List of Swedish-speaking and bilingual municipalities of Finland

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More than 17,000 Swedish Finns live in officially monolingual Finnish municipalities, and are thus not represented on the map.This list includes all Finnish cities and municipalities in which Swedish has official status at the local level.

In Finland 91.5% of the population speak Finnish, and 5.5% Swedish (as of December 31, 2006). [http://pxweb2.stat.fi/Dialog/varval.asp?ma=vaerak_tau_007_en&ti=Population+according+to+language+and+the+number+of+foreigners+and+land+area+km2+by++area+1980%2D2006&path=../Database/StatFin/vrm/vaerak/&lang=1&multilang=en Tilastokeskus / Statistikcentralen (Statistics Finland, accessed 11 November 2007): "Population according to language and the number of foreigners and land area km2 by area 1980-2006".] ] Both languages are official. At the local level, a municipality can officially use Finnish, Swedish or be bilingual. The Finnish language law provides for bilingualism if both languages represent at least 8% of the population, or at least 3,000 speakers. A previously bilingual municipality retains its status until the proportion falls below 6%, but a municipality can choose to retain bilingualism even if the percentage drops below 6. [Language law 6.6.2003/423 §5; Text of the law in [http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/2003/20030423 Finnish] , [http://www.finlex.fi/sv/laki/ajantasa/2003/20030423 Swedish] and [http://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/2003/en20030423.pdf English versions] ] Lohja is the only municipality to make use of this special provision. The 3,000-speaker rule was introduced as the proportion of Swedish residents of Turku (approximately 9,000 people) was less than 6%. Additionally, the 3,000-speaker rule applies in Vantaa (which has around 6,000 Swedish-speaking residents); other municipalities are bilingual by virtue of the percentage rule.

The language law does not apply in Åland ("Ahvenanmaa" in Finnish), an autonomous province that is monolingually Swedish.

Under the present regulations, valid until 2012, of 416 Finnish municipalities, 19 are Swedish-speaking (including 16 in Åland). 43 municipalities are bilingual; of these, 22 have a Swedish-speaking majority and 21 a Finnish-speaking one. The remaining 354 municipalities are monolingually Finnish-speaking.

Besides Åland, the Swedish-speaking areas are concentrated on the West Coast in Ostrobothnia, the South Coast regions of Uusimaa and Eastern Uusimaa, and the region of Finland Proper.

Alphabetical list

;Language codes
*S = monolingually Swedish-speaking
*S-F = majority Swedish-speaking
*F-S = majority Finnish-speaking

ee also

*Languages of Finland
*Swedish-speaking Finns
*List of Finnish municipalities

References

;General
* [http://www.kunnat.net/k_perussivu.asp?path=1;29;341;486;496;30278;30384 List of Finnish municipalities by official language] fi icon;Specific