Kymenlaakso ( sv, Kymmenedalen; " Kymi/Kymmene Valley") is a

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. It borders the regions of

Uusimaa Uusimaa (; sv, Nyland, ; both lit. 'new land') is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso. Finland's capital and largest city, He ...

Päijät-Häme Päijät-Häme () is a region in Southern Finland south of the lake Päijänne. It borders the regions of Uusimaa, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Pirkanmaa, Central Finland, South Savo and Kymenlaakso. The biggest city in the region is Laht ...

South Savo South Savo (or Southern Savonia; fi, Etelä-Savo; sv, Södra Savolax) is a region in the south-east of Finland. It borders the regions of North Savo, North Karelia, South Karelia, Kymenlaakso, Päijät-Häme, and Central Finland. The total ar ...

and

South Karelia South Karelia ( fi, Etelä-Karjala; sv, Södra Karelen) is a Regions of Finland, region of Finland. It borders the regions of Kymenlaakso, Southern Savonia, South Savo and North Karelia, as well as Russia (Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Obla ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

(

Leningrad Oblast Leningrad Oblast ( rus, Ленинградская область, Leningradskaya oblast’, lʲɪnʲɪnˈgratskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ, , ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It was established on 1 August 1927, a ...

). Its name means literally ''The Valley of River

Kymi Kymi may refer to: *Kymi, Greece, a town in Euboea, Greece *Kymi, Finland, a former municipality in Finland *Kymi (constituency), a constituency in the Finnish Parliament *Kymi (region), or ''Kymenlaakso'', the region of Finland *Kymi B.C., a basket ...

''. Kymijoki is one of the biggest rivers in Finland with a

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

with 11% of the area of Finland. The city of

Kotka Kotka (; ; la, Aquilopolis) is a city in the southern part of the Kymenlaakso province on the Gulf of Finland. Kotka is a major port and industrial city and also a diverse school and cultural city, which was formerly part of the old Kymi parish ...

with 51,000 inhabitants is located at the delta of River Kymi and has the most important import harbour in Finland. Other cities are

Kouvola Kouvola () is a cities of Finland, city and Municipalities of Finland, municipality in southeastern Finland. It is located along the Kymijoki, Kymijoki River in the Regions of Finland, region of Kymenlaakso, kilometers east of Lahti, west of Lapp ...

further in the inland which has after a municipal merger 81,000 inhabitants and the old bastion town

Hamina Hamina (; sv, Fredrikshamn, , Sweden ) is a List of cities in Finland, town and a Municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located approximately east of the country's capital Helsinki, in the Kymenlaakso Regions of Finland, reg ...

Kymenlaakso was one of the first

industrialized Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...

regions of Finland. It became the most important region for paper and pulp industry in Finland. Since the late 1900s many plants have closed, which has caused some deindustrialization, unemployment and population decline in Kymenlaakso, especially in those communes that were built around plants such as Myllykoski in Kouvola.

Historical provinces

''For history, geography and culture see:

, Karelia and Tavastia''

Municipalities

The region of Kymenlaakso is made up of six

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

, of which three have city status (marked in bold). Kotka-Hamina Sub-region: * Kotka

**Population: * Hamina

(Fredrikshamn) **Population: *

Pyhtää Pyhtää ( sv, Pyttis) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Kymenlaakso region, west of the city of Kotka. Overview The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Th ...

(Pyttis) **Population: *

Virolahti Virolahti (; sv, Vederlax) is the southeasternmost municipality of Finland on the border of Russia. It is located in the Kymenlaakso region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of , of which is water. The population densit ...

(Vederlax) **Population: * Miehikkala

Miehikkälä Miehikkälä is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Kymenlaakso region. The municipality has a population of (), which make it the smallest municipality in Kymenlaakso in terms of popula ...

**Population: Kouvola Sub-region: * Kouvola

**Population: Former municipalities: *

Kuusankoski Kuusankoski is a neighbourhood of city of Kouvola, former industrial town and municipality of Finland, located in the region of Kymenlaakso in the province of Southern Finland. The population of Kuusankoski was 20,392 (2003) and the total are ...

Elimäki Elimäki (Swedish: ''Elimä'') is a former municipality of Finland. It was located in the province of Southern Finland and was part of the region of Kymenlaakso. The municipality had a population of 8,199 and covered an area of 391.74 km² ...

Anjala Anjala was a town in Southern Finland, which merged in 1975 with Sippola to form Anjalankoski, later further merged into Kouvola Kouvola () is a city and municipality in southeastern Finland. It is located along the Kymijoki River in the region ...

Haapasaari Haapasaari (Finnish for ''aspen island'') may refer to: * Aspö ( fi, Haapasaari, link=no), an island and a village in Korpo, Finland * Haapasaari (Kotka), a former municipality and an island near Kotka, Finland {{Geodab ...

Karhula Karhula is a former market town ('' kauppala'') and a former municipality of Finland in the former Kymi Province, now in the Kymenlaakso region. It was consolidated with the town of Kotka in 1977. Its seat was in Helilä, however the municip ...

Anjalankoski *

Valkeala Valkeala is a former municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Southern Finland, and is a neighborhood of city of Kouvola, and it was a part of the Kymenlaakso region. The municipality had a population of 11,238 (2003) and cove ...

Jaala Jaala is a former municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Kymenlaakso region. The municipality had a population of 1,906 (2003) and covered an area of 563.06 km² of which 129.89 km ...

Vehkalahti Vehkalahti () is a List of former municipalities of Finland, former municipality surrounding the town of Hamina in south-eastern Finland. At the beginning of 2003 Hamina and Vehkalahti combined to form a new town of Hamina. History These souther ...

Politics

Results of the 2019 Finnish parliamentary election in Kymenlaakso: *

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

24.73% *

Finns Party The Finns Party, formerly known as the True Finns ( fi, Perussuomalaiset, PS, sv, Sannfinländarna, Sannf.), is a right-wing populist political party in Finland. It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party. The ...

20.93% *

National Coalition Party sv, Samlingspartiet , leader1_title = Chairman , leader1_name = Petteri Orpo , leader2_title = Deputy chairs , leader2_name = Antti HäkkänenElina ValtonenAnna-Kaisa Ikonen , merger = Finnish Party, Young Finn ...

18.21% * Centre Party 11.64% *

Green League The Green League (VIHR, fi, Vihreä liitto , sv, Gröna förbundet), shortened to the Greens ( fi, Vihreät, sv, De Gröna), is a green political party in Finland. Ideologically, the Green League is positioned on the centre-left of the polit ...

8.64% * Left Alliance 6.34% *

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social ...

4.85% *

Movement Now Movement Now ( fi, Liike Nyt , sv, Rörelse nu) is an economically liberal political party in Finland. It was founded by then- National Coalition Party (NCP) member of parliament (MP) Harry "Hjallis" Harkimo and seven other people as a polit ...

1.83% *

Blue Reform The Finnish Reform Movement ( fi, Korjausliike, korj), is a Finnish conservative political party. It was founded by the 19 MPs who left the Finns Party on 13 June 2017 in protest against Jussi Halla-aho having been elected party leader. The n ...

1.68% *

Seven Star Movement Seven Star Movement ( fi, Seitsemän tähden liike, sv, Sjustjärnerörelsen) is a Finnish political party founded in 2018. The party was founded by Paavo Väyrynen, its president and only MP, after he was ousted from his previous party, Citize ...

0.33% *Other parties 0.82%

References

External links

Regional Council of Kymenlaakso
{{authority control Southern Finland Province Regions of Finland