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Greater Helsinki (Finnish: Helsingin seutu, Suur-Helsinki, Swedish: Helsingforsregionen, Storhelsingfors) is metropolitan area including smaller Capital Region (Pääkaupunkiseutu, Huvudstadsregionen) urban kernel and commuter towns surrounding Helsinki, the capitalofFinland. Greater Helsinki is sometimes incorrectly called (the) Helsinki Region due to an incorrect direct translation of the Finnish and Swedish terms Helsingin seutu and Helsingforsregionen.
These regions are located in the south of Finland, on the coast of the Gulf of Finland, which is part of the Baltic Sea. The smaller region includes Helsinki, Vantaa, Espoo, and Kauniainen and has a population of about one million. The Helsinki region is the largest urbanised area in the country, and is by far the most important economic, cultural, as well as scientific region of Finland. Seven out of Finland's 17 universities[note 1] and most of the headquarters of notable companies and governmental institutions are located in Greater Helsinki, as is Finland's main aviation hub, Helsinki Airport, which is located in Vantaa.
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In the strictest sense, the Finnish Capital Region consists of four municipalities with city status, Helsinki, Vantaa, Espoo and Kauniainen, whose total population is about one million (2007). This area is most often called the Capital region in English, Pääkaupunkiseutu in Finnish, and Huvudstadsregionen in Swedish, although the use of the terms is not especially consistent. The vast majority of the inhabitants live in the urban areas of the cities, but within the boundaries of these cities there are also non-urban and suburban areas.
Commonly about eight more municipalities are considered to be part of Greater Helsinki, as they can be considered as commuter towns and exurbs of Helsinki. When Hyvinkää, Järvenpää, Kerava, Kirkkonummi, Nurmijärvi, Sipoo, Tuusula, and Vihti are included, the number of inhabitants rises to 1.3 million. All of the municipalities belong to the regionofUusimaa.
As a part of "Urban audit" project the Eurostat has attempted to standardise the concept of 'metropolitan area'. According to this study the Metropolitan area of Helsinki consist of Kernel of Helsinki: Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen. Helsinki Larger Urban Area (Helsingin seutu in Finnish) consists of 12 cities and municipalities: kernel of Helsinki and the above mentioned eight municipalities. [1]
Statistics Finland define the commuter belt of Helsinki (Helsingin työssäkäyntialue, Helsingfors pendlingsområde) to include a total of 24 municipalities, with a land area of 7,359.80 km2 and a population of 1,431,108 as of 31 December 2007.[2][3] In addition to that, there are people from as far as Lahti and even Tampere commuting to Helsinki daily.
The table below lists population, area, and population density for the largest municipalities of the Greater Helsinki area. (Note that "Helsinki Metropolitan Area" and the other terms used are not firmly established and may vary in different contexts.)
| Municipality | Area | Population (2013-02-28) |
Population density |
|---|---|---|---|
| Helsinki (Helsingfors) | 213.75 km² | 605,523 | 2,832.86/km² |
| Espoo (Esbo) | 312.26 km² | 257,461 | 824.51/km² |
| Vantaa (Vanda) | 238.37 km² | 205,653 | 862.75/km² |
| Kauniainen (Grankulla) | 5.88 km² | 8,860 | 1,506.8/km² |
| Urban area (Capital region) | 770.26 km² | 1,077,497 | 1,398.87/km² |
| Hyvinkää | 322.62 km² | 45,749 | 141.8/km² |
| Järvenpää | 37.55 km² | 39,631 | 1,055.42/km² |
| Kerava | 30.62 km² | 34,601 | 1,130.01/km² |
| Kirkkonummi (Kyrkslätt) | 366.10 km² | 37,668 | 102.89/km² |
| Nurmijärvi | 361.84 km² | 40,796 | 112.75/km² |
| Sipoo (Sibbo) | 339.62 km² | 18,802 | 55.36/km² |
| Tuusula | 219.51 km² | 38,012 | 173.17/km² |
| Vihti | 522.06 km² | 28,750 | 55.07/km² |
| Commuter towns | 2,199.92 km² | 284,009 | 129.1/km² |
| Metropolitan area (Greater Helsinki) | 2,970.18 km² | 1,361,506 | 458.39/km² |
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