Division into administrative areas (vector)
The Division into administrative areas (vector) product contains the boundaries of Finland’s
• municipalities
• regions
• wellbeing services counties
• economic development centres
• state.
In addition to the borders, the dataset contains the identifiers and names of the regions in Finnish and Swedish. Also, area information (total, land, and water area) is available about municipalities. The product does not contain information about shorelines.
The dataset is produced in scales 1:10,000, 1:100,000, 1:250,000, 1:1,000,000, and 1:4,500,000.
• The dataset in scale 1:10,000 is based on the property boundaries in the Cadastre.
• Other scales are generalised versions of this.
The data contents vary by scale and format.
Division into administrative areas is updated yearly in January.
The most significant changes in 2026:
• The boundaries of the Regional State Administrative Agencies were dismantled, the boundaries of economic development centres replaced them
• Partial municipal merger between the city of Savonlinna and the municipality of Enonkoski
• Update 06/2026: The changes of the review of the state boundary between Finland and Norway in the dataset in scale 1:10,000.
The product belongs to the open data of the National Land Survey of Finland. Download the product from the MapSite's Download geospatial data section.
Purpose:
Division into administrative areas is suitable for use as background data for various analyses and as source data for map products.
Geographic location
Entire Finland
Reference system
ETRS89 / TM35FIN(E,N) (EPSG:3067)
Scale
10000
100000
250000
1000000
4500000
Spatial representation
Vector
Spatial representation info
Full surface graph
Data content
Municipal boundaries are formed of the property boundaries in the Cadastre. The divisions into other administrative areas (regions, wellbeing services counties, economic development centres) are formed according to which higher regional division each municipality belongs.
Generalisation:
• Product 1:10,000 is an ungeneralised basic dataset.
• Product 1:100,000 is generalised from the 1:10,000 dataset.
• Product 1:250,000 is generalised from the 1:100,000 dataset.
• Product 1:1,000,000 is generalised from the 1:250,000 dataset.
• Product 1:4,500,000 is generalised from the 1:1,000,000 dataset.
Regarding divisions into municipalities, the data product contains
• the number codes of the municipalities
• the names of the municipalities in Finnish and Swedish
• the boundaries and areas of the municipalities
• area information (total, land, and water area: Shapefile and GeoPackage formats)
• information on whether the area in question is a main area or an enclave.
Handling of enclaves by scale:
• 1:100,000: includes all enclaves larger than 10 ha (part of a municipality located within another municipality)
• 1:250,000: includes all enclaves larger than 100 ha
• 1:1,000,000 and 1:4,500,000: includes only the enclave of Hammarland.
The areas of regions, wellbeing services counties, and economic development centres are generalised without enclaves. The product includes the names and identifiers of the areas of regions, wellbeing services counties, and economic development centres.
Geometry:
• GeoPackage: areas
• Shape: areas
• GML: lines and areas.
The product does not contain information about shorelines so land and water areas cannot be distinguished from the dataset.
The schema document (XML/GLM, in Finnish/English): http://xml.nls.fi/Kuntajako/Asiakasdokumentaatio/Skeemakuvaus/NLSF_AU_schema_documentation_4.0.html
The product in XML/GLM format has been produced according to the INSPIRE Directive and its information product definition of administrative units.
https://inspire.ec.europa.eu/schemas/au/4.0/AdministrativeUnits.xsd
Guideline document equivalent to the INSPIRE schema:
The schema has been applied according to the following document:
https://xml.nls.fi/Kuntajako/Asiakasdokumentaatio/Skeemakuvaus/NLSF_AU_schema_documentation_4.0.html
Maintenance
Maintenance
New annual versions are published at the beginning of the calendar year following the update of the municipal division dataset.
Annual versions of Division into administrative areas are available since 2012. The availability varies by format.
Quality information
Lineage
Division into administrative areas (vector) products (formerly Municipal Division) have been produced in the XML/GLM format since 2012. Other formats have been produced later.
Information product specifications for the 2025 version and older annual versions (in Finnish): http://xml.nls.fi/Kuntajako/Asiakasdokumentaatio/Tietotuoteselosteet/
Distribution and further information
Responsible party
National Land Survey of Finland
Conditions applying to access and use
Mention the name of the Licensor (the National Land Survey of Finland), the name of the dataset(s) and the time when the National Land Survey has delivered the dataset(s) (e.g.: contains data from the National Land Survey of Finland Topographic Database 06/2014).
Distribution format
XML/GML
ESRI Shapefile
Pricing
Not based on a decree