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Area and population density of local authorities

The average area of Finnish local authorities is 1,143 km². The average area has increased through municipal mergers, however, 2/3 of all local authorities have an area smaller than the average.

There is a great deal of variation in the size of local authorities. The municipality of Kauniainen has the smallest surface area (6.0 km2), the municipality of Inari the largest (17,334 km2).

The population density of Finland as of 1 Jan 2010 was 17.6 people per one sq km of land area. There is a great deal of variation in the population density between local authorities. The most densely populated local authority, the city of Helsinki, has 2,730 residents per km2 while the most sparsely populated local authority, that of Savukoski, has only 0.2 residents per km2.

There is a high concentration of population in the southern parts of the country and in the largest urban regions. In almost half of all Finnish local authorities there are less than 10 residents per km2.