Provinces of Finland

Between 1634 and 2009, Finland was administered as several provinces, or counties (Finnish: Suomen läänit, Swedish: Finlands län). Finland had always been a unitary state: the provincial authorities were part of the central government's executive branch and apart from Åland, the provinces had little autonomy. There were never any elected provincial parliaments in continental Finland.

The system was initially created by the Instrument of Government of 1634 when Finland was a part of Sweden. When Finland was annexed by the Russian Empire and made into the Grand Duchy of Finland (1809–1917), the regional administration remained the same. The Vyborg Governorate was initially not part of the Grand Duchy, but in 1812, it was transferred from Russia proper to Finland. The provinces continued also under the independent Finland after 1917.

The makeup of the provinces changed drastically on 1 September 1997, when the number of the provinces was reduced from twelve to six. This effectively made them purely administrative units, as linguistic and cultural boundaries no longer followed the borders of the provinces.

The provinces were eventually abolished at the end of 2009. Consequently, different ministries may subdivide their areal organization differently. Besides the former provinces, the municipalities of Finland form the fundamental subdivisions of the country. In current use are the regions of Finland, a smaller subdivision where some pre-1997 läänis are split into multiple regions. Åland retains its special autonomous status and its own regional parliament.