärvi () is the most populated rural municipality of Finland, located north of the capital Helsinki. The neighboring municipalities of Nurmijärvi are Espoo, Vantaa, Tuusula, Hyvinkää and Vihti, and it is part of the Greater Helsinki. Th ...
, the largest ''kunta'' in Finland, and inhabitants in Kaskinen, the smallest ''kaupunki'', so the kunta–kaupunki categorisation mainly concerns the name of the municipality. The areas of the municipalities vary, as the population is the primary criterion for forming a municipality. The largest municipalities in size are found in Lapland, of which the largest is Inari at (130 km square). The smallest municipalities are very small towns. Kaskinen is an independent town with a land area of only .
Kauniainen Kauniainen (; sv, Grankulla) is a small town and a municipality of inhabitants () in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Finland. It is surrounded and enclaved by the City of Espoo, in the Capital Region of Greater Helsinki. Kauniainen was fou ...
, which was originally a
corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...
in
Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärv ...
, is only .


History

Municipalities were originally
parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...
es. The old word for a municipality is , 'keeper', because when the system was instituted, one municipality kept one minister. Municipalities were divided into villages, which consisted of individual properties. Borders between properties and thus municipalities were defined by oral agreements passed down from generation to generation; usually along straight lines between defined markers such as boulders. Medieval documentation survives only from legal disputes concerning borders. In the 18th century, King Gustaf III implemented the Great Partition, where
common land Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person who has ...
s were redistributed into larger properties, and claimed all unclaimed land to the crown. Thus, there is no "leftover" land outside the jurisdiction of municipalities, as all land belongs to either to a private property or to the government. The secular government divided the properties to taxable units (villages and secular municipalities) according to its own convenience, which were not necessarily convergent with parishes. Furthermore, cities were chartered separately. Up to 1734, the law was different in cities than in rural municipalities. In 1865, the modern municipalities were established as secular entities separate from the parishes. The reform was inspired by the Swedish municipal reforms of 1862. Up to 1964, cities financed their own police and registry services. Until 1977 municipalities were divided into cities (, ), market towns (, ) and
rural municipalities A rural municipality is a classification of municipality, a type of local government, found in several countries. These include: * Rural municipalities in Canada, a type of municipal status in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, ...
(, ). The market town category was abolished and these were renamed as cities. The rest of the municipalities were classified as 'other municipalities'. All municipalities called maalaiskunta were eventually either merged to their parent cities or changed their names. From 1995 onwards only 'municipality' is recognized by law and any municipality is allowed to call itself a city.


Identification and heraldry

Not all municipalities have an obvious urban center; indeed, rural municipalities are often composed of distributed rural villages. Although the church village (''kirkonkylä'', abbreviated ''kk'') is the historical center, the largest or administrative center may be in another village. For example, Askola has a church village (Askolan kirkonkylä), but its administrative center is in Monninkylä. Often, the church village has the same name as the municipality, as with Askola. However, this is not necessarily so, e.g.
Enontekiö Enontekiö (; sme, Eanodat ; sv, Enontekis; smn, Iänudâh; sms, Jeänõk) is a municipality in the Finnish part of Lapland with approx. inhabitants. It is situated in the outermost northwest of the country and occupies a large and very spa ...
is governed from Hetta; these villages are often erroneously labeled in maps. This is expected as the name of the municipality refers to the entire parish, not just a single center like a church village. Villages have no administrative role, although some have voluntary village associations (''kyläyhdistys'') and other non-governmental public life. Although related, urban areas in Finland (''taajama'') are not local administrative units. A catalog is independently compiled each year by Statistics Finland, a state agency, and used primarily for traffic-related purposes (signage, speed limits, and highway planning). There are 745 officially recognized urban areas in Finland, 49 of which have more than 10,000 inhabitants and six more than 100,000. Each municipality has a distinct
coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...
. They are posted on the municipal borders and shown in official documents representing the municipality. The coats of arms for many municipalities have been designed in the modern era, many of them by Gustaf von Numers. In addition, municipalities like Vantaa since 2015 and
Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
since 2017 have a
logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wo ...
distinct from their coat of arms.


Capital region

Distinctively, the capital area, or Greater Helsinki, has no special arrangements. The area consists of four entirely independent cities that form a continuous conurbation. Greater Helsinki has grown in population and area relatively quickly: the nearby municipalities, considered rural only 50 years ago, have become suburbs, and the growth is projected to continue. A state-imposed merger of Helsinki and a part of Sipoo, a rural, 40% Swedish-speaking municipality adjacent to Greater Helsinki, was recently approved by the government, counter to the opinion of the Sipoo municipal council. This area will effectively become a new (and Finnish-speaking) suburb with multiple times the inhabitants than there are in Sipoo.


Mergers and reform

There is currently a heated political debate in Finland about reforming the municipality system. Essentially, a multitude of small municipalities is seen as detrimental to the provision of public services, having originated during Finland's agrarian years. As a result, there have been suggestions of state-imposed mergers. A committee led by the former Minister for Regional and Municipal Affairs,
Hannes Manninen Hannes Manninen (born 20 December 1946) is a Finnish politician of the Centre Party, born in Kuusamo. He has been a member of the Parliament of Finland The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finlan ...
, suggested creating a two-tier system of municipalities with different powers, while the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities () favoured a system where municipalities would be units of at least 20,000–30,000 inhabitants, cf. the current median at 4,700. The motion was inspired by a similar reform in
Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...
(see
Municipalities of Denmark Denmark is divided into five regions, which contain 98 municipalities ( da, kommuner , sing.: ). The Capital Region has 29 municipalities, Southern Denmark 22, Central Denmark 19, Zealand 17 and North Denmark 11. This structure was establi ...
). The former government (
Vanhanen II The second cabinet of Matti Vanhanen was the 70th cabinet and Government of Finland. The cabinet held office from 19 April 2007 to 20 June 2010. The cabinet was a centre-right-led coalition, consisting of four parties: the Centre Party, the Nati ...
), however, planned to not impose mergers. Recently, many voluntary mergers have been agreed on. Ten mergers were completed in 2005, one in 2006, 14 in 2007 and one in 2008. In 2009, there were even more, many of which consolidated more than two municipalities. Several cities merged with surrounding rural municipalities in
Hämeenlinna Hämeenlinna (; sv, Tavastehus; krl, Hämienlinna; la, Tavastum or ''Croneburgum'') is a city and municipality of about inhabitants in the heart of the historical province of Tavastia and the modern province of Kanta-Häme in the south of ...
, Salo,
Kouvola Kouvola () is a city and municipality in southeastern Finland. It is located along the Kymijoki River in the region of Kymenlaakso, kilometers east of Lahti, west of Lappeenranta and northeast of the capital, Helsinki. With Kotka, Kouvola is ...
, Seinäjoki, Naantali, Kauhava, Lohja, Raseborg, Jyväskylä and Oulu in 2009. In total, there were 32 mergers, involving 99 municipalities, that reduced the number of municipalities by 67. The year 2009 also marked the end of the last '' maalaiskunta'', a municipality surrounding a city but sharing the name, in Jyväskylä. There were four mergers in 2010, six in 2011, ten in 2013, three in 2015, four in 2016, two in 2017, one in 2020 and one in 2021. In the period 2005–2021, the number of municipalities was voluntarily reduced from 444 to 309. In 2012, Katainen's government published an extensive plan aiming at merging municipalities to reach a target of population 20,000 per municipality. Commuter belts have also been proposed as a target by a government committee, such that municipalities where more than 35% of workforce commutes would be subject to a merger. The Sipilä cabinet, from 2015, has been preparing a significant reform of health and social services (''sote-uudistus''), aimed at increasing choice between municipal and private healthcare, and assigning some healthcare responsibilities into larger units than a municipality.


Municipalities by regions

* Municipalities of Central Finland * Municipalities of Finland Proper * Municipalities of Kainuu * Municipalities of Kymenlaakso * Municipalities of Lapland * Municipalities of North Karelia * Municipalities of South Karelia * Municipalities of Ostrobothnia * Municipalities of Central Ostrobothnia * Municipalities of Northern Ostrobothnia * Municipalities of Southern Ostrobothnia *
Municipalities of Pirkanmaa The 23 municipalities of the Pirkanmaa Region ( sv, Birkaland) in Finland are divided into five sub-regions. __NOTOC__ North Western Pirkanmaa sub-region *Ikaalinen (''Ikalis'') *Kihniö *Parkano Southern Pirkanmaa sub-region *Akaa (''Ackas ...
* Municipalities of Satakunta * Municipalities of Northern Savonia * Municipalities of Southern Savonia * Municipalities of Tavastia Proper * Municipalities of Päijänne Tavastia * Municipalities of Uusimaa *
Municipalities of Åland The 16 municipalities () of Åland are divided into three sub-regions: Mariehamn, the countryside and the archipelago. __NOTOC__ :Population data as of: :Area data as of: See also * Politics of Åland *Government of Åland *Parliament o ...


Map

File:Municipalities of Finland labelled - FI.svg File:Kuntavaalit 2017 - Suurin puolue kunnittain (prosenteissa äänistä).png, The biggest party in the municipalities after the 2017 Finnish municipal elections File:Finnish municipal elections 2021 largest party by vote percentage.svg, The biggest party in the municipalities after the 2021 Finnish municipal elections File:Finnish municipal elections 2021 second largest party by vote percentage.svg, Second largest party by vote percentage after the 2021 Finnish municipal elections


See also

*
List of Finnish municipalities This is a listing in alphabetical order of the 309 municipalities in Finland as of 2021. Note that there are 114 municipalities that have both a Finnish and a Swedish name. Those municipalities are listed by the name in the local majority langu ...
* List of cities and towns in Finland * List of former municipalities of Finland


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Municipalities Of Finland Finland, Municipalities of Subdivisions of Finland
Municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...
Finland 3 Municipalities, Finland Lists of populated places in Finland
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...