Vantaa

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Vantaa
Vantaa – Vanda
—  City  —
Vantaan kaupunki
Vanda stad

Coat of arms
Location of Vantaa in Finland
Coordinates: 60°17′40″N 025°02′25″E / 60.29444°N 25.04028°E / 60.29444; 25.04028Coordinates: 60°17′40″N 025°02′25″E / 60.29444°N 25.04028°E / 60.29444; 25.04028
Country Finland
Region Uusimaa
Sub-region Greater Helsinki
Charter 1351
City 1974
Government
 • City manager Martti Lipponen (interim)
Area(2011-01-01)[1]
 • Total 240.34 km2 (92.80 sq mi)
 • Land 238.37 km2 (92.04 sq mi)
 • Water 1.97 km2 (0.76 sq mi)
Area rank 291st largest in Finland
Population (2012-01-31)[2]
 • Total 203,177
 • Rank 4th largest in Finland
 • Density 852.36/km2 (2,207.6/sq mi)
Population by native language[3]
 • Finnish 88.6% (official)
 • Swedish 3% (official)
 • Others 8.4%
Population by age[4]
 • 0 to 14 18.5%
 • 15 to 64 70.5%
 • 65 or older 11.1%
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
 • Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)
Municipal tax rate[5] 19%
Unemployment rate 7.8%
Website www.vantaa.fi

Vantaa (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈʋɑntɑː]; Swedish: Vanda) is a city and municipality in Finland. Helsinki, Vantaa, Espoo and Kauniainen make up the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.

Vantaa, with its population of 203,177 (31 January 2012),[2] is the fourth most populated city of Finland. The biggest airport in Finland, the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, is located there. It also hosts a science centre, Heureka.

The city is bilingual[citation needed], with a majority (88.6 %) being Finnish speakers and minority (3%) speakers of Finland Swedish. Vantaa's residents that speak a native language other than Finnish or Swedish stand at 8.4% of the population.

Contents

[edit] Geography

[edit] Location

Vantaa encompasses 240.34 square kilometres (92.80 sq mi), of which 1.97 km2 (0.76 sq mi) is water.[1] Population density is 852.36 /km2 (2,207.6 /sq mi). It borders Helsinki, the Finnish capital, which is to the south and southwest. Other neighbouring municipalities are Espoo to the west, Nurmijärvi, Kerava and Tuusula to the north and Sipoo to the east.

[edit] Subdivision

Main article: Districts of Vantaa

Vantaa is divided into seven districts (Finnish: palvelualueet, Swedish: storområden): Myyrmäki (Myrbacka), Tikkurila (Dickursby), Hakunila (Håkansböle), Korso, Koivukylä (Björkby) and Aviapolis.

[edit] History

Question book-new.svg
 This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2011)

The name Vantaa was taken into use in 1972 when the municipality gained market town rights. The first record of the area is as Helsinge in 1351 when king Magnus II of Sweden granted salmon fishing rights on the river Vantaa to the Estonian Padise monastery. The municipality was formerly known as Helsingin maalaiskunta "Rural municipality of Helsinki". The rapids of river Vantaa were known as Helsingfors, from which the current Swedish name of Helsinki derives. In 1972, the municipality was renamed Vantaa/Vanda and promoted to a market town (i.e. Vantaan kauppala/Vanda köping), and in 1974, finally renamed Vantaan kaupunki/Vanda stad "City of Vantaa".

On October 11, 2002, a bomb exploded in the local Myyrmanni shopping centre, killing 7, including the bomber, a 19-year-old chemistry student from the Espoo-Vantaa Institute of Technology (see Myyrmanni bombing).

[edit] Climate

Climate diagram


[edit] Demographics

The Tikkurila railway station is the busiest station in Vantaa.
The Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (HEL), although associated with Helsinki, is located in Vantaa.
Demographic evolution
Year Population
1805 4 840
1865 6 974
1880 7 819
1890 8 865
1900 11 110
1910 18 321
1920 22 368
1930 23 558
1940 31 511
1950 14 976
1960 41 906
1970 72 215
1980 129 918
1990 152 263
2000 176 386
2007 190 058
2010 200 029

[edit] Politics

Districts of Vantaa

[edit] Municipal council

Composition of the City Council (2009–2012)
Party Election results[6] Seats Votes
National Coalition Party 28.1% 20 22 596
Social Democratic Party of Finland 25.6% 18 20 599
Green League 13.9% 9 11 150
True Finns 9.8% 7 7 848
Left Alliance 7.7% 5 6 229
Center Party 5.6% 4 4 516
Christian Democrats 3.7% 2 2 951
Swedish People's Party 3,5% 2 2 838
Pro Vantaa 1,4% 0 1 111

[edit] Economy

Finnair head office at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport

Companies that have their headquarters in Vantaa (at the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport) include Finnair, Finavia, Air Finland and Blue1.[7][8][9]

[edit] International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Finland

[edit] Twin towns and sister cities

Vantaa is twinned with:

[edit] Mayors

Science centre Heureka

[edit] Culture

[edit] Music

Vantaa Chamber Choir comes from Vantaa. Its albums includes folk songs and poems from Kalevala. Ankkarock was a rock music festival held every summer in Korso between 1989-2010.

[edit] Museums

Tikkurila is home of the major science centre in Finland, Heureka. In addition there is the city museum next to the railway station in Tikkurila. The museum is housed in the oldest station building in Finland, designed by Carl Albert Edelfelt and completed in 1861. There are exhibitions with various themes on local history.

[edit] See also

Portal icon Finland portal


[edit] References

Notes
  1. ^ a b "Area by municipality as of 1 January 2011" (in Finnish and Swedish) (PDF). Land Survey of Finland. http://www.maanmittauslaitos.fi/sites/default/files/pinta-alat_2011_kunnannimenmukaan.xls. Retrieved 9 March 2011. 
  2. ^ a b "Population by municipality as of 31 January 2012" (in Finnish and Swedish). Population Information System. Population Register Center of Finland. http://vrk.fi/default.aspx?docid=5919&site=3&id=0. Retrieved 16 February 2012. 
  3. ^ "Population according to language and the number of foreigners and land area km2 by area as of 31 December 2008". Statistics Finland's PX-Web databases. Statistics Finland. http://pxweb2.stat.fi/Dialog/varval.asp?ma=060_vaerak_tau_107_fi&ti=V%E4est%F6+kielen+mukaan+sek%E4+ulkomaan+kansalaisten+m%E4%E4r%E4+ja+maa%2Dpinta%2Dala+alueittain++1980+%2D+2008&path=../Database/StatFin/vrm/vaerak/&lang=3&multilang=fi. Retrieved 29 March 2009. 
  4. ^ "Population according to age and gender by area as of 31 December 2008". Statistics Finland's PX-Web databases. Statistics Finland. http://pxweb2.stat.fi/Dialog/varval.asp?ma=050_vaerak_tau_104_fi&ti=V%E4est%F6+i%E4n+%281%2Dv%2E%29+ja+sukupuolen+mukaan+alueittain+1980+%2D+2008&path=../Database/StatFin/vrm/vaerak/&lang=3&multilang=fi. Retrieved 28 April 2009. 
  5. ^ "List of municipal and parish tax rates in 2011". Tax Administration of Finland. 29 November 2010. http://www.vero.fi/nc/doc/download.asp?id=7996;193801. Retrieved 13 March 2011. 
  6. ^ Party results from YLE
  7. ^ http://www.finavia.fi/about_finavia/contact Contact Information]." Finavia. Retrieved on 15 February 2010.
  8. ^ "Oy Air Finland Ltd in English." Air Finland. Retrieved on 25 February 2010.
  9. ^ "Privacy Policy

[edit] External links

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