The Regional State Administrative Agencies ( fi, aluehallintovirasto, avi, sv, regionförvaltningsverk) are a set of top-level regional organs of the state of
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 ...
, mainly in charge of basic public services and legal permits. Six agencies took over some of the tasks of the earlier
provinces of Finland
Between 1634 and 2009, Finland was administered as several provinces ( fi, Suomen läänit, sv, Finlands län). Finland had always been a unitary state: the provincial authorities were part of the central government's executive branch and ap ...
, which were abolished at the end of 2009. A seventh agency in the autonomous area
Åland
Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1 ...
is named the State Department of Åland.
The agencies themselves do not constitute a subdivision of Finland (
ISO 3166-2:FI); instead, the first-level subdivisions are the
regions of Finland
Finland is divided into 19 regions ( fi, maakunta; sv, landskap)., smn, eennâmkodde, and sms, mäddkåʹdd.
The regions are governed by regional councils that serve as forums of cooperation for the Municipalities of Finland, municipalities ...
. The other important set of top-level regional state agencies are the
Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (''ely-keskus'').
Agencies and their regions
See also
*
ISO 3166-2:FI
*
Government Office
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
References
External links
Regional State Administrative AgenciesOfficial site
{{authority control
Government agencies of Finland
Finland geography-related lists
2010 establishments in Finland
Finland politics-related lists