Vantaa

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	Kari Nenonen
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 (2014-01-31)[2]
• Total	208,310
• Rank	4th largest in Finland
• Density	873.89/km2 (2,263.4/sq mi)
Population by native language[3]
• Finnish	7,001,886,000,000,000,00088.6% (official)
• Swedish	7,000,300,000,000,000,0003% (official)
• Others	7,000,840,000,000,000,0008.4%
Population by age[4]
• 0 to 14	7,001,185,000,000,000,00018.5%
• 15 to 64	7,001,705,000,000,000,00070.5%
• 65 or older	7,001,111,000,000,000,00011.1%
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 inner core of Helsinki Metropolitan Area.

Vantaa, with its population of 208,310 (31 January 2014^[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.

Geography

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 873.89 /km² (2,263.4 /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.

Subdivision

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

History

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 ("Helsinki Rural Commune"). 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 (Swedish Vanda) and promoted to a köping (market town) (i.e. Vantaan kauppala/Vanda köping). In 1974 got full city rights as Vantaan kaupunki/Vanda stad "City of Vantaa".

Population

The city is bilingual, both Finnish and Swedish being official languages.^[6] A majority (88.6%) of the population are Finnish speakers while 3% speak Swedish as their first language. Vantaa's residents that speak a native language other than Finnish or Swedish stand at 8.4% of the population.

In 2006, 74.6 % of the population were members of the Lutheran Church of Finland.

Demographics

The Tikkurila railway station is the busiest station in Vantaa.

The Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (HEL), although associated with Helsinki, is located in Vantaa.

Politics

Districts of Vantaa

Vantaa's city council has 67 seats. Following the 2012 municipal election the council seats are allocated in the following way: Social Democrats 18 seats, National Coalition Party 18, True Finns 11, Greens 9, Left Alliance 4, Centre Party 3, Christian Democrats 2, Swedish People's Party 2.^[7]

Mayors

• Lauri Lairala 1974–1989
• Pirjo Ala-Kapee 1989–1997
• Erkki Rantala 1997–2003
• Juhani Paajanen 2003-2011
• Jukka Peltomäki 2011
• Kari Nenonen 2012-

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.^[8][9][10]

International relations

Twin towns and sister cities

Vantaa is twinned with:

Science centre Heureka

Culture

Music

There are about 20 choirs in Vantaa,^[11] like Vantaan Laulu and Vantaa Chamber Choir. Three actively performing concert bands Tikkurilan Soittokunta, Lumon Puhaltajat and Puhallinorkesteri Louhi exist at the east, north and west corners of the city respectively.^[12] Vantaa Pops (Vantaan Viihdeorkesteri in Finnish), conducted by a Welshman Nick Davies,^[13] is the only professional full symphonic pops orchestra in Finland.

Ankkarock was a rock music festival held every summer in Korso between 1989-2010.

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 which has exhibitions with various themes on local history. The museum is housed in the oldest station building in Finland, designed by Carl Albert Edelfelt and completed in 1861. The Finnish Aviation Museum is located in Vantaa, near Helsinki Airport.

Climate

Notable people

• Jani Kautto (born 1989), ice hockey goaltender
• Antti Niemi (born 1983), ice hockey goaltender
• Valtteri Filppula, ice hockey player

See also

• People from Vantaa

References

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vantaa.

• City of Vantaa – Official website
• Map of Vantaa
• The Finnish Science Center
• Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport
• Vantaa City Museum
• Helsinki.fi – Helsinki region in a nutshell

v t e Municipalities of Uusimaa Municipalities Askola Espoo Hanko Helsinki Hyvinkää Ingå Järvenpää Karkkila Kauniainen Kerava Kirkkonummi Lapinjärvi Lohja Loviisa Mäntsälä Myrskylä Nurmijärvi Pornainen Porvoo Pukkila Raseborg Sipoo Siuntio Tuusula Vantaa Vihti Former municipalities Bromarf Degerby Ekenäs Ekenäs landskommun Haaga Huopalahti Hyvinkään maalaiskunta Karis Karjalohja Kulosaari Liljendal Lohjan kunta Nummi Nummi-Pusula Oulunkylä Pernå Pohja Porvoon maalaiskunta Pusula Ruotsinpyhtää Sammatti Snappertuna Tenala Uusimaa Finland