Helsinki

Helsinkiis thecapitaland most populouscityinFinland. It is on the shore of theGulf of Finlandand is the seat of southern Finland'sUusimaaregion. About 685,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.3 million in thecapital regionand 1.61 million in themetropolitan area. As the most populousurban areain Finland, it is the country's most significant centre for politics, education, finance, culture, and research. Helsinki is 80 kilometres (50 mi) north ofTallinn, Estonia, 400 kilometres (250 mi) east ofStockholm, Sweden, and 300 kilometres (190 mi) west ofSaint Petersburg, Russia. Helsinki has significanthistorical connectionswith these three cities.
Together with the cities ofEspoo,VantaaandKauniainen—and surrounding commuter towns,including the neighbouring municipality ofSipooto the east—Helsinki forms ametropolitan area. This area is often considered Finland's only metropolis and is the world'snorthernmostmetropolitan area with over one million inhabitants. Additionally, it is the northernmost capital of anEU member state. Helsinki is thethird-largestmunicipality in the Nordic countries, after Stockholm andOslo. Its urban area is thethird-largestin the Nordic countries, after Stockholm andCopenhagen.Helsinki Airport, in the neighbouring city of Vantaa, serves the city with frequent flights to numerous destinations in Europe, North America, and Asia.
Helsinki is abilingualmunicipality withFinnishandSwedishas its official languages. The population consists of75% Finnish speakers,5% Swedish speakers, and20% speakers of other languages (which is well above the national average).
Helsinki hosted the1952 Summer Olympics, the firstCSCE/OSCESummit in 1975, the firstWorld Athletics Championshipsin 1983, the52nd Eurovision Song Contestin 2007 and it was the 2012World Design Capital.
Helsinki has one of the highest standards of urban living in the world. In 2011, the British magazineMonocleranked Helsinki as the world's most liveable city in itslivable cities index.In theEconomist Intelligence Unit's 2016 livability survey, Helsinki ranked ninth out of 140 cities.In July 2021, the American magazineTimenamed Helsinki one of the world's greatest places, a city that "can grow into a burgeoning cultural nest in the future" and is already known as anenvironmentalpioneer.In an internationalCities of Choicesurvey conducted in 2021 by theBoston Consulting Groupand the BCG Henderson Institute, Helsinki was ranked the third-best city in the world to live in, withLondonandNew York Citycoming in first and second.In theCondé Nast Travelermagazine's 2023 Readers' Choice Awards, Helsinki was ranked the 4th-friendliest city in Europe.Helsinki, along withRovaniemiinLapland, is also one of Finland's most importanttouristcities.Due to the large number of sea passengers, Helsinki is classified as a major port city,and in 2017 it was rated the world's busiest passenger port.
According to a theory put forward in the 1630s, at the time ofSwedish colonisationof the Finnish coast, colonists fromHälsinglandin centralSwedenarrived at what is now theVantaa Riverand called itHelsingå('Helsinge River'), giving rise to the names of thevillageandchurchof Helsinge in the 1300s.This theory is questionable, as dialect research suggests that the settlers came fromUpplandand the surrounding areas.Others have suggested that the name derives from the Swedish wordhelsing, an archaic form of the wordhals('neck'), which refers to the narrowest part of a river, therapids.Other Scandinavian towns in similar geographical locations were given similar names at the time, such asHelsingørin Denmark andHelsingborgin Sweden.
When a town was founded in the village ofForsby(laterKoskela) in 1548, it was calledHelsinge fors, 'Helsinge rapids'. The name refers to theVanhankaupunginkoski[fi]rapids at the mouth of the river.The town was commonly known asHelsingeorHelsing, from which the modern Finnish name is derived.
OfficialFinnish governmentdocuments and Finnish language newspapers have used the nameHelsinkisince 1819, when theSenate of Finlandmoved to the city fromTurku, the former capital of Finland. Decrees issued in Helsinki were dated with Helsinki as the place of issue. This is how the form Helsinki came to be used inwrittenFinnish.When Finland became a Grand Duchy of Finland, an autonomous state under the rule of theRussian Empire, Helsinki was known asGel'singfors(Гельсингфорс) in Russian, because the main and official language of Grand Duchy of Finland was Swedish.
InHelsinki slang, the city is calledStadi(from the Swedish wordstad, meaning 'city'). Abbreviated formHesais equally common, but its use is associated with people of rural origin ("junantuomat", lit. "brought by a train") and frowned upon by locals.Helssetis theNorthern Saminame for Helsinki.
After the end of theIce Ageand the retreat of the ice sheet, the first settlers arrived in the Helsinki area around 5000 BC. Their presence has been documented by archaeologists inVantaa,PitäjänmäkiandKaarela.Permanent settlements did not appear until the beginning of the 1st millennium AD, during theIron Age, when the area was inhabited by theTavastians. They used the area for fishing and hunting, but due to the lack of archaeological finds it is difficult to say how extensive their settlements were.Pollen analysishas shown that there were agricultural settlements in the area in the 10th century, and surviving historical records from the 14th century describe Tavastian settlements in the area.
Christianitydoes not gain a significant foothold in Finland before the 11th century. After that, a number ofcrossesand other objects related to Christianity can be found in archaeological material. According to the traditional view, theKingdom of Swedenmade three crusades to Finland, thanks to which the region was incorporated into both Christianity and the Swedish Empire. Recent research has shown that these expeditions, to the extent that there were even three of them, were not the crusades that had been imagined. Later, the conquest of Finland was justified in terms of "civilisation" and "christianisation", and the myth of the Crusades was developed. It is more likely that it was a multidimensional combination of economic, cultural and political power ambitions.
The early settlements were raided byVikingsuntil 1008, and theBattle at Herdalerwas a battle between the Norse Viking leader Olav Haraldsson (later KingOlaf II of Norway, also known as Saint Olaf) and local Finns at Herdaler (nowIngå), not far from Helsinga, around 1007–8.TheSaga of Olaf Haraldsontells how Olav raided the coasts of Finland and was almost killed in battle. He ran away in fear and after that the Vikings did not raid the coasts of Finland.
Later the area was settled by Christians from Sweden. They came mainly from the Swedish coastal regions ofNorrlandandHälsingland, and their migration intensified around 1100.TheSwedes permanently colonisedthe Helsinki region's coastline in the late 13th century, after the successful crusade to Finland that led to the defeat of the Tavastians.
In the Middle Ages, the Helsinki area was a landscape of small villages. Some of the old villages from the 1240s in the area of present-day Helsinki, such asKoskelaandTöölö, are now Helsinki districts, as are the rest of the 27 medieval villages. The area gradually became part of the Kingdom of Sweden and Christianity.Kuninkaantie, or the "King's Road", ran through the area and two interesting medieval buildings were built here:Vartiokylä hillfort[fi]in the 1380s and theChurch of St. Lawrencein 1455. In the Middle Ages, several thousand people lived in Helsinki'skeep.
There was a lot of trade across theBaltic Sea. The shipping route to the coast, and especially toReval, meant that by the end of the Middle Ages the Helsinki region had become an important trading centre for wealthypeasants,priestsandnoblesin Finland, afterVyborgandPohja.Furs,wood,tar,fishand animals were exported from Helsinki, andsaltandgrainwere brought to the fortress. Helsinki was also the most important cattle-breeding area in Uusimaa. With the help of trade, Helsinki became one of the wealthiest cities in Finland and Uusimaa. Thanks to trade and travel, e.g. to Reval, people could speak several languages, at least helpfully. Depending on the situation, Finnish, Swedish, Latin or Low German could be heard in the Helsinki area.
Written chronicles from 1417 mention the village ofKoskelanear the rapids at the mouth of theRiver Vantaa, where Helsinki was to be founded.
Helsinki was founded by KingGustav I of Swedenon 12 June 1550 as a trading town called Helsingfors to rival theHanseaticcity of Reval (nowTallinn) on the southern shore of theGulf of Finland.To populate the new town at the mouth of theVantaa River, the king ordered thebourgeoisieofPorvoo,Raseborg,RaumaandUlvilatomovethere.The shallowness of the bay made it impossible to build a harbour, and the king allowed the settlers to leave the unfortunate location. In 1640, CountPer Brahe the Younger, together with some descendants of the original settlers, moved the centre of the city to theVironniemipeninsula by the sea, today'sKruununhakadistrict, where theSenate SquareandHelsinki Cathedralare located.
During the second half of the 17th century, Helsinki, as a wooden city, suffered from regularfires, and by the beginning of the 18th century the population had fallen below 1,700. For a long time Helsinki was mainly a small administrative town for the governors ofNyland and Tavastehus County, but its importance began to grow in the 18th century when plans were made to build a more solid naval defence in front of the city.Little came of these plans, however, as Helsinki remained a small town plagued by poverty, war and disease. Theplagueof 1710 killed most of Helsinki's population.After theRussians capturedHelsinki in May 1713 during theGreat Northern War, the retreating Swedish administration set fire to parts of the city.Despite this, the city's population grew to 3,000 by the beginning of the 19th century. The construction of the naval fortress ofSveaborg(Viaporiin Finnish, now also calledSuomenlinna) in the 18th century helped to improve Helsinki's status. However, it wasn't until Russia defeated Sweden in theFinnish Warand annexed Finland as the autonomousGrand Duchy of Finlandin 1809 that the city began to develop into a substantial city. The Russians besieged the Sveaborg fortress during the war, and about a quarter of the city was destroyed in a fire in 1808.
EmperorAlexander I of Russiamoved the capital of Finland fromTurkuto Helsinki on 8 April 1812 to reduce Swedish influence in Finland and bring the capital closer toSt Petersburg.After theGreat Fire of Turkuin 1827, theRoyal Academy of Turku, the only university in the country at the time, was also moved to Helsinki and eventually became the modern University of Helsinki. The move consolidated the city's new role and helped set it on a path of continuous growth. This transformation is most evident in the city centre, which was rebuilt in theneoclassicalstyle to resemble St. Petersburg, largely according to a plan by the German-born architectC. L. Engel. As elsewhere, technological advances such as the railway andindustrialisationwere key factors in the city's growth.
By the 1910s, Helsinki's population was already over 100,000, and despite the turbulence of Finnish history in the first half of the 20th century, Helsinki continued to grow steadily. This included theFinnish Civil Warand theWinter War, both of which left their mark on the city. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were roughly equal numbers of Finnish andSwedish speakersin Helsinki; the majority of workers were Finnish-speaking. The localHelsinki slang(orstadin slangi) developed among Finnish children and young people from the 1890s as a mixed Finnish-Swedish language, with influences fromGermanandRussian, and from the 1950s the slang began to become more Finnish.A landmark event was the1952 Olympic Games, which were held in Helsinki. Finland's rapid urbanisation in the 1970s, which occurred late compared to the rest of Europe, tripled the population of the metropolitan area, and theHelsinki Metrosubway system was built.
Known as the "Daughter of the Baltic"or the "Pearl of the Baltic",Helsinki is located at the tip of a peninsula and on 315 islands. The city centre is located on a southern peninsula,Helsinginniemi("Cape of Helsinki"), which is rarely referred to by its actual name,Vironniemi("Cape of Estonia"). Population density is comparatively high in certain parts of downtown Helsinki, reaching 16,494 inhabitants per square kilometre (42,720/sq mi) in the district ofKallio,  overall Helsinki's population density is 3,147 per square kilometre. Outside the city centre, much of Helsinki consists of post-war suburbs separated by patches of forest. A narrow, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) longHelsinki Central Park, which stretches from the city centre to Helsinki's northern border, is an important recreational area for residents. The City of Helsinki has about 11,000 boatmooringsand over 14,000 hectares (35,000 acres; 54 square miles) of marine fishing waters adjacent to the capital region. About 60 species of fish are found in this area, and recreational fishing is popular.
Helsinki's main islands includeSeurasaari,LauttasaariandKorkeasaari– the latter is home to Finland's largest zoo,Korkeasaari Zoo. The former military islands ofVallisaariandIsosaariare now open to the public, butSantahaminais still in military use. The most historic and remarkable island is the fortress ofSuomenlinna(Sveaborg).The island ofPihlajasaariis a popular summer resort, comparable toFire IslandinNew York City.
There are 60nature reservesin Helsinki with a total area of 95,480 acres (38,640 ha). Of the total area, 48,190 acres (19,500 ha) are water areas and 47,290 acres (19,140 ha) are land areas. The city also has seven nature reserves inEspoo,Sipoo,HankoandIngå. The largest nature reserve is theVanhankaupunginselkä, with an area of 30,600 acres (12,400 ha). The city's first nature reserve, Tiiraluoto of Lauttasaari, was established in 1948.
Helsinki's official plant is theNorway mapleand its official animal is thered squirrel.
TheHelsinki capital region(Finnish:Pääkaupunkiseutu,Swedish:Huvudstadsregionen) comprises four municipalities: Helsinki,Espoo,Vantaa, andKauniainen.TheHelsinki urban areais considered to be the onlymetropolisinFinland.It has a population of about 1.27 million, and is the most densely populated area ofFinland. The Capital Region spreads over a land area of 770 square kilometres (300 sq mi) and has a population density of 1,619 per sg km. With over 20 percent of the country's population in just 0.2 percent of its surface area, the area's housing density is high by Finnish standards.
TheHelsinki metropolitan areaor the Greater Helsinki consists of the cities of the capital region and ten surrounding municipalities:Hyvinkää,Järvenpää,Kerava,Kirkkonummi,Nurmijärvi,Sipoo,Tuusula,Pornainen,MäntsäläandVihti.The Metropolitan Area covers 3,697 square kilometres (1,427 sq mi) and has a population of about 1.61 million, or about a fourth of the total population of Finland. The metropolitan area has a high concentration of employment: approximately 750,000 jobs.Despite the intensity of land use, the region also has large recreational areas and green spaces. The Helsinki metropolitan area is the world's northernmost urban area with a population of over one million people, and the northernmost EU capital city.
TheHelsinki urban areais an officially recognizedurban area in Finland, defined by its population density. The area stretches throughout 11 municipalities, and is the largest such area in Finland, with a land area of 669.31 square kilometres (258.42 sq mi) and approximately 1.36  million inhabitants.
Helsinki has a coldhemiborealhumid continental climate(Köppen:Dfb,TrewarthaDcbo).Due to the moderating influence of theBaltic Seaand theNorth Atlantic Current(see alsoExtratropical cyclone), winter temperatures are higher than the northern location would suggest, with an average of −4 °C (25 °F) in January and February.
Winters in Helsinki are significantly warmer than in the north of Finland, and the snow season in the capital is much shorter due to its location in the extreme south of Finland and theurban heat islandeffect. Temperatures below −20 °C (−4 °F) occur only a few times a year. However, due to the latitude, the days around thewinter solsticeare 5 hours and 48 minutes long, with the sun very low (at noon the sun is just over 6 degrees in the sky), and the cloudy weather at this time of year exacerbates the darkness. Conversely, Helsinki enjoys long days in summer, with 18 hours and 57 minutes of daylight around thesummer solstice.
The average maximum temperature from June to August is around 19 to 22 °C (66 to 72 °F). Due to the sea effect, especially on hot summer days, daytime temperatures are slightly cooler and nighttime temperatures higher than further inland. The highest temperature recorded in the city was 33.2 °C (91.8 °F) on 28 July 2019 at theKaisaniemiweather station,breaking the previous record of 33.1 °C (91.6 °F) set in July 1945 at theIlmalaweather station.The lowest temperature recorded in the city was −34.3 °C (−29.7 °F) on 10 January 1987, although an unofficial low of −35 °C (−31 °F) was recorded in December 1876.Helsinki Airport(in Vantaa, 17 km north of Helsinki city centre) recorded a maximum temperature of 33.7 °C (92.7 °F) on 29 July 2010 and a minimum of −35.9 °C (−33 °F) on 9 January 1987. Precipitation comes from frontal passages and thunderstorms. Thunderstorms are most common in summer.
Helsinki is divided into three major areas:Helsinki Downtown(Finnish:Helsingin kantakaupunki,Swedish:Helsingfors innerstad),North Helsinki(Finnish:Pohjois-Helsinki,Swedish:Norra Helsingfors) andEast Helsinki(Finnish:Itä-Helsinki,Swedish:Östra Helsingfors). Of these, Helsinki Downtown means the undefined core area of capital, as opposed tosuburbs. The designationsbusiness centerand city center usually refer toKluuvi,KamppiandPunavuori.Other subdivisional centers outside the downtown area includeMalmi(Swedish:Malm),located in the northeastern part of city, andItäkeskus(Swedish:Östra centrum),in the eastern part of city.
Carl Ludvig Engel, appointed to plan a new city centre on his own, designed severalneoclassicalbuildings in Helsinki. The focal point of Engel's city plan was theSenate Square. It is surrounded by theGovernment Palace(to the east), the main building of Helsinki University (to the west), and (to the north) the largeHelsinki Cathedral, which was finished in 1852, twelve years after Engel's death. Helsinki'sepithet, "The White City of the North", derives from this construction era. Most of Helsinki's older buildings were built after the 1808 fire; before that time, the oldest surviving building in the center of Helsinki is theSederholm House[fr](1757) at the intersection of Senate Square and the Katariinankatu street.Suomenlinna also has buildings completed in the 18th century, including theKuninkaanporttion theKustaanmiekka Island[fr](1753–1754).The oldest church in Helsinki is the Östersundom church, built in 1754.
Helsinki is also home to numerousArt Nouveau-influenced (Jugendin Finnish) buildings belonging to the Kansallisromantiikka (romantic nationalism) trend, designed in the early 20th century and strongly influenced byKalevala, which was a common theme of the era. Helsinki's Art Nouveau style is also featured in central residential districts, such asKatajanokkaandUllanlinna.An important architect of the Finnish Art Nouveau style wasEliel Saarinen, whose architectural masterpiece was theHelsinki Central Station. Opposite theBank of Finlandbuilding is theRenaissance RevivalishtheHouse of the Estates(1891).
The only visible public buildings of theGothic Revival architecturein Helsinki areSt. John's Church(1891) in Ullanlinna, which is the largest stone church in Finland, and its twin towers rise to 74 meters and have 2,600 seats.Other examples of neo-Gothic include theHouse of NobilityinKruununhakaand theCatholicSt. Henry's Cathedral.
In addition to other cities in Northern Europe that were not under theSoviet Union, such asStockholm, Sweden, Helsinki's neoclassical buildings gained also popularity as a backdrop for scenes intended to depict the Soviet Union in numerous Hollywood movies during theCold Warera, when filming within the actual USSR was not possible. Some of them, includingThe Kremlin Letter(1970),Reds(1981), andGorky Park(1983).was possible due to such Russian cities asLeningradandMoscowalso having similar neoclassical architecture. At the same time due toCold Warand Finnish relations with the USSR the government secretly instructed Finnish officials not to extend assistance to such film projects.There are some films where Helsinki has been represented on its own in films, most notably the 1967 British-AmericanespionagethrillerBillion Dollar Brain, starringMichael Caine.The city has large amounts of underground areas such as shelters and tunnels, many used daily as swimming pool, church, water management, entertainment etc.
Helsinki also features several buildings by Finnish architectAlvar Aalto,recognized as one of the pioneers of architecturalfunctionalism. However, some of his works, such as the headquarters of the paper companyStora Ensoand the concert venueFinlandia Hall, have been subject to divided opinions from the citizens.
Functionalist buildings in Helsinki by other architects include theOlympic Stadium, theTennis Palace, theRowing Stadium, theSwimming Stadium, theVelodrome, theGlass Palace, theTöölö Sports Hall, andHelsinki-Malmi Airport. The sports venues were built to serve the 1940 Helsinki Olympic Games; the games were initially cancelled due to theSecond World War, but the venues fulfilled their purpose in the1952 Olympic Games. Many of them are listed byDoCoMoMoas significant examples of modern architecture.The Olympic StadiumandHelsinki-Malmi Airportare also catalogued by theFinnish Heritage Agencyas cultural-historical environments of national significance.
When Finland became heavily urbanized in the 1960s and 1970s, the district ofPihlajamäki, for example, was built in Helsinki for new residents, where for the first time in Finland,precast concretewas used on a large scale.Pikku Huopalahti, built in the 1980s and 1990s, has tried to get rid of a one-size-fits-all grid pattern, which means that its look is very organic and its streets are not repeated in the same way.ItäkeskusinEastern Helsinkiwas the first regional center in the 1980s.Efforts have also been made to protect Helsinki in the late 20th century, and many old buildings have been renovated.Modern architectureis represented, for example, by the Museum of Contemporary ArtKiasma,which consists of two straight and curved-walled parts, though this style strongly divided the opinions from the citizens.Next to Kiasma is the glass-walledSanomatalo(1999).
There have been many plans to build highrise buildings in Helsinki since the 1920s when architect Eliel Saarinen proposed the 85-meter-tall Kalevalatalo in 1921, but few tall buildings were built until the 21st century.In 1924 Oiva Kallio won Etu-Töölö competition with his plan (several 14- to 16-story buildings).A 32-story city hall was also proposed.Other plans of the 1930s included the 18-story "Kino" palace, a 17-story apartment building, and a 30-storyStockmann building were proposed but only the 70-meter-tall 14-storyHotel Torniwas built.(Hotel Torni was the tallest high-rise in Finland until 1976, when the 83-meter-tallNeste headquarterswere completed in Espoo; Helsinki had rejected the tower.) Twin 30-story buildings were proposed inPasilain the 1970s but were rejected.In 1990 a planned 104-meter-tall towerfor theKonecompany was also cancelled.
Highrise construction only started in the beginning of the 21st century, when the city decided to allow the construction of skyscrapers. Highrises were first built inKalasatama, a primarily-residential district built ona former container port. As of 2024, four residential towers have been completed: the 35-story, 282-apartment, 134-metre-tall (440 ft)Majakkain 2019 (which is thetallest building in Finland); the 32-story, 124-meterLoistoin 2021; the 31-story, 120-meterLumoOne in 2022; and the 24-story, 98-meterVisioin 2023. The 26-story, 111-meter-tall office buildingHorisonttiis to be completed in 2025, and three further towers are to be built in the complex.Tall residential towers have also been built in the eastern district ofVuosaari: the 87-meter, 26-storyCirruswas completed in 2006, the 24-story, 85-meter-tallHyperionwas completed in 2023 and the 33-story, 288-apartment, 120-meter-tallAtlasis due to be completed in late 2024.
Skyscrapers have also be planned in the Pasila area, with a handful of over-100-meter-tall towers in various stages of planning or early construction as of 2024.InJätkäsaari, a 113-meter-tall hotel and a 24-story residential tower have been approved.121- and 93-meter-tall office buildings are planned to be built inRuoholahti.Well over 200 high-rise buildings will be built in Helsinki in the 2020s.
The freshest building styles in Helsinki also includelow-carbon economy; for example, the white-colored Katajanokan Laituri building that opened inKatajanokkain the summer of 2024 is built from Finnish and Swedish wood. This building includes eco-friendly hotel Solo Sokos Pier 4.
Well-known statues and monuments strongly embedded in the cityscape of Helsinki include theKeisarinnankivi("Stone of the Empress", 1835), the statue of Russian EmperorAlexander II(1894), the fountain sculptureHavis Amanda(1908), thePaavo Nurmi statue(1925), theThree Smiths Statue(1932), theAleksis Kivi Memorial(1939), theEino Leino Statue(1953), theEquestrian statue of Marshal Mannerheim(1960) and theSibelius Monument(1967).
As is the case with allFinnish municipalities,Helsinki's city councilis the main decision-making organ in local politics, dealing with issues such asurban planning, schools, health care, andpublic transport. The council is chosen in the nationally heldmunicipal elections, which are held every four years.
Helsinki's city council consists of eighty-five members. Following the most recent municipal elections in 2017, the three largest parties are theNational Coalition Party(25), theGreen League(21), and theSocial Democratic Party(12).
The Mayor of Helsinki isJuhana Vartiainen.
The city of Helsinki has 684,589 inhabitants, making it the most populous municipality in Finland and the third in theNordics.  TheHelsinki regionis the largest urbanised area in Finland with 1,606,104 inhabitants. The city of Helsinki is home to 12% of Finland's population. 19.9% of the population has a foreign background, which is twice above the national average. However, it is lower than in the major Finnish cities ofEspooorVantaa.
At 53 percent of the population, women form a greater proportion of Helsinki residents than the national average of 51 percent. Helsinki's population density of 3,147 people per square kilometre makes Helsinki the most densely-populated city in Finland. The life expectancy for men and women is slightly below the national averages: 75.1 years for men as compared to 75.7 years, 81.7 years for women as compared to 82.5 years.
Helsinki has experienced strong growth since the 1810s, when it replacedTurkuas the capital of theGrand Duchy of Finland, which later became the sovereignRepublic of Finland. The city continued its growth from that time on, with an exception during theFinnish Civil War. From the end ofWorld War IIup until the 1970s there was a massive exodus of people from the countryside to the cities of Finland, in particular Helsinki. Between 1944 and 1969 the population of the city nearly doubled from 275,000to 525,600.
In the 1960s, the population growth of Helsinki began to decrease, mainly due to a lack of housing.Some residents began to move to the neighbouring cities of Espoo and Vantaa, resulting in increased population growth in both municipalities. Espoo's population increased ninefold in sixty years, from 22,874 people in 1950 to 244,353 in 2009.Vantaa saw an even more dramatic change in the same time span: from 14,976 in 1950 to 197,663 in 2009, a thirteenfold increase. These population changes prompted the municipalities of metropolitan area into more intense cooperation in areas such as public transportation– resulting in the foundation ofHSL– and waste management.The increasing scarcity of housing and the higher costs of living in the capital region have pushed many daily commuters to find housing in formerly rural areas, and even further, to cities such asLohja,Hämeenlinna,Lahti, andPorvoo.
The city of Helsinki is officiallybilingual, with bothFinnishandSwedishas official languages. In 2023, the majority of the population,75%, spoke Finnish as theirmother tongue. There were 36,844Swedish speakers,  or5.5%  of the population. The number of people who speakSámi, Finland's third official language, is only 68 inhabitants. In Helsinki,19.6% of the population speak amother tongueother than Finnish or Swedish.AsEnglishandSwedishare compulsory school subjects, functional bilingualism or trilingualism acquired through language studies is not uncommon.
Although few people speak the Sámi languages as their mother tongue, there are 527 people of Sami origin.There are 93 Tatar speakers in Helsinki, almost half of the total number of Tatar speakers in Finland.
Helsinki slangis a regional dialect of the city. Historically, it was a combination of Finnish and Swedish, with influences from Russian and German. Nowadays it has a strong English influence. Today, however, Finnish is the common language of communication between Finnish speakers, Swedish speakers and speakers of other languages (New Finns) in everyday public life between strangers.
The city of Helsinki and the national authorities have specifically targeted Swedish speakers. Knowledge of Finnish is essential in business and is usually a basic requirement in the labour market.Swedish speakers are most concentrated in the southern parts of the city. The district with the most Swedish speakers isUllanlinna/Ulrikasborgwith 2,098 (19.6%), whileByholmenis the only district where Swedish is the majority language (at 82.8%). The number of Swedish speakers decreased every year until 2008, and has increased every year since then. Since 2007, the number of Swedish speakers has increased by 2,351.In 1890, Finnish speakers overtook Swedish speakers to become the majority of the city's population.At that time, the population of Helsinki was 61,530.
The number of people with a foreign mother tongue is expected to reach 196,500 in 2035, representing 26% of the population. 114,000 will speak non-European languages, or 15% of the population.Today, at least 160 different languages are spoken in Helsinki. The most common foreign languages areRussian(3.1%),Somali(2.1%),Arabic(1.5%),English(1.5%) andEstonian(1.4%).
As of 2023, there were 134,084 people with an immigrant background living in Helsinki, or 20% of the population.There were 118,128 residents who were born abroad, or 17.5% of the population. The number of foreign citizens in Helsinki was 79,992.
The relative share of immigrants in Helsinki's population is twice the national average, and the city's new residents are increasingly of foreign origin.This will increase the proportion of foreign residents in the coming years. As a crossroads of many international ports and Finland'slargest airport, Helsinki is the global gateway to and from Finland.
Most foreign-born citizens come from the formerSoviet Union,Estonia,Somalia,Iraq, andRussia.
In 2023, theEvangelical Lutheran Churchwas the largest religious group with 46.1% of the Helsinki population. Other religious groups made up 4.5% of the population. 49.4% of the population had no religious affiliation.
The most important churches in Helsinki areHelsinki Cathedral(1852),Uspenski Cathedral(1868),St. John's Church(1891),Kallio Church(1912) andTemppeliaukio Church(1969).
There are 21 Lutheran congregations in Helsinki, 18 of which are Finnish-speaking and 3 are Swedish-speaking. These form Helsinki's congregationgroup. Outside that there is Finland's German congregation with 3,000 members and Rikssvenska Olaus Petri-församlingen for Swedish-citizens with 1,000 members.
The largestOrthodoxcongregation is the Orthodox Church of Helsinki. It has 20,000 members. Its main church is theUspenski Cathedral.The two largestCatholiccongregations are theCathedral of Saint Henry, with 4,552 members, established in 1860 andSt Mary's Catholic Parish, with 4,107 members, established in 1954.
There are around 30 mosques in the Helsinki region. Many linguistic and ethnic groups such asBangladeshis,Kosovars,KurdsandBosniakshave established their own mosques.The largest congregation in both Helsinki and Finland is theHelsinki Islamic Center[fi], established in 1995. It has over 2,800 members as of 2017, and it received €24,131 in government assistance.
In 2015, imamAnas Hajar[fi]estimated that on big celebrations around 10,000 Muslims visit mosques.In 2004, it was estimated that there were 8,000 Muslims in Helsinki, 1.5% of the population at the time.The number of people in Helsinki with a background from Muslim majority countries was nearly 41,000 as of 2021, representing over 6% of the population.
The main synagogue of Helsinki is theHelsinki Synagoguefrom 1906, located inKamppi. It has over 1,200 members, out of the 1,800Jews in Finland, and it is the older of the two buildings in Finland originally built as a synagogue, followed by theTurku Synagoguein 1912.The congregation includes a synagogue, Jewish kindergarten, school, library, Jewish meat shop, two Jewish cemeteries and an retirement home. Many Jewish organizations and societies are based there, and the synagogue publishes the main Jewish magazine in Finland,HaKehila[fi].
Helsinki metropolitan area generates approximately one third of Finland's GDP. GDP per capita is roughly 1.3 times the national average.Helsinki profits on serviced-related IT and public sectors. Having moved from heavy industrial works, shipping companies also employ a substantial number of people.
The metropolitan area's gross value added per capita is 200% of the mean of 27 European metropolitan areas, equalling those of Stockholm and Paris. The gross value added annual growth has been around 4%.
83 of the 100 largest Finnish companies have their headquarters in the metropolitan area. Two-thirds of the 200 highest-paid Finnish executives live in the metropolitan area and 42% in Helsinki. The average income of the top 50 earners was 1.65 million euro.
The tap water is of excellent quality and it is supplied by the 120 km (75 mi)Päijänne Water Tunnel, one of the world's longest continuous rock tunnels.
Helsinki has 190 comprehensive schools, 41 upper secondary schools, and 15 vocational institutes. Half of the 41 upper secondary schools are private or state-owned, the other half municipal. There are two major research universities in Helsinki, theUniversity of HelsinkiandAalto University, and a number of other higher level institutions and polytechnics which focus on higher-level professional education.
Helsinki is one of the co-location centres of the Knowledge and Innovation Community (Future information and communication society) of TheEuropean Institute of Innovation and Technology(EIT).
The biggest historical museum in Helsinki is theNational Museum of Finland, which displays a vast collection from prehistoric times to the 21st century. The museum building itself, a national romantic-style neomedieval castle, is a tourist attraction. Another major historical museum is theHelsinki City Museum, which introduces visitors to Helsinki's 500-year history. TheUniversity of Helsinkialso has many significant museums, including theHelsinki University Museum"Arppeanum" and theFinnish Museum of Natural History.
TheFinnish National Galleryconsists of three museums:Ateneum Art Museumfor classical Finnish art,Sinebrychoff Art Museumfor classical European art, andKiasma Art Museumfor modern art, in a building by architectSteven Holl. The old Ateneum, a neo-Renaissance palace from the 19th century, is one of the city's major historical buildings. All three museum buildings arestate-ownedthroughSenate Properties.
The city of Helsinki hosts its own art collection in theHelsinki Art Museum(HAM), primarily located in itsTennispalatsigallery. Around 200 pieces of public art lie outside. The art is all city property.
Helsinki Art Museumwill in 2020 launch the Helsinki Biennial, which will bring art to maritime Helsinki – in its first year to the island ofVallisaari.
TheDesign Museumis devoted to the exhibition of both Finnish and foreign design, including industrial design, fashion, and graphic design. Other museums in Helsinki include theMilitary Museum of Finland,Didrichsen Art Museum,Amos Rex Art Museum, and theTram Museum[fi].
Helsinki has three major theatres: TheFinnish National Theatre, theHelsinki City Theatre, and theSwedish Theatre(Svenska Teatern). Other notable theatres in the city include theAlexander Theatre,Q-teatteri[fi],Savoy Theatre[fi],KOM-theatre[fi], andTeatteri Jurkka[fi].
Helsinki is home to two full-size symphony orchestras, theHelsinki Philharmonic Orchestraand theFinnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, both of which perform at theHelsinki Music Centreconcert hall. Acclaimed contemporary composersKaija Saariaho,Magnus Lindberg,Esa-Pekka Salonen, andEinojuhani Rautavaara, among others, were born and raised in Helsinki, and studied at theSibelius Academy. TheFinnish National Opera, the only full-time, professional opera company in Finland, is located in Helsinki. The opera singerMartti Wallén, one of the company's long-time soloists, was born and raised in Helsinki, as was mezzo-sopranoMonica Groop.
Many widely renowned and acclaimed bands have originated in Helsinki, includingChildren of Bodom,Hanoi Rocks,HIM,Stratovarius,The 69 Eyes,Finntroll,Ensiferum,Wintersun,The Rasmus,Poets of the Fall, andApocalyptica. The most significant of themetal musicevents in Helsinki is theTuska Open Air Metal FestivalinSuvilahti,Sörnäinen.
The city's main musical venues are theFinnish National Opera, theFinlandia concert hall, and theHelsinki Music Centre. The Music Centre also houses a part of theSibelius Academy. Bigger concerts and events are usually held at one of the city's two big ice hockey arenas: theHelsinki Hallior theHelsinki Ice Hall. Helsinki has Finland's largest fairgrounds, theMessukeskus Helsinki, which is attended by more than a million visitors a year.
Helsinki Arenahosted theEurovision Song Contest 2007, the firstEurovision Song Contestarranged in Finland, followingLordi's win in2006.
Helsinki Day(Helsinki-päivä) will be celebrated every 12 June, with numerous entertainment events culminating in anopen-air concert.Also, theHelsinki Festivalis an arts and culture festival that takes place every August (including theNight of the Arts).
At theSenate Squarein fall 2010, Finland's largest open-air art exhibition to date took place: About 1.4 million people saw the international exhibition ofUnited Buddy Bears.
Helsinki was the 2012World Design Capital, in recognition of the use of design as an effective tool for social, cultural, and economic development in the city. In choosing Helsinki, the World Design Capital selection jury highlighted Helsinki's use of 'Embedded Design', which has tied design in the city to innovation, "creating global brands, such asNokia,Kone, andMarimekko, popular events, like the annualHelsinki Design Week[fi], outstanding education and research institutions, such as theAalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, and exemplary architects and designers such asEliel SaarinenandAlvar Aalto".
Helsinki hosts many film festivals. Most of them are small venues, while some have generated interest internationally. The most prolific of these is theHelsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchyfilm festival, also known as Helsinki International Film Festival, which features films on a wide spectrum.Night Visions, on the other hand, focuses on genre cinema, screeninghorror,fantasy, andscience fictionfilms in very popular movie marathons that last the entire night. Another popular film festival isDocPoint[fi], a festival that focuses solely ondocumentarycinema.
Today,there are around 200 newspapers, 320 popular magazines, 2,100 professional magazines, 67 commercial radio stations, threedigital radiochannels, and one nationwide and five nationalpublic service radio channels.
Sanomapublishes Finland'sjournal of record,Helsingin Sanomat, thetabloidIlta-Sanomat, the commerce-orientedTaloussanomat, and the television channelNelonen. Another Helsinki-based media house,Alma Media, publishes over thirty magazines, including the tabloidIltalehti, and the commerce-orientedKauppalehti.
Finland's national public-broadcasting institutionYleoperates five television channels and thirteen radio channels in both national languages. Yle is headquartered in the neighbourhood ofPasila. All TV channels are broadcastdigitally, both terrestrially and on cable. Yle's studio area houses the 146-metre (479 ft) high television and radio tower,Yle Transmission Tower(Pasilan linkkitorni),which is the third tallest structure in Helsinki and one of Helsinki's most famous landmarks, from the top of which, in good weather, can be seen even as far asTallinnover the Gulf of Finland.
The commercial television channelMTV3and commercial radio channelRadio Novaare owned byNordic Broadcasting(BonnierandProventus).
Helsinki was already known in the 18th century for its abundant number ofinnsandpubs, where both locals and those who landed in the harbor were offered plenty ofalcoholic beverages.At that time, taxes on the sale of alcohol were a very significant source of income for Helsinki, and one of the most important sellers of alcohol wasJohan Sederholm[fr](1722–1805), a trade councilor who attracted ruralmerchantswith alcohol and made good deals.Gradually, a new kind of beverage culture began to grow in the next century, and as early as 1852, the firstcaféof Finland,Café Ekberg,was established by confectionerFredrik Ekberg[fi](1825–1891) after attending his studies inSt. Petersburg. Ekberg has also been said to have created Finland's "nationalpastrytradition".At first, café culture was only a prerogative of sophisticatedelite, when it recently began to take shape as the right of every man.Today, there are several hundred cafés in Helsinki, the most notable of which isCafe Regatta, which is very popular with foreign tourists.
As an importantport cityon the Baltic Sea, Helsinki has long been known for itsfish food, and it has recently started to become one of the leading fish food capitals inNorthern Europe.Helsinki'sMarket Squareis especially known for its traditionalherringmarket, which has been organized since 1743.Salmonis also a typical Helsinki fish dish, both fried andsouped.The most prestigious restaurants specializing inseafoodinclude Restaurant Fisken på Disken.
Helsinki is currently experiencing a period of boomingfood culture, and it has developed into an internationally acclaimed food city, receiving recognition for promoting food culture.The local food culture is made up of cuisines from around the world and the fusions they form. VariousAsian restaurantssuch asChinese,Thai,IndianandNepaleseare particularly prominent in Helsinki's cityscape, but over the past couple of years, restaurants servingVietnamesefood have been very popular.Sushirestaurant buffetshave also made their way into the city's restaurant offerings in one fell swoop.The third prominent trend is restaurants serving pure local food, many of which specialize primarily in serving pureNordic flavors.In past yearsMiddle Easternfood culture rose in its popularity. Especially Helsinki's eastern part offers many different options for Middle Eastern cuisine lovers.There is also some touches ofRussian cuisine, one of which is the Finnish version ofblinis, a thickpancakesthat are usually fried in a cast-iron pan.One of the most significant food culture venues in Helsinki is the general public area known asTeurastamoin theHermannidistrict, which operated as the city'sslaughterhousebetween 1933 and 1992, to which the name of the place also refers.
A nationwide food carnival called Restaurant Day (Ravintolapäivä) has begun in Helsinki and has traditionally been celebrated since May 2011.The purpose of the day is to have fun, share new food experiences and enjoy the common environment with the group.
Vappuis an annual carnival for students and workers on 1 May. The last week of June marks theHelsinki Pridehuman rightsevent, which was attended by 100,000 marchers in 2018.
Helsinki has a long tradition of sports: the city gained much of its initial international recognition during the1952 Summer Olympics, and the city has arranged sporting events such as the firstWorld Championships in Athletics1983 and 2005, and the European Championships in Athletics 1971, 1994, and 2012. Helsinki hosts successful local teams in both of the most popular team sports in Finland:footballandice hockey. Helsinki housesHJK Helsinki, Finland's largest and most successful football club, andIFK Helsingfors, their local rivals with 7 championship titles. The fixtures between the two are commonly known asStadin derby. Helsinki's track and field club Helsingin Kisa-Veikot is also dominant within Finland. Ice hockey is popular among many Helsinki residents, who usually support either of the local clubsIFK Helsingfors(HIFK) orJokerit. HIFK, with 14 Finnish championships titles, also plays in the highestbandydivision,along withBotnia-69. The Olympic stadium hosted the firstBandy World Championshipin 1957.
Helsinki was elected host-city of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but due to World War II they were canceled. Instead Helsinki was the host of the 1952 Summer Olympics. The Olympics were a landmark event symbolically and economically for Helsinki and Finland as a whole that was recovering from the winter war and the continuation war fought with the Soviet Union. Helsinki was also in 1983 the first city to host the World Championships in Athletics. Helsinki also hosted the event in 2005, thus also becoming the first city to host the Championships for a second time. TheHelsinki City Marathonhas been held in the city every year since 1981, usually in August.AFormula 3000race through the city streets was held on 25 May 1997. In 2009 Helsinki was host of theEuropean Figure Skating Championships, and in 2017 it hostedWorld Figure Skating Championships. The city will host the 2021FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup.American footballand theVaahteraliigahas a strong tradition in the city dating back to the early 1980s.
Most of Helsinki's sports venues are under the responsibility of the city's sports office, such as 70sports hallsand about 350sports fields. There are nineice rinks, three of which are managed by the Helsinki Sports Agency (Helsingin liikuntavirasto).In winter, there are seven artificial ice rinks. People can swim in Helsinki in 14swimming pools, the largest of which is theMäkelänrinne Swimming Centre[fi],two inland swimming pools and more than 20beaches, of whichHietaniemi Beachis probably the most famous.
The backbone of Helsinki's motorway network consists of threesemicircularbeltways,Ring I,Ring II, andRing III, which connect expressways heading to other parts of Finland, and the western and eastern arteries ofLänsiväyläandItäväylärespectively. While variants of aKeskustatunnelitunnel under the city centre have been repeatedly proposed, as of 2017the plan remains on the drawing board.
Many importantFinnish highwaysleave Helsinki for various parts of Finland; most of them in the form ofmotorways, but a few of these exceptions includeVihdintie. The most significant highways are:
Helsinki has some 390 cars per 1000 inhabitants.This is less than in cities of similar population and construction density, such as Brussels' 483 per 1000, Stockholm's 401, and Oslo's 413.
Helsinki Central Railway Stationis the main terminus of the rail network in Finland. Two rail corridors lead out of Helsinki, the Main Line to the north (toTampere,Oulu,Rovaniemi), and the Coastal Line to the west (toTurku). TheMain Line(päärata), which is the first railway line in Finland, was officially opened on 17 March 1862, between cities of Helsinki andHämeenlinna.The railway connection to the east branches from the Main Line outside of Helsinki at Kerava, and leads viaLahtito eastern parts of Finland.
A majority of intercity passenger services in Finland originate or terminate at the Helsinki Central Railway Station. All major cities in Finland are connected to Helsinki by rail service, with departures several times a day. The most frequent service is to Tampere, with more than 25 intercity departures per day as of 2017.
Until 2022 there also was an international services from Helsinki to Saint Petersburg and Moscow. The Saint Petersburg to Helsinki route was operated byAllegro high-speed trains.
AHelsinki to Tallinn Tunnelhas been proposedand agreed upon by representatives of the cities.The rail tunnel would connect Helsinki to theEstoniancapitalTallinn, further linking Helsinki to the rest of continental Europe byRail Baltica.
Air traffic is handled primarily fromHelsinki Airport, located approximately 17 kilometres (11 mi) north of Helsinki's downtown area, in the neighbouring city ofVantaa. Helsinki's own airport,Helsinki-Malmi Airport, is mainly used for general and private aviation. Charter flights are available fromHernesaari Heliport.
Like many other cities, Helsinki was deliberately founded at a location on the sea in order to take advantage of shipping. The freezing of the sea imposed limitations on sea traffic up to the end of the 19th century. But for the last hundred years, the routes leading to Helsinki have been kept open even in winter with the aid oficebreakers, many of them built in the Helsinki Hietalahti shipyard. The arrival and departure of ships has also been a part of everyday life in Helsinki. Regular route traffic from Helsinki to Stockholm, Tallinn, and Saint Petersburg began as far back as 1837. Over 300 cruise ships and 360,000 cruise passengers visit Helsinki annually. There are international cruise ship docks inSouth Harbour,Katajanokka,West Harbour, andHernesaari. In terms of combined liner and cruise passengers, thePort of Helsinkiovertook thePort of Doverin 2017 to become thebusiest passenger port in the world.
Ferry connections to Tallinn,Mariehamn, and Stockholm are serviced by various companies; very popularMSJ. L. Runebergferry connection to Finland's second oldest city,medievalold town ofPorvoo, is also available for tourists.Finnlinespassenger-freight ferries toGdynia, Poland;Travemünde, Germany; andRostock, Germany are also available.St. Peter Lineoffers passenger ferry service to Saint Petersburg several times a week.
In the Helsinki metropolitan area,public transportationis managed by theHelsinki Regional Transport Authority, the metropolitan area transportation authority. The diversepublic transport systemconsists oftrams,commuter rail, themetro,buslines, twoferrylines and apublic bike system.
Helsinki's tram systemdates back to 1891 when the firsthorse-drawntrams were introduced; the system was electrified in 1900.As of January 2024, the system consists of 14 routes covering the inner part of the city center andonenewerlight railstyle line connectingKeilaniemiin Espoo withItäkeskusin eastern Helsinki. The length of the network isplanned to more than doubleduring the 2020s and 2030s compared to 2021, with major projects includingVantaa light rail, theCrown Bridgeslink to the island ofLaajasaloand theWest Helsinki light railproject connectingKannelmäkito the city center.Construction work on the new tram as the number line 13 (Nihti–Kalasatama–Vallilanlaakso–Pasila) has begun in May 2020, and the line is scheduled for completion in 2024.
Thecommuter rail systemincludes purpose-built double track for local services in two rail corridors along intercity railways, and theRing Rail Line, an urban double-track railway with a station at theHelsinki Airportin Vantaa. Electric operation of commuter trains was first begun in 1969, and the system has been gradually expanded since. 15 different services are operated as of 2017, some extending outside of the Helsinki region. The frequent services run at a 10-minute headway in peak traffic.
Helsinki has no official sister cities exceptBeijing, China. On July 14, 2006, Beijing and Helsinki officially became sister cities. In October 2019, the two cities signed the Work Plan for Promoting the Cooperation between Beijing and Helsinki (19-2023).In addition, the city has a special partnership relation with:
Until 2022, Helsinki also had an international partnership with the Russian cities ofMoscowandSaint Petersburg, which was suspended afterRussian invasion of Ukraine.