Vantaa

Vantaa is a city and municipality in Finland. It is part of the inner core of the Finnish Capital Region along with Helsinki, Espoo, and Kauniainen. With a population of 215,813 (31 March 2016), Vantaa is the fourth most populated city of Finland.

Vantaa is bordered by Helsinki, the Finnish capital, to the south; Espoo to the southwest; Nurmijärvi to the northwest; Kerava and Tuusula to the north; and Sipoo to the east. The city encompasses 238.36 square kilometres (92.03 sq mi), of which 1.97 km2 (0.76 sq mi) is water.

The largest airport in Finland, and the main airport and airline hub of Greater Helsinki, the Helsinki Airport, is located in Vantaa. Companies with headquarters in Vantaa include Finnair, Finavia, Air Finland, Blue1, R-kioski, Tikkurila Oyj, Veikkaus Oy, and Metsähallitus. The city also hosts a science center, Heureka.

The city of Vantaa is bilingual, both Finnish and Swedish being official languages. 88.6% of the population are Finnish speakers, while 3% speak Swedish as their first language. 8.4% of the population speak a native language other than Finnish or Swedish.

Vantaa is located in southern Finland, in the region of Uusimaa and the Helsinki sub-region. It is separated from the Gulf of Finland by Helsinki. Prior to the abolition of Finnish provinces in 2009, Vantaa was a part of the Southern Finland Province.

The city borders Helsinki, the Finnish capital, which is to the south and southwest. Other neighbouring municipalities are Espoo to the west; Nurmijärvi, Kerava, and Tuusula to the north; and Sipoo to the east. Vantaa is a part of the Finnish Capital Region, which is the inner core of the Greater Helsinki metropolitan area.

Vantaa has a humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb), slightly above the threshold for subarctic classification. Although the city no longer (since 2009) has a coastline along the Baltic Sea, it is close enough to experience the mitigating influence of the sea and the Gulf Stream. The record low temperature in Vantaa is −35.9 °C (−32.6 °F) and the record high is 34.0 °C (93.2 °F).

Source: Wikipedia

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