 finland comprises 19 regions called  in finnish and  in swedish. the regions are governed by regional councils, which serve as forums of cooperation for the municipalities of a region. the main tasks of the regions are regional planning and development of enterprise and education. in addition, the public health services are usually organized on the basis of regions. currently, the only region where a popular election is held for the council is kainuu. other regional councils are elected by municipal councils, each municipality sending representatives in proportion to its population. in addition to inter-municipal cooperation, which is the responsibility of regional councils, each region has a state employment and economic development centre, which is responsible for the local administration of labour, agriculture, fisheries, forestry and entrepreneurial affairs. the finnish defence forces regional offices are responsible for the regional defence preparations and for the administration of conscription within the region. regions represent dialectal, cultural and economic variations better than the former provinces, which were purely administrative divisions of the central government. historically, regions are divisions of historical provinces of finland, areas which represent dialects and culture more accurately. == regions == {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; " |- ! coat of arms ! english name ! finnish name ! swedish name ! capital ! map |- | 40px|lapland ! lapland |  |  | rovaniemi | rowspan="19"| 400pxregions of finland(the borders of historical provinces are shown in grey) |- | 40px|north ostrobothnia ! northern ostrobothnia |  |  | oulu |- | 40px|kainuu ! kainuu |  |  | kajaani |- | 40px|north karelia ! north karelia |  |  | joensuu |- | 40px|north savonia ! northern savonia |  | | | kuopio |- | 40px|south savonia ! southern savonia |  |  | mikkeli |- | 40px|south ostrobothnia ! southern ostrobothnia |  |  | seinÃ¤joki |- | 40px|central ostrobothnia ! central ostrobothnia | {{lang|fi|ke
Country_subdivisions_of_Europe Finland_geography-related_lists First-level_administrative_country_subdivisions Lists_of_country_subdivisions Regions_of_Finland Subdivisions_of_Finland