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Public transport in helsinki consists of trams, trains, buses, local railways and ferrys. Cars are not nescarry in helsinki because you can get anywhere on a train. It has 1 airport Helsinki-Vantaa Airport opening in 1952 it is Finlands largest airport serving 39 countries and is a main hub for Finnair the countries largest airline. Road quality is great in Helsinki and in the rest of the country, salting roads is also common in temperatures between 0 celcius and negative 6 degrees celcius.

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Around 107,000 immigrants live in helsinki with the majority of them being from the former Soviet Union. Around 750 thousand tourists visit Helsinki on average, 11% of them were German and 9% of them were swedish, it is a multicurtural city with many different ethnic groups. 70% of people in helsinki speak finnish, 5% speak swedish and 20% speak another language but 78% are bilingual meaning they can speak more than 1 language.

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Helsinki is one of Europe's wealthiest capital cities. Helsinki profits from service-related industries and public sectors. Greater Helsinki (the metropolitan are) generates around one-third of Finland's GDP. Greater Helsinki is the biggest urbanised area and is Finland's important cultural and economic region. The headquarters of famous companies and governmental organisations are located in Greater Helsinki. The GDP per capita $49 thousand dollars as of 2020. House pricing is extremley expensive as the average median house pricing is 3.5 million euros being one the most expensive.

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Helsiniki has a humid continetial climate. Due to the moderateing infulence of the Baltic sea and the North atlantic ocean, winter temperature are higher than the northern location would suggest, with an average of −4 °C in January and Febuary. Around 1 third of Helsinki is green, the green area consists of parks, small forests and gardens.Helsinki is designed in such a way that wooded and natural corridors (as well as protected seaside areas) extend like a circulation system throughout and around the city.

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Helsinki is one of the worlds most most urbanised cities also having some of the cleanest tap water in the world, Great and cheap electricty, and has very clean streets making Helsinki have amazing Reliable utilities. Biking is very accessible and many roads in helsinki have bike paths, most streets have footpaths and crosswalks so crossing roads are easy. The Helsinki Catherdral is one of the famous landmarks in Helsinki along with Senate square and the Sky Wheel.

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Public transport in Helsinki is the preferred mode of transport for Helsinki's residents. It is efficient, reliable and reasonably priced. Because it offsets the environmental impact of heavy traffic, it is also the most sustainable option. The City of Helsinki hopes to eliminate 69 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions from traffic by the year 2035.

Helsinki Region Transport (HSL)

Helsinki Region Transport (HSL) is the capital city area's public transport operator. It is in charge of buses, trams, an underground metro service, commuter trains and even city bikes and ferries.

Route information can be found with HSL's handy online tool, the Journey Planner. After you enter two locations anywhere in the capital area, the planner quickly calculates the best route for you. You can specify what time you wish to depart or arrive, indicate if you use a wheelchair, or if you would prefer a certain mode of transportation. The Journey Planner will then generate a connection to meet your criteria. It even adds in your walking time to and from the stops, so you have a real-time schedule to follow.

HSL app and card

The HSL app is a free application that allows you to plan trips and buy tickets on your mobile phone or other electronic device. Among its many features, it allows you to customize the Journey Planner service. For example, you can set it so it always provides your home or work address by default. The app's mobile tickets are valid on all modes of public transport in the Helsinki area.

Alternativelly, you can purchase an HSL card at the HSL service point. The HSL card costs EUR 5 at the outset, and can hold either value or a season ticket. Season tickets for public transport in Helsinki have a set price for unlimited travel within a certain period of time, available as a one-off purchase or an auto-renewing subscription. You can top up your HSL card anytime online at no cost.

HSL grants discounts to children, students, pensioners, customers over 70 years of age and people with reduced mobility. Customers with impaired visibility and those that use a wheelchair can use the services for free. Those who are travelling with a child aged between 0 and 6 years in a pram, stroller or bicycle trailer can also travel for free.

If you only need a ticket for a few days, HSL sells day tickets for 1 to 13 days. These tickets are available for purchase on the HSL app, service point and ticket machines.

Buses

Buses are the most widely used form of motorised public transport in the capital area. They serve all neighbourhoods regularly, and nearly all housing units have at least one bus stop within a short walking distance.

If you catch a bus from a stop that is not the first or last on the route, you must stand at the stop and hail the bus (raise your hand, wave if it seems the driver doesn't see you) if you want the bus to stop for you. You should enter the bus from the front door and either show your ticket or validate your HSL card or ticket with the card reader before you take your seat. Orange trunk route buses are an exception. In these buses, you enter through the middle doors and do not need to use the card reader.

Push the red button near your seat in good time if you plan to get off at the next stop. The bus will only stop if a passenger has pushed the button or someone at the stop has hailed the bus. Bus drivers do not sell tickets or cards onboard; they must be purchased before you enter the vehicle.

Trams

Public transport within the city centre of Helsinki relies primarily on eleven different tram routes and the underground metro system. The trams work in largely the same way as buses, although you can enter through any door once everyone who wishes to exit has left the car. Safety features prohibit the doors from closing if something is blocking them.

HSL trams use the same card readers as HSL buses. At the busiest tram stops in the city, displays use GPS to show projected arrival times.

Metro

The metro, the Helsinki region's subway or underground system, is a very fast and easy form of public transport. It has two east-west lines that serve 30 stations, linking districts in the eastern part of Helsinki to destinations west of the city. The lines pass under the Kamppi long-distance bus terminal and the Helsinki Central Railway Station, making it easy to transfer to other routes and carriers.

Metro users must be carrying a valid ticket or card after they pass the card readers, often located before the station's escalators or steps. If you order a ticket on the HSL app, it should be valid on your mobile phone already when you enter this area.

Allow passengers to step off the metro train before you board. A sound will play before the doors close. Metros and commuter trains in Helsinki stop at every stop on their route. Stand on the right side of escalators in the metro network, so people in a hurry can pass you on the left.

Commuter trains

The 14 routes of the Helsinki area's commuter train services are jointly operated by HSL and VR, the state-owned national railway company. They operate on four branches, three north-south lines and one route to the west. Some of the branches combine in a ring rail line that connects the Helsinki Airport with the city centre. Each route serves the Pasila station. the stop before the final stop at the Helsinki Central Railway Station.

This form of public transport in Helsinki enables people living farther away to get to the city center easily. The trains are environmentally friendly, as they run on electricity and part of their braking energy is fed back into the power grid. Most are low-floor trains with spacious coaches, which makes it easy to travel with assistive devices, bikes and children in prams. There are no seat reservations; passengers are free to sit where they like.

Note that tickets and cards for commuter trains in Helsinki must be purchased beforehand from ticket machines, kiosks or the app. HSL cards allow their holders to use commuter trains within the zone for which the card is valid. Inspectors will remove passengers who have boarded commuter trains without a valid ticket or card.

City bikes

See our section on Cycling in Helsinki to learn more about Helsinki's excellent and inexpensive bike sharing service.

Ferries to Helsinki's historic fortress

HSL also operates two ferries to a UNESCO World Heritage site off the coast of Helsinki, the historic sea fortress of Suomenlinna. One ferry leaves from the Helsinki Market Square, while the other is based in Helsinki's nearby Katajanokka district. Suomenlinna has about 900 permanent inhabitants and 350 people work there year-round, so the HSL ferry service also provides these people with an important regular connection to the mainland.

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Public transport in Helsinki | Welcome Helsinki | City of Helsinki

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Public transport in Helsinki | Welcome Helsinki This section has everything you need to know about public transport in Helsinki.

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Migration in Finland - Empowering Migrants for Employment EME

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Economy of Helsinki, Finland | Helsinki.com

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Helsinki, the richest city of Finland generating around one-third of Finland’s GDP. Its economy is mainly based on service industries, IT and financial sectors.

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Helsinki ( HEL-sink-ee or hel-SINK-ee; Finnish: ; Swedish: Helsingfors, Finland Swedish: capital, [helsiŋˈforːs] ) is the largest and most populous city in Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the Uusimaa region in southern Finland and has a population of 672,036. The city's urban area has a population of 1,268,296, making it by far the most populous urban area in Finland and the country's most important centre for politics, education, finance, culture and research. Helsinki is located 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tallinn, Estonia, 400 km (250 mi) east of Stockholm, Sweden, and 300 km (190 mi) west of Saint Petersburg, Russia. It has close historical links with these three cities.

Together with the cities of Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen - and surrounding commuter towns, including the neighbouring municipality of Sipoo to the east - Helsinki forms the Greater Helsinki Metropolitan Area. It has a population of over 1.5 million. Often considered Finland's only metropolis, it is the world's northernmost metropolitan area with over one million inhabitants and the northernmost capital of an EU member state. Helsinki is the third largest municipality in the Nordic countries after Stockholm and Oslo, and its urban area is the second largest in the Nordic countries after Stockholm. The official languages are Finnish and Swedish. The city is served by Helsinki Airport, located in the neighbouring city of Vantaa, with frequent flights to many destinations in Europe, North America and Asia.

Helsinki hosted the 1952 Summer Olympics, the first CSCE/ OSCE Summit in 1975, the 52nd Eurovision Song Contest in 2007 and it was the 2012 World Design Capital.

Helsinki has one of the highest standards of urban living in the world. In 2011, the British magazine ranked Helsinki as the world's most liveable city in its liveable cities index. In the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2016 liveability survey, Helsinki ranked ninth out of 140 cities. In July 2021, the American magazine named Helsinki as one of the world's greatest places in 2021, as a city that "can grow into a burgeoning cultural nest in the future" and that is already known as an environmental pioneer in the world. In an international Cities of Choice survey conducted in 2021 by the Boston Consulting Group and the BCG Henderson Institute, Helsinki was ranked the third best city in the world to live in, with London and New York City coming in first and second. Helsinki, along with Rovaniemi in Lapland, is also one of Finland's most important tourist cities. Due to the large number of sea passengers per year, Helsinki is classified as a major port city.

According to a theory put forward in the 1630s, at the time of Swedish colonisation of the Finnish coast, colonists from Hälsingland in central Sweden arrived at what is now the Vantaa River and called it Helsingå ('Helsinge River'), giving rise to the names of the village and church of Helsinge in the 1300s. This theory is questionable, as dialect research suggests that the settlers came from Uppland and the surrounding areas. Others have suggested that the name derives from the Swedish word helsing, an archaic form of the word hals (' neck'), which refers to the narrowest part of a river, the rapids. Other Scandinavian towns in similar geographical locations were given similar names at the time, such as Helsingør in Denmark and Helsingborg in Sweden.

When a town was founded in the village of Forsby (later Koskela) in 1548, it was called Helsinge fors, 'Helsinge rapids'. The name refers to the Vanhankaupunginkoski rapids at the mouth of the river. The town was commonly known as Helsinge or Helsing, from which the modern Finnish name is derived.

Official Finnish government documents and Finnish language newspapers have used the name Helsinki since 1819, when the Senate of Finland moved to the city from Turku, 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 in written Finnish. As part of the Grand Duchy of Finland in the Russian Empire, Helsinki was known in Russian as Gel'singfors (Гельсингфорс ).

After the end of the Ice Age and the retreat of the ice sheet, the first settlers arrived in the Helsinki area around 5000 BC. Their presence has been documented by archaeologists in Vantaa, Pitäjänmäki and Kaarela. Permanent settlements did not appear until the beginning of the 1st millennium AD, during the Iron Age, when the area was inhabited by the Tavastians. 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 analysis has 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.

The early settlements were raided by Vikings and later colonised by Christians from Sweden. They came mainly from the Swedish coastal regions of Norrland and Hälsingland, and their migration intensified around 1100. Swedes permanently colonised the Helsinki region's coastline in the late 13th century after the successful Second Crusade to Finland, which led to the defeat of the Tavastians.

Written chronicles from 1417 mention the village of Koskela near the rapids at the mouth of the River Vantaa, where Helsinki was to be founded.

Helsinki was founded by King Gustav I of Sweden on 12 June 1550 as a trading town called Helsingfors, which he intended to be a rival to the Hanseatic city of Reval (now Tallinn) on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland. In order to populate the newly founded town at the mouth of the Vantaa River, the king ordered the bourgeoisie of Porvoo, Ekenäs, Rauma and Ulvila to move to the town. The shallowness of the bay did not allow for the construction of a harbour, and the king allowed the settlers to leave the unfortunate location. In 1640, Count Per Brahe the Younger, together with some descendants of the original settlers, moved the centre of the town to the Vironniemi peninsula by the sea, today's Kruununhaka district, where the Senate Square and Helsinki Cathedral are located today.

During the second half of the 17th century, Helsinki, as a wooden town, suffered from regular fires, 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 of Nyland and Tavastehus County, but its importance began to grow when a more solid naval defence began to be built in front of the town in the 18th century. Little came of the plans, however, as Helsinki remained a small town plagued by poverty, wars and disease. The plague of 1710 killed most of Helsinki's population. After the Russians conquered Helsinki in May 1713 during the Great Northern War, the retreating Swedish administration set fire to parts of the town. Despite this, the town's population grew to 3,000 by the beginning of the 19th century. The construction of the naval fortress of Sveaborg ( Viapori in Finnish, now also called Suomenlinna) in the 18th century helped improve Helsinki's status. However, it wasn't until Russia defeated Sweden in the Finnish War and annexed Finland as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland in 1809 that the town began to develop into a substantial city. The Russians besieged the Sveaborg fortress during the war, and about a quarter of the town was destroyed in a fire in 1808.

Emperor Alexander I of Russia moved the Finnish capital from Turku to Helsinki on 8 April 1812 to reduce Swedish influence in Finland and to bring the capital closer to St Petersburg. Following the Great Fire of Turku in 1827, the Royal 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 the neoclassical style to resemble Saint Petersburg, largely according to a plan by the German-born architect C. L. Engel. As elsewhere, technological advances such as railways and industrialisation were key factors in the city's growth.

By the 1910s, the population of Helsinki was already over 100,000, and despite the tumultuous nature of Finnish history in the first half of the 20th century, Helsinki continued to grow steadily. This included the Finnish Civil War and the Winter War, both of which left their mark on the city. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were roughly equal numbers of Finnish and Swedish speakers in Helsinki; the majority of workers were Finnish-speaking. The local Helsinki slang (or stadin slangi) developed among Finnish children and young people from the 1890s as a mixed Finnish-Swedish language, with influences from German and Russian, and from the 1950s the slang began to become more Finnish. A landmark event was the 1952 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 the Helsinki Metro subway system was built. Helsinki's relatively low population density and peculiar structure have often been attributed to its late growth.[citation needed ]

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 of Kallio, but overall Helsinki's population density of 3,113 per square kilometre (8,060/sq mi) ranks the city as sparsely populated compared to other European capitals. Outside the city centre, much of Helsinki consists of post-war suburbs separated by patches of forest. A narrow, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) long Helsinki 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 boat moorings and 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 include Seurasaari, Lauttasaari and Korkeasaari - the latter is home to Finland's largest zoo, Korkeasaari Zoo. The former military islands of Vallisaari and Isosaari are now open to the public, but Santahamina is still in military use. The most historic and remarkable island is the fortress of Suomenlinna (Sveaborg). The island of Pihlajasaari is a popular summer resort for gays and naturists, comparable to Fire Island in New York City.

There are 60 nature reserves in 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 in Espoo, Sipoo, Hanko and Ingå. The largest nature reserve is the Vanhankaupunginselkä, 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 the Norway maple and its official animal is the red squirrel.

The Helsinki metropolitan area, also known as the Capital Region ( Finnish: Pääkaupunkiseutu, Swedish: Huvudstadsregionen) comprises four municipalities: Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, and Kauniainen. The Helsinki urban area is considered to be the only metropolis in Finland. It has a population of over 1.1 million, and is the most densely populated area of Finland. The Capital Region spreads over a land area of 770 square kilometres (300 sq mi) and has a population density of 1,418 inhabitants per square kilometre (3,670/sq mi). 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.

The Helsinki Metropolitan Area ( Greater Helsinki) consists of the cities of Helsinki Capital Region and ten surrounding municipalities: Hyvinkää, Järvenpää, Kerava, Kirkkonummi, Nurmijärvi, Sipoo, Tuusula, Pornainen, Mäntsälä and Vihti. The Metropolitan Area covers 3,697 square kilometres (1,427 sq mi) and has a population of over 1.4 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 Greater Helsinki area is the world's northernmost urban area with a population of over one million people, and the northernmost EU capital city.

The Helsinki urban area is an officially recognized urban 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 1.2 million inhabitants.

Helsinki has a humid continental climate ( Köppen: Dfb). Owing to the mitigating influence of the Baltic Sea and North Atlantic Current (see also Extratropical cyclone), temperatures during the winter are higher than the northern location might suggest, with the average in January and February around −4 °C (25 °F).

Winters in Helsinki are notably warmer than in the north of Finland, and the snow season is much shorter in the capital, due to it being in extreme Southern Finland and the urban heat island effect. Temperatures below −20 °C (−4 °F) occur a few times a year at most. However, because of the latitude, days last 5 hours and 48 minutes around the winter solstice with very low sun (at noon, the sun is a little bit over 6 degrees in the sky), and the cloudy weather at this time of year exacerbates darkness. Conversely, Helsinki enjoys long daylight during the summer; during the summer solstice, days last 18 hours and 57 minutes.

The average maximum temperature from June to August is around 19 to 22 °C (66 to 72 °F). Due to the marine effect, especially during hot summer days, daily temperatures are a little cooler and night temperatures higher than further inland. The highest temperature ever recorded in the city was 33.2 °C (91.8 °F) on 28 July 2019 at Kaisaniemi weather station, breaking the previous record of 33.1 °C (91.6 °F) that was observed in July 1945 at Ilmala weather station. The lowest temperature ever 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 kilometres (11 mi) north of the Helsinki city centre) recorded a temperature of 33.7 °C (92.7 °F) on 29 July 2010 and a low of −35.9 °C (−33 °F) on 9 January 1987. Precipitation is received from frontal passages and thunderstorms. Thunderstorms are most common in the summer.

Helsinki is divided into three major areas: Helsinki Downtown ( Finnish: Helsingin kantakaupunki, Swedish: Helsingfors innerstad), North Helsinki ( Finnish: Pohjois-Helsinki, Swedish: Norra Helsingfors) and East Helsinki ( Finnish: Itä-Helsinki, Swedish: Östra Helsingfors). Of these, Helsinki Downtown means the undefined core area of capital, as opposed to suburbs. The designations business center and city center usually refer to Kluuvi, Kamppi and Punavuori. Other subdivisional centers outside the downtown area include Malmi ( Swedish: Malm), located in the northeastern part of city, and Itäkeskus ( Swedish: Östra centrum), in the eastern part of city.

Carl Ludvig Engel, appointed to plan a new city centre on his own, designed several neoclassical buildings in Helsinki. The focal point of Engel's city plan was the Senate Square. It is surrounded by the Government Palace (to the east), the main building of Helsinki University (to the west), and (to the north) the large Helsinki Cathedral, which was finished in 1852, twelve years after Engel's death. Helsinki's epithet, "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 the Sederholm House (1757) at the intersection of Senate Square and the Katariinankatu street. Suomenlinna also has buildings completed in the 18th century, including the Kuninkaanportti on the Kustaanmiekka Island (1753-1754). The oldest church in Helsinki is the Old Church (1826) designed by Engel.

Helsinki is also home to numerous Art Nouveau-influenced ( Jugend in Finnish) buildings belonging to the Kansallisromantiikka ( romantic nationalism) trend, designed in the early 20th century and strongly influenced by , which was a common theme of the era. Helsinki's Art Nouveau style is also featured in central residential districts, such as Katajanokka and Ullanlinna. An important architect of the Finnish Art Nouveau style was Eliel Saarinen, whose architectural masterpiece was the Helsinki Central Station. Opposite the Bank of Finland building is the Renaissance Revivalish the House of the Estates (1891).

The only visible public buildings of the Gothic Revival architecture in Helsinki are St. 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 the House of Nobility in Kruununhaka and the Catholic St. Henry's Cathedral.

In addition to other cities in Northern Europe that were not under the Soviet Union, such as Stockholm, Sweden, Helsinki's neoclassical buildings gained also popularity as a backdrop for scenes intended to depict the Soviet Union in numerous Hollywood movies during the Cold War era, when filming within the actual USSR was not possible. Some of them include The Kremlin Letter (1970), (1981), and (1983). Because some cities in Russia like Leningrad and Moscow had also old neoclassical architecture. At the same time due to Cold War and 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-American espionage thriller Billion Dollar Brain, starring Michael 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 architect Alvar Aalto, recognized as one of the pioneers of architectural functionalism. However, some of his works, such as the headquarters of the paper company Stora Enso and the concert venue Finlandia Hall, have been subject to divided opinions from the citizens.

Functionalist buildings in Helsinki by other architects include the Olympic Stadium, the Tennis Palace, the Rowing Stadium, the Swimming Stadium, the Velodrome, the Glass Palace, the Töölö Sports Hall, and Helsinki-Malmi Airport. The sports venues were built to serve the 1940 Helsinki Olympic Games; the games were initially cancelled due to the Second World War, but the venues fulfilled their purpose in the 1952 Olympic Games. Many of them are listed by DoCoMoMo as significant examples of modern architecture. The Olympic Stadium and Helsinki-Malmi Airport are also catalogued by the Finnish Heritage Agency as cultural-historical environments of national significance.

Residential towers of Kalasatama. The 134 m (440 ft) Majakka has been built on top of the Redi shopping centre. It is currently Finland's tallest building.

When Finland became heavily urbanized in the 1960s and 1970s, the district of Pihlajamäki, for example, was built in Helsinki for new residents, where for the first time in Finland, precast concrete was 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. Itäkeskus in Eastern Helsinki was 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 architecture is represented, for example, by the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, 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-walled Sanomatalo (1999).

The start of the 21st century marked the beginning of highrise construction in Helsinki, when the city decided to allow the construction of skyscrapers; prior to this, Hotel Torni (69.5 m (228 ft)), built in 1931, has generally been called Finland's first skyscraper, and was at time the tallest building in Finland until 1976. As of April 2017 there are no skyscrapers taller than 100 meters in the Helsinki area, but there are several projects under construction or planning, mainly in Pasila and Kalasatama. An international architecture competition for at least 10 high-rises to be built in Pasila is being held. Construction of the towers will start in 2023. In Kalasatama, the first 35-story (130 m (430 ft); called Majakka) and 32-story (122 m (400 ft); called Loisto) residential towers are already completed. Later they will be joined by a 37-story, two 32-story, 31-story, and 27-story residential buildings. In the Kalasatama area, there will be about 15 high-rises within 10 years. Even higher skyscrapers under the name Trigoni are planned for the Central Pasila area near the Mall of Tripla shopping centre; the highest of which is to become about 200 meters high, and it can be seen even in good weather all the way to the Estonian coast.

A [statue of Tsar Alexander II of Russia, the Grand Duke of Finland, sculpted by Walter Runeberg and Johannes Takanen fi] and erected in 1894 in front of the Helsinki Cathedral at the Senate Square in Helsinki. He was known as a well regarded emperor among the majority of Finns during the grand duchy times.[95]

Well-known statues and monuments strongly embedded in the cityscape of Helsinki include the Keisarinnankivi ("Stone of the Empress", 1835), the statue of Russian Emperor Alexander II (1894), the fountain sculpture Havis Amanda (1908), the Paavo Nurmi statue (1925), the Three Smiths Statue (1932), the Aleksis Kivi Memorial (1939), the Eino Leino Statue (1953), the Equestrian statue of Marshal Mannerheim (1960) and the Sibelius Monument (1967).

Helsinki's city council consists of eighty-five members. Following the most recent municipal elections in 2017, the three largest parties are the National Coalition Party (25), the Green League (21), and the Social Democratic Party (12).

The Mayor of Helsinki is Juhana Vartiainen.

The city of Helsinki has 672,036 inhabitants, making it the most populous municipality in Finland and the third in the Nordics. The Greater Helsinki region is the largest urbanised area in Finland with 1,573,728 inhabitants. The city of Helsinki is home to 12% of Finland's population. 18.6% of the population has a foreign background, which is twice above the national average. However, it is lower than in the major Finnish cities of Espoo or Vantaa.

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 2,739.36 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 replaced Turku as the capital of the Grand Duchy of Finland, which later became the sovereign Republic of Finland. The city continued its growth from that time on, with an exception during the Finnish Civil War. From the end of World War II up 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 275,000 to 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 Greater Helsinki into more intense cooperation in areas such as public transportation - resulting in the foundation of HSL - 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 as Lohja, Hämeenlinna, Lahti, and Porvoo.

The city of Helsinki is officially bilingual, with both Finnish and Swedish as official languages. In 2022, the majority of the population, 76.1%, spoke Finnish as their mother tongue. There were 36,748 Swedish speakers, or 5.5% of the population. The number of people who speak Sámi, Finland's third official language, is only 63 inhabitants. In Helsinki, 18.3% of the population speak a mother tongue other than Finnish or Swedish. As English and Swedish are 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 slang is 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 is Ullanlinna/Ulrikasborg with 2,098 (19.6%), while Byholmen is 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 are Russian (3.1%), Somali (2,0%), Estonian (1.5%) and Arabic (1.5%).

In 2022, there were 123,676 people with an immigrant background living in Helsinki, or 18.6% of the population. There were 108,919 residents who were born abroad, or 16.4% of the population. The number of foreign citizens in Helsinki was 73,076.

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's largest airport, Helsinki is the global gateway to and from Finland.

Most foreign-born citizens come from the former Soviet Union, Estonia, Somalia, Iraq, and Russia.

In 2022, the Evangelical Lutheran Church was the largest religious group with 47.6% of the Helsinki population. Other religious groups made up 4.5% of the population. 47.9% of the population had no religious affiliation.

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 largest Orthodox congregation is the Orthodox Church of Helsinki. It has 20,000 members. Its main church is the Uspenski Cathedral. The two largest Catholic congregations are the Cathedral of Saint Henry, with 4,552 members, established in 1860 and St 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 as Bangladeshis, Kosovars, Kurds and Bosniaks have established their own mosques. The largest congregation in both Helsinki and Finland is the Helsinki Islamic Center, established in 1995. It has over 2,800 members as of 2017, and it received €24,131 in government assistance.

In 2015, imam Anas Hajar 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 the Helsinki Synagogue from 1906, located in Kamppi. It has over 1,200 members, out of the 1,800 Jews in Finland, and it is the older of the two buildings in Finland originally built as a synagogue, followed by the Turku Synagogue in 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, .

Greater Helsinki 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 Greater Helsinki. Two-thirds of the 200 highest-paid Finnish executives live in Greater Helsinki 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, the University of Helsinki and Aalto 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 The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).

The Finnish National Gallery consists of three museums: Ateneum Art Museum for classical Finnish art, Sinebrychoff Art Museum for classical European art, and Kiasma Art Museum for modern art, in a building by architect Steven 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 are state-owned through Senate Properties.

The city of Helsinki hosts its own art collection in the Helsinki Art Museum (HAM), primarily located in its Tennispalatsi gallery. Around 200 pieces of public art lie outside. The art is all city property.

Helsinki Art Museum will in 2020 launch the Helsinki Biennial, which will bring art to maritime Helsinki - in its first year to the island of Vallisaari.

The Design Museum is devoted to the exhibition of both Finnish and foreign design, including industrial design, fashion, and graphic design. Other museums in Helsinki include the Military Museum of Finland, Didrichsen Art Museum, Amos Rex Art Museum, and the Tram Museum.

Helsinki has three major theatres: The Finnish National Theatre, the Helsinki City Theatre, and the Swedish Theatre ( Svenska Teatern). Other notable theatres in the city include the Alexander Theatre, , Savoy Theatre, KOM-theatre, and .

Helsinki is home to two full-size symphony orchestras, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, both of which perform at the Helsinki Music Centre concert hall. Acclaimed contemporary composers Kaija Saariaho, Magnus Lindberg, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Einojuhani Rautavaara, among others, were born and raised in Helsinki, and studied at the Sibelius Academy. The Finnish National Opera, the only full-time, professional opera company in Finland, is located in Helsinki. The opera singer Martti Wallén, one of the company's long-time soloists, was born and raised in Helsinki, as was mezzo-soprano Monica Groop.

Many widely renowned and acclaimed bands have originated in Helsinki, including Nightwish, Children of Bodom, Hanoi Rocks, HIM, Stratovarius, The 69 Eyes, Finntroll, Ensiferum, Wintersun, The Rasmus, Poets of the Fall, and Apocalyptica. The most significant of the metal music events in Helsinki is the Tuska Open Air Metal Festival in Suvilahti, Sörnäinen.

The city's main musical venues are the Finnish National Opera, the Finlandia concert hall, and the Helsinki Music Centre. The Music Centre also houses a part of the Sibelius Academy. Bigger concerts and events are usually held at one of the city's two big ice hockey arenas: the Helsinki Halli or the Helsinki Ice Hall. Helsinki has Finland's largest fairgrounds, the Messukeskus Helsinki, which is attended by more than a million visitors a year.

Helsinki Arena hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, the first Eurovision Song Contest arranged in Finland, following Lordi's win in 2006.

Havis Amanda, a fountain sculpture at the Helsinki Market Square

The Helsinki Day ( Helsinki-päivä) will be celebrated on every 12 June, with numerous entertainment events culminating in an open-air concert. Also, the Helsinki Festival is an annual arts and culture festival, which takes place every August (including the Night of the Arts).

At the Senate Square in fall 2010, Finland's largest open-air art exhibition to date took place: About 1.4 million people saw the international exhibition of United Buddy Bears.

Helsinki was the 2012 World 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 as Nokia, Kone, and Marimekko, popular events, like the annual Helsinki Design Week, outstanding education and research institutions, such as the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, and exemplary architects and designers such as Eliel Saarinen and Alvar Aalto".

Helsinki hosts many film festivals. Most of them are small venues, while some have generated interest internationally. The most prolific of these is the Helsinki International Film Festival - Love & Anarchy film 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, screening horror, fantasy, and science fiction films in very popular movie marathons that last the entire night. Another popular film festival is DocPoint, a festival that focuses solely on documentary cinema.

Today,[when? ] there are around 200 newspapers, 320 popular magazines, 2,100 professional magazines, 67 commercial radio stations, three digital radio channels, and one nationwide and five national public service radio channels.[citation needed ]

Sanoma publishes Finland's journal of record, Helsingin Sanomat, the tabloid Ilta-Sanomat, the commerce-oriented Taloussanomat, and the television channel Nelonen. Another Helsinki-based media house, Alma Media, publishes over thirty magazines, including the tabloid , and the commerce-oriented Kauppalehti.

Finland's national public-broadcasting institution Yle operates five television channels and thirteen radio channels in both national languages. Yle is headquartered in the neighbourhood of Pasila. All TV channels are broadcast digitally, 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 as Tallinn over the Gulf of Finland.

Helsinki was already known in the 18th century for its abundant number of inns and pubs, where both locals and those who landed in the harbor were offered plenty of alcoholic 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 was Johan Sederholm (1722-1805), a trade councilor who attracted rural merchants with 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 first café of Finland, Café Ekberg, was established by confectioner Fredrik Ekberg (1825-1891) after attending his studies in St. Petersburg. Ekberg has also been said to have created Finland's "national pastry tradition". At first, café culture was only a prerogative of sophisticated elite, 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 is Cafe Regatta, which is very popular with foreign tourists.

As an important port city on the Baltic Sea, Helsinki has long been known for its fish food, and it has recently started to become one of the leading fish food capitals in Northern Europe. Helsinki's Market Square is especially known for its traditional herring market, which has been organized since 1743. Salmon is also a typical Helsinki fish dish, both fried and souped. The most prestigious restaurants specializing in seafood include Restaurant Fisken på Disken.

Helsinki is currently experiencing a period of booming food 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. Various Asian restaurants such as Chinese, Thai, Indian and Nepalese are particularly prominent in Helsinki's cityscape, but over the past couple of years, restaurants serving Vietnamese food have been very popular. Sushi restaurant buffets have 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 pure Nordic flavors. In past years Middle Eastern food culture rose in its popularity. Especially Helsinki's eastern part offers many different options for Middle Eastern cuisine lovers. There is also some touches of Russian cuisine, one of which is the Finnish version of , a thick pancakes that are usually fried in a cast iron pan. One of the most significant food culture venues in Helsinki is the general public area known as Teurastamo in the Hermanni district, which operated as the city's slaughterhouse between 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.

A Finnish May Day celebration called vappu in Helsinki in May 2018

Vappu is an annual carnival for students and workers on 1 May. The last week of June marks the Helsinki Pride human rights event, 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 the 1952 Summer Olympics, and the city has arranged sporting events such as the first World Championships in Athletics 1983 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: football and ice hockey. Helsinki houses HJK Helsinki, Finland's largest and most successful football club, and IFK Helsingfors, their local rivals with 7 championship titles. The fixtures between the two are commonly known as Stadin 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 clubs IFK Helsingfors (HIFK) or Jokerit. HIFK, with 14 Finnish championships titles, also plays in the highest bandy division, along with Botnia-69. The Olympic stadium hosted the first ever Bandy World Championship in 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 ever city to host the World Championships in Athletics. Helsinki also hosted the event in 2005, thus also becoming the first city to ever host the Championships for a second time. The Helsinki City Marathon has been held in the city every year since 1981, usually in August. A Formula 3000 race through the city streets was held on 25 May 1997. In 2009 Helsinki was host of the European Figure Skating Championships, and in 2017 it hosted World Figure Skating Championships. The city will host the 2021 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup.

Most of Helsinki's sports venues are under the responsibility of the city's sports office, such as 70 sports halls and about 350 sports fields. There are nine ice 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 14 swimming pools, the largest of which is the Mäkelänrinne Swimming Centre, two inland swimming pools and more than 20 beaches, of which Hietaniemi Beach is probably the most famous.

The backbone of Helsinki's motorway network consists of three semicircular beltways, Ring I, Ring II, and Ring III, which connect expressways heading to other parts of Finland, and the western and eastern arteries of Länsiväylä and respectively. While variants of a Keskustatunneli tunnel under the city centre have been repeatedly proposed, as of 2017 the plan remains on the drawing board.

Many important Finnish highways leave Helsinki for various parts of Finland; most of them in the form of motorways, but a few of these exceptions include . 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 Station is the main terminus of the rail network in Finland. Two rail corridors lead out of Helsinki, the Main Line to the north (to Tampere, Oulu, Rovaniemi), and the Coastal Line to the west (to Turku). The Main Line ( päärata), which is the first railway line in Finland, was officially opened on 17 March 1862, between cities of Helsinki and Hämeenlinna. The railway connection to the east branches from the Main Line outside of Helsinki at Kerava, and leads via Lahti to 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 by Allegro high-speed trains.

A Helsinki to Tallinn Tunnel has been proposed and agreed upon by representatives of the cities. The rail tunnel would connect Helsinki to the Estonian capital Tallinn, further linking Helsinki to the rest of continental Europe by Rail Baltica.

Air traffic is handled primarily from Helsinki Airport, located approximately 17 kilometres (11 mi) north of Helsinki's downtown area, in the neighbouring city of Vantaa. Helsinki's own airport, Helsinki-Malmi Airport, is mainly used for general and private aviation. Charter flights are available from Hernesaari 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 of icebreakers, 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 in South Harbour, Katajanokka, West Harbour, and Hernesaari. In terms of combined liner and cruise passengers, the Port of Helsinki overtook the Port of Dover in 2017 to become the busiest passenger port in the world.

Ferry connections to Tallinn, Mariehamn, and Stockholm are serviced by various companies; very popular MS J. L. Runeberg ferry connection to Finland's second oldest city, medieval old town of Porvoo, is also available for tourists. Finnlines passenger-freight ferries to Gdynia, Poland; Travemünde, Germany; and Rostock, Germany are also available. St. Peter Line offers passenger ferry service to Saint Petersburg several times a week.

In the Helsinki metropolitan area, public transportation is managed by the Helsinki Regional Transport Authority, the metropolitan area transportation authority. The diverse public transport system consists of trams, commuter rail, the metro, bus lines, two ferry lines and a public bike system.

Helsinki's tram system officially began in Helsinki in 1891, when the first trams were horse-drawn; with electric drive, it has been in operation continuously since 1900. 13 routes that cover the inner part of the city are operated. As of 2017, the city is expanding the tram network, with several major tram line construction projects under way. These include the Jokeri light rail (replacing the 550 bus line), roughly along Ring I around the city center, and a new tramway to the island of Laajasalo. Tram line 9 is planned to be extended from Pasila to Ilmala, largely along the new line, and line 6 from Hietalahti first to Eiranranta, later to Hernesaari. New line sections are also planned for the Kalasatama area; 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. In August 2016, the city council decided to implement the Crown Bridges project, and the goal for the completion of the entire tram connection of the Crown Bridges is 2026.

The commuter rail system includes purpose-built double track for local services in two rail corridors along intercity railways, and the Ring Rail Line, an urban double-track railway with a station at the Helsinki Airport in 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 is officially the sister city of Beijing, China (since 2006). In addition, the city has a special partnership relation with:

Karl Fazer, the chocolatier and Olympic sport shooter best known for founding the Fazer company

Peter Forsskål (1732-1763), Swedish-Finnish naturalist and orientalist

Axel Hampus Dalström (1829-1882), architect

Maria Tschetschulin (1850-1917), clerk

Augusta Krook (1853-1941), politician and teacher

Agnes Tschetschulin (1859-1942), composer and violinist

Jakob Sederholm (1863-1934), petrologist

Karl Fazer (1866-1932), baker, confectioner, chocolatier, entrepreneur, and sport shooter

Emil Lindh (1867-1937), sailor

Oskar Merikanto (1868-1924), composer

Signe Lagerborg-Stenius (1870-1968), architect and member the Helsinki City Council

Maggie Gripenberg (1881-1976), dancer

Gunnar Nordström (1881-1923), theoretical physicist

Väinö Tanner (1881-1966), politician

Walter Jakobsson (1882-1957), figure-skater

Mauritz Stiller (1883-1928), Russian-Swedish director and screenwriter

Karl Wiik (1883-1946), Social Democratic politician

Lennart Lindroos (1886-1921), swimmer, Olympic games 1912

Erkki Karu (1887-1935), film director and producer

Kai Donner (1888-1935), linguist, anthropologist and politician

Gustaf Molander (1888-1973), Swedish director and screenwriter

Johan Helo (1889-1966), lawyer and politician

Minna Craucher (1891-1932), socialite and spy

Artturi Ilmari Virtanen (1895-1973), chemist (Nobel Prize, 1945)

Rolf Nevanlinna (1895-1980), mathematician, university teacher and writer

Elmer Diktonius (1896-1961), Finnish-Swedish writer and composer

Yrjö Leino (1897-1961), communist politician

Toivo Wiherheimo (1898-1970), economist and politician

Linus Torvalds, the software engineer best known for creating the popular open-source kernel Linux

Sam Lake, the video game creative director known for the Max Payne games

Aku Ahjolinna (born 1946), ballet dancer and choreographer

Lars Ahlfors (1907-1996), mathematician, Fields medalist

Ella Eronen (1900-1987), actress and poetic recite

Tuomas Holopainen (born 1976), songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer

Helena Anhava (1925-2018), poet, author and translator

Paavo Berglund (1929-2012), conductor

Laci Boldemann (1921-1969), composer

Irja Agnes Browallius (1901-1968), Swedish writer

Bo Carpelan (1926-2011), Finland-Swedish writer, literary critic and translator

Tarja Cronberg (born 1943), politician

Jörn Donner (1933-2020), writer, film director and politician

George Gaynes (1917-2016), American television and film actor

Ragnar Granit (1900-1991), Finnish-Swedish neurophysiologist and Nobel laureate

Mika Waltari (1908-1979), writer

Elina Haavio-Mannila (born 1933), social scientist and professor

Tarja Halonen (born 1943), President of Finland

Reino Helismaa (1913-1965), writer, film actor and singer

Kim Hirschovits (born 1982), ice hockey player

Bengt Holmström (born 1949), Professor of Economics, Nobel laureate

Shawn Huff (born 1984), basketball player

Ville Husso (born 1995), ice hockey goaltender

Kirsti Ilvessalo (1920-2019), textile artist

Tove Jansson (1914-2001), Finland-Swedish writer, painter, illustrator, comic writer, graphic designer

Kaapo Kähkönen (born 1996), ice hockey goaltender

Aki Kaurismäki (born 1957), director, screenwriter and producer

Emma Kimiläinen (born 1989), racing driver

Kiti Kokkonen (born 1974), Finnish actress and writer

Petteri Koponen, basketball player

Lennart Koskinen (born 1944), Swedish, Lutheran bishop

Sam Lake (born 1970), writer and actor; the creative director at Remedy Entertainment

Olli Lehto (1925-2020), mathematician

Samuel Lehtonen (1921-2010), bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland

Juha Leiviskä (born 1936), architect

Magnus Lindberg (born 1958), composer and pianist

Esa Lindell (born 1994), professional ice hockey player

Lill Lindfors (born 1940), Finland-Swedish singer and TV presenter

Jari Mäenpää (born 1977), founder, former lead guitarist and current lead singer in melodic death metal band Wintersun, former lead singer and guitarist of folk metal band Ensiferum

Klaus Mäkelä (born 1996), cellist and conductor

Susanna Mälkki (born 1969), conductor

Georg Malmstén (1902-1981), singer, musician, composer, orchestra director and actor

Tauno Marttinen (1912-2008), composer

Vesa-Matti Loiri (1945-2022), actor, comedian, singer

Abdirahim Hussein Mohamed (born 1978), Finnish-Somalian media personality and politician

Hanno Möttölä, Finnish basketball player

Väinö Myllyrinne (1909-1963), acromegalic giant and at time (1940-1963) the world's tallest living person

Peter Nygård (born 1941), businessman, arrested in December 2020 for sex crimes

Markku Peltola (1956-2007), actor and musician

Kimmo Pikkarainen (born 1976), professional ice hockey player

Anne Marie Pohtamo (born 1955), actress, model, Miss Suomi 1975 and Miss Universe 1975

Elisabeth Rehn (born 1935), politician

Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928-2016), composer

Susanne Ringell (born 1955), writer and actress

Miron Ruina (born 1998), Finnish-Israeli basketball player

Kaija Saariaho (born 1952), composer

Riitta Salin (born 1950), athlete

Sasu Salin, Finnish basketball player

Esa-Pekka Salonen (born 1958), composer and conductor

Asko Sarkola (born 1945), actor

Heikki Sarmanto (born 1939), jazz pianist and composer

Teemu Selänne (born 1970), Hall of Fame ice hockey player

Ann Selin (born 1960), trade union leader

Birgit Sergelius (1907-1979), stage and film actress

Teuvo Teräväinen (born 1994), professional ice hockey player

Märta Tikkanen (born 1935), Finland-Swedish writer and philosophy teacher

Linus Torvalds (born 1969), software engineer, creator of Linux

Elin Törnudd (1924-2008), Finnish chief librarian and professor

Klaus Törnudd (born 1931), diplomat and political scientist

Sirkka Turkka (1939-2021), poet

Jarno Tuunainen (born 1977), footballer

Ville Valo (born 1976), lead singer of the rock band HIM

Ulla Vuorela (1945-2011), professor of social anthropology

Lauri Ylönen (born 1979), lead singer of the rock band The Rasmus

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Helsinki ( HEL-sink-ee or hel-SINK-ee ; Finnish: ; Swedish: Helsingfors, Finland Swedish: capital, [helsiŋˈforːs] ) is the largest and most populous city in Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the Uusimaa region in southern Finland and has a population of 672,036.

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"One of the most effective ways to learn about oneself is by taking seriously the cultures of others. It forces you to pay attention to those details of life which differentiate them from you."
― Edward T. Hall, The Silent Language

On a sunny summer day, under a Nordic blue sky, the vast web of Helsinki's forests, fields, beaches, and other green spaces conjure an urban wonder: a city thoroughly interwoven with nature. After four months of living in the capital of Finland, I'm of a mind to say that life here is very good.

The good life that Helsinki offers may not be immediately apparent to the short-term visitor. This Baltic city is not a cosmopolitan center brimming with dazzling shopping, a vibrant food scene, or a pulsating nightlife. Instead it's a rather homogeneous, predictable place where the everyday is given priority over the spectacle. In fact, tourists here have often told me that they find the city boring, and boring it may be if you are looking for big-city life of the sort on offer in Paris, London or New York.

The beauty of Helsinki is found in the ordinary, in its steady attention to the banal underpinnings of a secure, pleasant and healthy urban environment. My time here convinced me that it delivers an exceptional quality of life, across many measures, for the majority of its inhabitants. It's not surprising that Helsinki typically ranks among the top ten cities in the world for quality of life. This quality of life is based upon factors such as safety, state of its infrastructure, access to nature, and quality of education and health care. It results from a high level of what I call urban organizational competence (the level and sophistication of a city's ability, through a variety of agencies, entities and experts, to organize and run itself) - a concept I will be writing more about in the future.

Finland has one of the most melodious national songs I've ever heard, Finlandia, by the Finnish composer, Jean Sibelius.

An American composer used the melody in a hymn called This Is My Song (click and take a moment to listen), which I like because it makes clear, in such a beautiful way, the relativity of love of one's country: a recognition that although I may think my country is the most beautiful place in the world, people in other countries believe the same about their own countries.

The following segment of the lyrics brought me to another place:

My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,
and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine;
but other lands have sunlight too, and clover,
and skies are everywhere as blue as mine.

Although the sentiments of the song appeal to me, a worrisome realization comes to me that maybe, in fact, skies are bluer in some places than others, at least figuratively.

Before coming to Helsinki, I spent over three months in the United States, with long stays in Portland, Oregon and San Francisco, and shorter stays in Chicago, Columbus, Ohio, and New York. Arrival in Helsinki (like arrival in most northern European cities after time in the United States) presents a sharp, uncomplimentary contrast. Americans are often immersed in stunningly shabby physical surroundings, with urban planning and design (not to mention maintenance) decades or more behind other countries at a similar level of economic development. Not only is their physical environment bluntly inferior, but they must contend with systemically ignored, but intense and simmering, social problems which impact security and much else. Because of inadequate investment, public institutions such as schools and government offices are also often poorly run and shabby. This is not an exaggeration. If you have experience between the two worlds, you know what I'm talking about.

If Helsinki and Columbus (cities of very similar size and income level) were two types of cars, Helsinki would be a newish BMW 3-series (the European sort, nothing particularly fancy) and Columbus a 15 or 20 year-old Chevrolet Cavalier. The contrast is truly that profound. The aged condition of the old Cavalier represents the physical infrastructure of American cities. The technology in the car represents the sophistication of its public institutions, and the safety features, the city's crime situation. You might plug some new expensive equipment into the Cavalier - maybe a fancy new stereo or navigation system (which might correspond to a great university or fancy office building in a city) - but you still have the hugely outdated, run-down automobile (and city). The same goes for most other American cities in comparison with cities in the northern areas of Europe, Australia, and the wealthier countries of East Asia. Portland, Oregon may be one of the notable exceptions, but is itself still far behind. It's a national embarrassment for the USA, readily apparent to visitors from other wealthy countries who often are polite enough to say nothing about their surprise to rather patriotic and proud Americans.

This posting on Helsinki will shed some light on what makes for really blue urban skies, and maybe help Americans understand their perennial overcast condition. Please note that I don't revel in my role as an annoying gadfly raising uncomfortable questions about urban life in the USA. How happy I would be if America, instead, were an inspiration to the rest of the world that was leading the way in quality of urban life.

Where's the cement?
An American arriving in Helsinki might experience a certain unease, a sense that something essential is missing. It's that comforting frosting of absolutely featureless, cheap cement covering all surfaces. Its absence will be noted because cement by the square yard is one of those things that makes American cities, well...American.

In Helsinki, a needy cement junkie will have trouble tracking down any reassuringly vast expanses of the substance. It is used commonly in things like highway overpasses (and even here with much more finesse than is the norm in North America), but not in pedestrian areas or generally on streets.

Why is there such a striking difference? A simplified answer that pops into my head is that the appearance of US cities is simply a reflection of American society and its values. Fundamentally, Americans don't care much about how their cities look. Design has given way to expediency. Low cost is the driving force in urban design and maintenance decisions. Americans are happy to accept an unattractive physical environment, with a kind of rough functionality, if that saves them money and allows them to consume more of other things (including fighter jets and missiles). Besides, as they drive rather than walk or bicycle, why worry about the details? In a car-centered society, it's easy for streets to simply become high-speed corridors for driving, with little or no reason to stop and take a stroll.

Another more disturbing possibility is that most Americans simply don't know the difference between good urban design and bad. As they've rarely seen examples of beautifully constructed and managed cityscapes they believe that their streets and pedestrian areas are actually quite nice and as good as (or better than) streetscapes anywhere else. This seems to be confirmed by the boosterism and pride I encounter in American cities. What's most surprising is that many Americans have visited cities abroad with world-class design and infrastructure yet still don't expect or demand such standards at home. This could confirm the notion that they simply aren't able to see the differences and are aesthetically neutered.

A disturbing consequence of America allowing its cities to sink to such a low level is that the skills and craftmanship required to orchestrate and build beautiful streets may have become a lost art in the United States. Even if we wanted to catch up, we would need to import talent to do it right.

Below are some pictures of the beautiful, high quality, and carefully maintained street and sidewalk surfaces in central Helsinki.

Wherever you go in Helsinki, you are faced with first-rate infrastructure. It seems that the Finns don't bother building it if they aren't going to do it well, and subsequently maintain it rather impeccably. I've found the same to be true in other Nordic countries, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Austria (not to mention Australia and wealthier East Asian countries). These are the countries that do public infrastructure best. These are also the countries with incomes most similar to those of the US. They are therefore ideal to use for comparison purposes.

I mentioned above that the car-centered nature of American society might account for the lack of detailed design and attractiveness in its urban streets. But this would hardly explain the parlous state of much of the USA's highway infrastructure. In Finland, highways are smoothly paved and streets do not have potholes. I really don't think I ever saw a pothole on a Helsinki street, and this in a climate that can be brutally cold in the winter. What explanation, I wonder, do American cities give? It certainly isn't that their residents, on average, are poorer than those in their northern European counterparts. Average incomes are rather similar. It may however, be related to the massive inequalities in income which don't show up in typical averages. I will come back to this question later.

The quality Finnish infrastructure extends to bridges, public buildings, sports facilities and even the water pipes that I've seen replaced during construction projects. Below are some scenes of cutting edge infrastructure and architecture that surrounds you in Helsinki.

The most outstanding physical feature of Helsinki is it's wealth of green and natural spaces. Helsinki is a wooded, rocky peninsula jutting out into the sea that at times seems to just incidentally have human settlements interspersed throughout..

From where I lived in the north of Helsinki, in the Paloheinä neighborhood, I could ride my bicycle almost all the way to the center of the city (a 45-minute ride) without ever crossing an intersection and without seeing any cars. This is because Helsinki is designed in such a way that wooded and natural corridors (as well as protected seaside areas) extend like a circulation system throughout and around the city. They give residents quick access not only to peaceful, natural areas but also to safe routes for bicycle commuting . Even Oslo, another city with a wealth of green, doesn't have this same connected system of green spaces and corridors penetrating so deeply into all sections of the city.

My typical ride took me through what is called Helsinki's Central Park, and along the way, I was ceaselessly amazed at the range of uses I found for the open spaces that dominate the city. The pictures below show some of the natural spaces, all without the artificial feeling that over-engineered green spaces often have in cities. They include clean rivers, farmland, vast areas of garden allotments, seashore, and most commonly, forests that go on and on. This despite the fact that the population density in Helsinki is higher than in comparable American cities such as Columbus or Portland.

A highlight of life for me in Helsinki was the ease of movement around most of the city by bicycle. In all but the center of the city, Helsinki has an uncommonly good system of paths for bicycles..

Bicycle infrastructure in Helsinki seems to be divided into three main types:
1) shared sidewalks (pavements) along streets;
2) shared paths through green areas, and less commonly;
3) dedicated bicycle lanes.

As is common in Norway, Sweden and Finland, most sidewalks along bigger streets are wide enough to accomodate both pedestrians and biyclists. Often there is a line demarcating walking and cycling areas. Just like people walking, bicyclists on shared pavements yield to cars at intersections, although they are generally protected by raised crosswalks that dramatically slow traffic down, making bicycling safe along streets even for children.

The most pleasant, and fastest, way to get around by bike in Helsinki is on the shared paths through green areas, or along the coast. These paths are not specifically for bicycles, and are used by pedestrians, joggers, skateboarders and others (see picture above), and can be covered with asphalt or finely crushed stone. Although they are multi-use, they are almost never crowded and it's very easy to quickly cover large distances, totally isolated from automobile traffic. All streets and roads encountered are either crossed by dedicated bicycle/pedestrian bridges or avoided via underpasses. It's a lovely way to get around as it's safe, you have beautiful scenery all around, and the air is fresh and clean. I used paths like this every day to get into the center of Helsinki.

Helsinki has a few examples of dedicated bicycle lanes, the most interesting bit being the Baana Bicycle Corridor, built along an old rail line. This is a very cool stretch of urban bicycling. Take a look at the link.

The three types of bicycle infrastructure, sadly, disappear in many of the older core neighborhoods of Helsinki. In these areas it's necessary to ride on the cobblestone streets with traffic. If this part of Helsinki were all you saw, you would not think Helsinki is an excellent city for bicyclists - which in fact, it really is.

I wrote a bit above about the ample green space in Helsinki, but I want to focus a bit more on the impressive array of outdoor recreational facilities on offer to the public here.

Not only are forest areas and green belts within a short walking distance of all inhabitants, but there is a very generous allocation of well-maintained playgrounds, sports fields, swimming pools, beach areas. marinas, and more - among the best I've seen anywhere in the world.

Although these facilities are well used, because of their abundance they rarely appeared crowded. There seems to be space for all. I was highly impressed with the quality of materials used and general upkeep.

Below are some pictures of the kinds of generally free, meticulously maintained public facilities that most city-dwelling Americans could only dream of.

When not riding my bicycle, I used public transport in Helsinki. In comparison to most European cities I've lived in, Helsinki is underserved by metro lines. There is one main line, which runs from west to east, but most of the city is not covered. There are commuter train lines that go to the suburbs, and these serve some parts of the city. The city also has many tram lines in the central area, as well as ferry routes linking the city to its islands. On the whole, however, I imagine most people using public transport in this city rely on buses.

As I was living in a neighborhood far from train, tram, or metro lines, I used bus to get around. Buses were frequent, very clean and pleasant to ride. A nice thing about Helsinki's well-organized bus system is that generally you know rather precisely when the next bus will come. Nearly every bus stop has a digital display that tells you how many minutes before a particular bus arrives. See the middle picture below, showing that bus 63, a line I used frequently, would arrive in 2 minutes. This sort of system is not common in the United States, but it's the norm in much of Europe and East Asia.

Like any city, Helsinki has its relatively low income areas. These tend to be on the eastern side of the city, but there is no clear division between wealthy and poor areas here: the eastern parts of Helsinki have wealthier districts, and the western parts have poorer districts, too.

Finns are uncomfortable with any suggestion that a class divide exists in this city, but it certainly does. In fact, many of the conurbations outside of center are rather forlorn looking and unattractive. There are signs of social problems such as alcholism and poorly integrated groups of foreigners. What does not exist in Helsinki is a green divide. Even the relatively poor here are blessed with an embarrassment of well-maintained green spaces close at hand.

What struck me most about the lower-class parts of the city is that people are often living in large, high-rise apartment blocks (such as the buildings in the pictures above and below), rather isolated from other buildings, and often quite a walk from any stores. In the summer, it's somehow bearable because of the profusion of green in all directions. But I imagine that in the winter it would be rather bleak, as there is little activity in the environs. Most of these high-rise developments are like islands in the middle of forest. The developments are often centered on a metro stop, where there is always an adjacent shopping center. These commercial centers themselves can be fairly unattractive. I think urban design of this type is a legacy of bad planning ideas from the 1960s and 70s. Most Finns wouldn't want to live in places like this today. However, from disussions I've had with local people involved in urban planning issues, the shopping center-centric style of development continues in Helsinki, continuing to breed car dependancy and continuing to isolate people and deprive them of lively, interesting streets. Timo Hämäläinen writes an interesting blog, called from Rurban to Urban, discussing the challenges Helsinki faces in creating lively, engaging streets and communities.

Below are more examples of high-rise apartment blocks in the east of Helsinki.

Even in the expensive center of the city, (especially here, I think) there is a lot that can be done to improve the experience of being a pedestrian or bicyclist - and improve the quality of life for local residents, as well.
Several things strike me about streets in the center. They are:
* narrow sidewalks
* excessive space allocated to car parking
* a lack of trees and other green elements
* a lack of bicycle lanes, and
* a general low level of activity (and hence, perhaps, the perception of tourists that this is a boring city).

In terms of street design in its old urban core (a rather small part of the city), Helsinki is behind the times. The streets, although often lined with beautiful buildings (and also many bland ones erected in a misguided period of urban renewal in the 1960s), lack beauty because so much space is devoted to automobiles. The streets are rather lifeless and drab as there is no leftover space for trees, cafe-lined sidewalks, and bicycle lanes. Wandering these streets in the winter could be quite depressing.

I wonder why so little interesting retail and so few restaurants and cafes line most of these streets. Perhaps there are zoning regulations that keep many business out or maybe high taxes act as a discouragement. It's certainly not that Finland lacks an interesting retail sector. In fact, its shopping centers are full of innovative Nordic chain stores (from Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland itself) that would be a hit in the US or other parts of Europe. The outside world only knows about IKEA and H&M, but there is much more. If only Helsinki could manage to get these stores (and restaurants) out of the shopping centers and back onto its streets - this would no longer be a boring city for foreign visitors.

Below, some streets that could use a bit more life (the first from Itäkeskus, a major hub in eastern Helsinki).

I can't end this posting without sharing a bit about my favorite neighborhoods in Helsinki.

Although I love the elegant central districts, with their Jugenstil architecture, the places I find most charming and most uniquely Finnish are the areas of wooden houses and wooden apartment buildings in neighborhoods such as Käpylä and Vallila. It would be a dream for me to have a house in one of these areas.
There's something about these neighborhoods that make you want to settle in. The scale is very human, there's a lot of common green space, and fundamentally, it's just beautiful. Below are some views from Käpylä.

Helsinki is a great foil to the American cities I've most recently visited and blogged about. It provides a contrast, and ultimately an excellent model for how pleasurable city life in the USA could be.

There are many reasons for Helsinki's superiority. One is its outstanding urban organizational competence: Helsinki is a metropolis under professional management and benefits from a highly evolved ecosystem of actors who cooperatively create a great city.

Another underlying reason for its high rank in urban quality of life is the relatively low social inequality, and very high social mobility, in Finland. Residents of Helsinki have a shared destiny and work together to make their city a wonderful place to live. People here are not condemned to an inferior life if they are born in poorer areas. Social mobility is very high.

I miss Helsinki. Beyond all the wonderful things about life there, and the lessons it holds for American cities, what I miss the most are the friends I love dearly. I was unfortunate enough to have an accident the day before I was scheduled to leave Helsinki. This led to knee surgery. My friends Pia and Jan took care of me for several weeks while I began my recovery. The silver lining to this situation was that it gave me more time to spend with them, especially with their precious kids, Lilya, Linnea and Linus. Below are pictures of my constant companions, Linnea and Linus. I can't wait to get back to Helsinki for a visit next summer.

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"One of the most effective ways to learn about oneself is by taking seriously the cultures of others. It forces you to pay attention to those details of life which differentiate them from you." ...

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Helsinki offers a wide range of education and training for people of all ages. Early childhood education is high-quality, affordable and intended for all children. Schools are of good quality in all neighbourhoods. Helsinki also offers Finland's most versatile study opportunities at universities and universities of applied sciences.

Select your municipality in order to see information about local services when browsing the site.

Early childhood education

Helsinki has numerous city-owned and private day-care centres (päiväkoti). Finnish or Swedish is spoken in city-owned day-care centres. Most day-care centres are Finnish-speaking.

If you are applying for a position in a city-owned day-care centre, submit your application at least four months before the beginning of the care period. You can apply for a day-care placement from the city if your family has an address in Helsinki.

You can apply for a day-care placement online. Finnish online banking credentials are required to use the electronic form. In addition, your child must have a Finnish personal identity code. If you cannot use the electronic form, print the application form from the city website. Take or post the filled form to the day-care provider you are primarily applying for. The contact information for day-care centres is available on the city website.

You can ask about early childhood education and applying for a day-care place from the Daycare and Education Guidance service.

There are also private day-care centres in Helsinki where English, Russian, German, French or Spanish is spoken. In Helsinki, there is also an Islamic day-care centre where Arabic is spoken.

If you are applying for a place for your child in a private day-care centre, contact the day-care centre of your choice directly.

Read more: Early childhood education.

Pre-primary education

Your child must attend pre-primary education at a municipal or private day-care centre. In Helsinki, a few schools also provide pre-primary education. Pre-primary education is free-of-charge and starts in August.

Apply for a pre-primary education place for your child in January of the year when your child turns 6 years old. Apply for the place through the city's electronic services. To apply, you need online banking credentials and your child must have a Finnish personal identity code. If you cannot apply for a pre-primary education place through electronic services, you can fill in and print the application form from the city website or get a printed form from a city-owned day-care centre. Bring the filled-in form to your preferred day-care centre personally.

Remember to mark on the form if your child will need to continue in daycare in the afternoon, after the four-hour morning session of pre-primary education is finished.

Read more on the organisation of pre-primary education in Finland on the InfoFinland page Pre-primary education. You can find more information and a list of day-care centres on the City of Helsinki website. You can also ask for more information from a day-care centre director.

Basic education

There are many comprehensive schools (peruskoulu) in Helsinki. In addition to the city schools, private and state-owned schools are available. Studying in a private school may be subject to a fee.

In city schools, the language of instruction is Finnish or Swedish. In Helsinki, there are also private schools whose language of instruction is, for example, English, German, French or Russian.

Children must be enrolled in comprehensive school at the beginning of a year. You can register your child for school online or visit the school on the registration day. The registration day is specified on the website of the City of Helsinki.

If a pupil's Finnish language skills are not good enough for comprehensive school studies in a Finnish-speaking school, he/she may be provided with preparatory education. This education prepares the child for studies in a comprehensive school. The preparatory education teaches Finnish language and comprehensive school subjects.

You can ask about comprehensive education and schools in Helsinki from the Daycare and Education Guidance service.

Read more about comprehensive school in Helsinki in the Introduction to school guide.

Read more: Basic education.

Preparatory education in Helsinki

Children aged 6-16 who do not yet speak enough Finnish or Swedish can start preparatory education at school in class, even in the middle of the school year. In the preparatory class, they study Finnish or Swedish for a year and get to know a Finnish school.

Afternoon activities for schoolchildren

After the school day, the City of Helsinki organises afternoon activities with adult presence for first and second-graders and pupils requiring special support. Afternoon activities include meaningful activities in a safe environment at or near the school. In afternoon activities, children can play and spend time with friends, go outdoors or make small excursions to the surrounding area. Afternoon activities are subject to a fee, which covers insurance and a snack for the children.

Native-language education for immigrants

Children whose native language is not Finnish or Swedish may receive education in their native language. In Helsinki, native-language education is provided for immigrants in over 40 languages.

You can ask about native-language education from the Daycare and Education Guidance service.

Daycare and Education Guidance service

If you have questions about the Finnish school system, early childhood education, playground or club activities, you can contact the Education Division's advisory services. You can ask the advisory services about applying for early childhood education or school.

Switchboard 09 310 8600, Mon-Fri 8:00-16:00

Education guidance service: +358 9 310 44986, on weekdays at 10 am-12 noon and 1 pm-3 pm (service also in English)

Day-care and school guidance for international families in Finnish and English by email and by booking an appointment: eduguidance@hel.fi

Vocational training and education

Helsinki Vocational College is the largest vocational institute (ammatillinen oppilaitos) in Finland, where you can study a variety of fields. In addition to this, Helsinki boasts other vocational institutes. Apply for vocational education through the joint application process.

Helsinki Vocational College organises training that prepares immigrants for vocational education. The preparatory education is intended for young people and adults who are interested in vocational studies and wish to improve their Finnish-language skills. The preparatory education lasts for one school term or year. You can ask about the preparatory education from the guidance and service office of Helsinki Vocational College.

Contact information:

Hattulantie 2
00550 Helsinki
Tel. (09) 310 8415

Read more: Vocational education.

General upper secondary school

There are many general upper secondary schools in Helsinki. Helsinki also boasts numerous schools where languages other than Finnish or Swedish are spoken. In addition to the daytime general upper secondary school for young people, Helsinki has three general upper secondary schools for adults (aikuislukio).

Helsinki organises education for immigrants to prepare them for general upper secondary school. The training lasts for one school year and prepares students for general upper secondary school studies. Preparatory education is intended for young people and adults who wish to study at a general upper secondary school but whose language skills are not good enough for general upper secondary school studies. The education is organised at the Vuosaari and Alppila general upper secondary schools. Education intended for adults is organised at the Helsinki General Upper Secondary School for Adults (Konepajan aikuislukio).

Read more: General upper secondary school.

Preparatory education for programmes leading to an upper secondary qualification (TUVA)

If you would like to acquire more knowledge and skills before applying for general upper secondary school or vocational education and training, you can apply for preparatory education for programmes leading to an upper secondary qualification, i.e. TUVA. During TUVA education, you can improve your basic education grades and also improve your Finnish language skills.

In Helsinki, TUVA education is organised at several locations of the Helsinki Vocational College (Stadin Ammattiopisto). You can find more information on applying for TUVA education on the website of the Helsinki Vocational College.

Support and guidance for young people

Ohjaamo

If you are under 30 years of age, you can get advice and guidance from the Ohjaamo service. If you do not have a job or a study place, the Ohjaamo personnel will help you. You can also ask about other matters, such as housing or personal finances.

Contact information:

Fredrikinkatu 48
tel.: 040 70 46 818
email: ohjaamo(at)hel.fi

Higher education

In Helsinki, you can complete higher education studies in a variety of fields. There are both universities and universities of applied sciences in Helsinki.

The majority of the higher education is provided in Finnish. However, education in English is available in nearly all institutes of higher education. There is one Swedish-language university and one Swedish-language university of applied sciences in Helsinki.

The contact information for the institutes of higher education can be found on the City of Helsinki website. Application instructions and more detailed information on study programmes are available on the websites of the institutes themselves.

Read more: Universities and Universities of applied sciences.

Other study opportunities

Comprehensive education for adults

Konepaja Upper Secondary School for Adults (Konepajan aikuislukio) has a study programme for over 17-year-old immigrants, which enables you to complete the entire comprehensive school curriculum or portions of it. More information is available on the website of the Konepaja Upper Secondary School.

Other upper secondary schools for adults also provide comprehensive education for adults. The contact information for the upper secondary schools for adults can be found on the City of Helsinki website.

Helsinki boasts a wealth of study opportunities that are available to everyone. These studies are usually subject to a fee.

You can complete higher education studies at the Open University or at the open universities of applied sciences. These studies are open for everyone. The Open University and the open universities of applied sciences offer plenty of courses in English, too.

The City of Helsinki has a Finnish-language adult education centre (työväenopisto) and Swedish-language adult education centre. At the adult education centres, you can study languages, crafts and music, for example. The selection is extremely varied. The majority of the education in adult education centres is provided in Finnish or Swedish. In addition, the adult education centres organise courses in English and Russian.

Adult Education Centre of the City of Helsinki
Customer service tel. 09 310 88610
E-mail: tyovaenopisto(at)edu.hel.fi

Swedish Adult Education Centre Arbis
Tel. 09 310 49494
E-mail: kanslie(at)arbis.hel.fi

Read more: Studying as a hobby.

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Helsinki offers a wide range of education and training for people of all ages. Early childhood education is high-quality, affordable and intended for all children. Schools are of good quality in all neighbourhoods. Helsinki also offers Finland's most versatile study opportunities at universities and universities of applied sciences.

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Algiers has a variety of public transport options such as metro, taxi, boat/ferry, train, bus, bike and also walking is also common for people in Algiers. Algiers also has an international airport, Houari Boumediene Airport which opened in 1924 and serves 29 countries.

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Helsinki University Hospital (HUS) was ranked as the 21st best hospital in the world in an international study measuring treatment quality in hospitals and patient satisfaction.

In close cooperation with its owner HUS, Orton Hospital offers medical examinations, appointments and surgical services carried out by HUS experts in a number of specialties - both in Orton's own premises in Helsinki as well as in the care units of HUS.

In this study the quality of hospital care was assessed using different medical key performance indicators. The assessment was carried out by a team including leading healthcare experts from different countries. In addition to the expert assessment, patient satisfaction was measured.

Orton Hospital was also mentioned among the hospitals listed. Among the Finnish hospitals, it ranked number 15, being the only private hospital.

The study was published in Newsweek magazine earlier this year.

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Helsinki University Hospital among the best hospitals in the world - Orton

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In close cooperation with its owner HUS, Orton Hospital offers medical examinations, appointments and surgical services carried out by HUS experts in a number of specialties

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Information about crime in Helsinki, Finland. Shows how much people think the problem in their community are property crimes (home broken, car theft, etc.), violent crimes (being mugged or robbed, being attacked or insulted), corruption and other crimes.

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Water quality, particularly the quality of drinking water, is arguably the most essential requirement for the survival of not only mankind, but all terrestrial life on Earth. Despite its importance, water quality is not guaranteed, and is quite variable throughout the world's countries, due to both natural and man-made influences. Measuring the safety of the drinking water in each area of a country is of vital importance, as it helps that country determine where to focus its efforts in order to ensure the long-term health of its citizens and the sustainability of its water supply.

How is the safety of drinking water determined?

Localized testing is the most common method of determining whether or not a region's water is safe drinking water. In developed countries, testing may be conducted by the water utilities themselves or by various local, state, or federal agencies. In developing and least-developed countries, testing may be much less consistent and reliable.

Top 10 Countries with the Best Water Quality in the World (2022 DALY score):

One of the most widely respected aggregators of water quality data is Yale University's Environmental Performance Index, which tracks more than 30 performance indicators-including "Sanitation & Drinking Water"-in order to pinpoint the most environmentally friendly countries in the world. Additional performance indicators tracked by the EPI include environmental health, climate change mitigation, air quality, waste management, biodiversity, fishery populations, and more.

How is water quality rated?

The EPI measures water quality in terms of "age-standardized disability-adjusted life-years lost per 100,000 persons (DALY rate) due to exposure to unsafe drinking water." According to the DALY scale, a score of 100 indicates countries with the purest and least-contaminated water and a score of 0 indicates the 5% of countries with the most contaminated water on the planet.

10 Countries with the Worst Water Quality in the World (2022 DALY score):

180 Countries Ranked by Water Quality (2022 DALY score):

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Helsinki offers a wide range of education and training for people of all ages. Early childhood education is high-quality, affordable and intended for all children. Schools are of good quality in all neighbourhoods. Helsinki also offers Finland’s most versatile study opportunities at universities and universities of applied sciences. Helsinki University Hospital was ranked as the 21st best hospital in the world in an international study measuring treatment quality in hospitals and patient satisfaction. Crime in Helsinki is quite low and generally is not something to worry about, though has increased in last five years. The most common crime is drug dealing.

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Migration in Algiers is very common as the population is slowly starting to move to other countries such as France and other european nations because of the low liveability score. Usually around 2 million people visit Algeria every year which is one of the highest in Africa. The most common languages spoken in Algiers are Arabic (Around 90%) and Berber (Around 10%). The most common religon is Islam.

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Algiers is one of the most wealthiest cities in africa having GDP per capita of around $5000~ USD which is very high for Africa. ts rating has increased by 0.7 point from last year, and Algeria is ranked 13th out of 14 countries in the Middle East/North Africa region. The country's economic freedom score is lower than the world and regional averages. Algeria's economy is considered “repressed” according to the 2024 Index. The average median house pricing is 221K in the city centre.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Houari Boumediene International Airport ( Arabic: مطار هواري بومدين الدولي, romanized: Maṭār Hawwārī Būmadyan al-Duwaliyy)[1][2][3] ( IATA: ALG, ICAO: DAAG), also known as Algiers Airport or Algiers International Airport, is the main international airport serving Algiers, the capital of Algeria. It is located 9.1 NM (16.9 km; 10.5 mi) east southeast[1] of the city.

The airport is named after Houari Boumediene (1932-1978), a former president of Algeria. Dar El Beïda, the area where the airport is located, was known as Maison Blanche ('White House'), and the airport is called Maison Blanche Airport in much of the literature about the Algerian War of Independence. The SGSIA ( French: Société de Gestion des Services et Infrastructures Aéroportuaires), more commonly known as 'Airport of Algiers', is a public company established on 1 November 2006 to manage and operate the airport. The SGSIA has 2,100 employees.

The airport was created in 1924 and named Maison Blanche Airport. During World War II, Maison Blanche was a primary objective of the Allied Operation Torch Eastern Task Force on 8 November 1942, and was seized by a combination of United States Army units, British Commandos and elements of a British Infantry Division. Opposition by Vichy French forces who defended the airport ended that same day, as orders from Admiral Darlan in Algiers were issued to cease all hostilities in North Africa.

Hawker Hurricane Aircraft of No. 43 Squadron RAF, under the Command of Squadron Leader Michael Rook, landed at Maison Blanche shortly after 11.00 Hrs on 8 November, and began offensive patrols the next day. 43 Sqn remained at Maison Blanche until 13 March 1943, when the unit was deployed to Jemmapes, Constantine.[4]

Once in Allied hands, the airport was used by the United States Army Air Forces Air Transport Command as a major transshipment hub for cargo, transiting aircraft and personnel. It functioned as a stopover en route to Tafarquay Airport, near Oran, or to Tunis Airport, Tunisia, on the North African Cairo- Dakar transport route. It also flew personnel and cargo to Marseille, Milan, Naples and Palermo.[5] In addition, Twelfth Air Force A3 SECTION, under the command of Lt. Col Carter E. Duncan 1943/44, used the airport as a command and control facility, headquartering its XII Bomber Command; XXII Tactical Air Command, and the 51st Troop Carrier Wing to direct combat and support missions during the North African Campaign against the German Afrika Korps.[6] Known Allied air force combat units assigned to the airfield were:

No. 43 Squadron RAF 323 Wing RAF, 8 November 1942 -13 March 1943 Hawker Hurricane

51st Troop Carrier Wing, 23 November 1942 - 28 March 1943

63d Fighter Wing, May-August 1943

97th Bombardment Group, 13-22 November 1942, B-17 Flying Fortress

301st Bombardment Group, 5-16 December 1942, B-17 Flying Fortress

319th Bombardment Group, 24-12 November 1942, B-26 Marauder

14th Fighter Group, 18-22 November 1942, P-38 Lightning

350th Fighter Group, May-July 1943, P-38 Lightning

3d Reconnaissance Group, 25 December 1942 - 13 June 1943, (various photo reconnaissance aircraft)

The domestic terminal (Terminal 1) presents a capacity of 6 million passengers per year. It was inaugurated on 5 July 2006 by the President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The terminal holds 5000 car parking spaces, a taxi stand, a boarding area of 27,000 m ², and 14 passenger gates. Hall 2 in terminal 1 is dedicated to domestic flights, whereas hall 1 is dedicated to the middle east, and Gulf airlines.

The charter terminal (Terminal 2), renovated in 2007, has a capacity of 2.5 million passengers per year. It offers conditions of comfort and security comparable to those of Terminal 1. Its domestic traffic is 1.5 million passengers per year. Terminal 2 is equipped with 20 check-in desks with a cafeteria, tearoom and prayer room. The terminal also has a pharmacy, perfumery, a hairdresser, watch retailers, luggage shops, games and toys as well as a tobacco/newspaper shop. There are 900 car parking spaces, a taxi stand, a boarding area of 5,000 m ², with 7 gates, a luggage delivery area, and lounges for premium passengers.[7]

Prior to Terminal 2's opening, Terminal 3 was used for operating domestic flights. In 2007, the terminal's use changed to pilgrimage and charter flights; but since 2019 all of the charters and pilgrimage flights have been moved to terminal 2 and the former Terminal 3 will be demolished in order to build a new terminal.[8]

Terminal 4 opened on 29 April 2019. Its operations began in three different stages. The first was granted to flights bound for Paris by Air Algérie. A week later, all flights to France operated by Air Algérie were transferred to the terminal. The following week, all other international flights operated by Air Algérie were transferred to the new terminal. As of May 15, the other foreign airlines also began operations in this terminal. Terminal 4 has 120 check-in points, 84 check-in counters, 9 conveyor belts and 21 telescopic gateways. With a surface area of 73 hectares which currently accommodates an additional 10 million passengers per year and is also capable of accommodating Airbus A380 type aircraft.

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Algiers Airport:

Airlines

Destinations

Air Algérie
Abidjan, Adrar, Alicante, Amman-Queen Alia, Annaba, Bamako, Barcelona, Batna, Béchar, Beijing-Capital, Beirut, Béjaïa, Biskra, Bordeaux, Bou Saada,[9] Brussels, Cairo, Chlef, Constantine, Dakar-Diass, Damascus, Djanet, Doha,[10] Douala,[11] Dubai-International, El Bayadh,[12] El Goléa, El Oued, Frankfurt, Geneva, Ghardaïa, Hassi Messaoud, Illizi, In Amenas, In Salah, Istanbul, Jeddah, Jijel, Johannesburg-O. R. Tambo,[13] Laghouat, Lille, Lisbon, London-Heathrow, Lyon, Madrid, Marseille, Mécheria,[12] Metz/Nancy, Milan-Malpensa, Montpellier, Montréal-Trudeau, Moscow-Sheremetyevo, Niamey, Nice, Nouakchott, Oran, Ouagadougou, Ouargla, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Paris-Orly, Rome-Fiumicino, Saint Petersburg,[14] Sétif, Tamanrasset, Tébessa, Tiaret,[9] Timimoun, Tindouf, Tlemcen, Touggourt, Toulouse, Tunis, Vienna
Seasonal: Antalya, Basel/Mulhouse

Air Canada
Seasonal: Montréal-Trudeau[15]

Air France
Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Paris-Orly, Toulouse[16]
Seasonal: Marseille, Nice

ASL Airlines France

Lille, Lyon, Paris-Charles de Gaulle

British Airways

Flynas
Jeddah, Medina

Saudia
Jeddah, Medina

Tassili Airlines
Adrar, Annaba, Béchar, Biskra, Constantine, Djanet, El Oued, Ghardaïa, Hassi Messaoud, Hassi R'Mel, Illizi, In Salah, Mascara,[19] Mécheria,[19] Nantes, Oran, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Sétif, Strasbourg, Tamanrasset, Tindouf, Tlemcen
Seasonal: El Bayadh, Laghouat, Tiaret

Transavia
Lyon, Montpellier, Nantes, Paris-Orly, Toulon (begins 15 July 2024)
Seasonal: Strasbourg

TUI fly Belgium

Turkish Airlines
Istanbul
Seasonal: Antalya

Vueling
Barcelona, Marseille

Airlines

Destinations

Air Algérie Cargo[citation needed ]

Dubai-International, Frankfurt, Istanbul, London-Heathrow, Lyon, Munich, Nouadhibou, Nouakchott, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Rome-Fiumicino, Tunis

Check-in hall

Another view of the check-in hall 1

Terminal 4

Passengers

Change from previous year

Aircraft operations

Cargo
(Million Tkm )

Year

Passengers

Growing Average

The distance to the center of Algiers is 20 km using the route N5 direct Bab Ezzouar. A1 also connects with N5 to the airport. Taxis service the airport to downtown Algiers.

The airport has a 7,000 capacity with two car parks located north of the terminals.

Buses link the airport to downtown Algiers every 30 minutes during the day with the line 100 of the Algiers's public transport buses company (ETUSA).

The Algiers Metro Line L1 extension will connect the airport with the centre of Algiers.

Since 2019 Algiers airport has a rail station, located between terminals 1 and 2. The train connects the Algiers downtown (Agha station) to the international airport with a stopover at El Harrach train station with trains of the commuter rail network of the SNTF. The train frequency is one train every 30 minutes with a 20-minute journey time.

The new Hyatt Regency Hotel opened its doors on 24 April 2019, and is located across the street from the Terminal 4 with which it is connected. It is the first hotel of the Hyatt Hotels Corporation chain in Algeria. The hotel has 320 rooms and 3 restaurants, a swimming pool and a 2,200 m ² lobby, and 13 meeting rooms.[24]

On 23 July 1968, three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked El Al Flight 426, a Boeing 707 with 48 other people on board and diverted it to the airport. They eventually released all 48 hostages unharmed.

On 24 December 1994, Air France Flight 8969, an Airbus A300 bound for Paris, was seized by four Islamic terrorists before takeoff; three passengers were killed before departure. In Marseille, France, a special operations team of the French Gendarmerie stormed the aircraft and killed all four hijackers; 25 passengers were injured.

On 21 November, 2023, an Air Algerie Cargo Boeing 737-800 freighter aircraft, registration 7T-VJJ, performing flight 1208 to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, auto-rotated and struck its tail onto runway 05's surface, causing holes to open on the aircraft's fuselage's underbelly, with the flight's crew cancelling the take-off and returning to the apron.. The captain and first officer, the aircraft's sole occupants, survived without any injuries. One of the pallets had been placed in the wrong compartment, a short investigation found out soon after.[25]

This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Houari Boumediene International Airport ( Arabic: مطار هواري بومدين الدولي, romanized: Maṭār Hawwārī Būmadyan al-Duwaliyy)[1] [2] [3] ( IATA: ALG, ICAO: DAAG), also known as Algiers Airport or Algiers International Airport, is the main international airport serving Algiers, the capital of Algeria.

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You're Going to Love Algeria

The largest country in Africa is a short trip away from Europe, making it one of the preferred destinations for European travelers.

Cosmopolitan cities contrast with desert landscapes in Algeria, where it is also possible to marvel at well-kept Roman ruins and snow-capped mountains.

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Algeria Travel Guide | Algeria Tourism - KAYAK

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Planning to visit Algeria? Discover how to get there, where to stay, what to do and more in the best guide to Algeria by KAYAK.

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Net migration - Algeria from The World Bank: Data

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Algiers has a Mediterranean climate becuase of the influence on the Mediterranian sea. Its average lowest average temperature is in January is 5 degress celcius and the average highest average temperature is 32 degress celcius in August. Algiers lies on what is called the 'green belt' which is the costal part Algeria making it one of the most greenest cities in the country. Algiers features French-colonial style fortresses, unique rounded mud-huts in rural areas and ancient colossal Arab-styled homes.Mosques and other religious buildings also tend to show interesting trends in architecture.

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The official languages of Algeria are Arabic and Tamazight or Berber, as specified in its constitution since 1963 for the former and since 2016 for the latter. has been recognized as a "national language" by constitutional amendment since 8 May 2002. In February, 2016, a constitutional resolution was passed making Berber an official language alongside Arabic. Algerian Arabic and Berber are the native languages of over 99% of Algerians, with Algerian Arabic spoken by about 72% and Berber by 27.4%. French, though it has no official status, is widely used in government, culture, media (newspapers) and education (from primary school), due to Algeria's colonial history. Kabyle, the most spoken Berber language in the country, is taught and partially co-official (with a few restrictions) in parts of Kabylie, which is a cultural, natural and historical region in northern Algeria.

Arabic

Berber

French

Arabic

Berber

French

Arabic

Berber

French

African : phrase book : 12 key languages spoken across Africa : Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Congo, Egypt, Gambia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Zaire, Zimbabwe... Princeton NJ: Berlitz, 1997. Available at: WorldCat.

Dunwoodie, Peter. Writing French Algeria. Available at WorldCat

Dunwoodie, Peter. Writing French Algeria. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998. Available at: WorldCat.

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The official languages of Algeria are Arabic and Tamazight or Berber, as specified in its constitution since 1963 for the former and since 2016 for the latter. Berber has been recognized as a "national language" by constitutional amendment since 8 May 2002. In February, 2016, a constitutional resolution was passed making Berber an official language alongside Arabic.

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Since the 1980s, a fall in oil prices in international markets resulted in Algeria experiencing an economic downturn, contributing to rising unemployment and poverty. A lack of democracy, political conflict and government spending have also caused poverty. The quality of the roads are getting better and motorway networks stretches across the country for 1,802 km and is in 2x3 lanes.Tap-water water is normally chlorinated and is relatively safe to drink. Algiers has many paths/cycleways around the city and is one of main uses of transport.

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Index of Economic Freedom | The Heritage Foundation

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Index of Economic Freedom: Algeria | The Heritage Foundation

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Explore the Index of Economic Freedom to gauge global impacts of liberty and free markets. Discover the powerful link between economic freedom and progress. The 30th edition illustrates key factors shaping our world's landscape. From @Heritage

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The city of Algiers initiated in 2010 a project in order to establish a green belt around its areas and some northern municipalities. The project aims to create agro parks, allotment gardens as well as parks as a strategy for reintegrating the concept of the green belt into the Algerian territory. Through this intervention, the municipality aims to put into practice environmental values ​​linked to improved quality of life and social well-being, for the benefit of the local community. The intervention plans to introduce different species of trees and include for the first time in Africa agro parks as spaces which are designed to reconcile urban and agricultural functions in a win-win strategy. The action was thought to respond to the impacts of climate change in the country, which faces rain events that are less frequent but more intense, and droughts that are more common and longer. (1,2,3,4)

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In addition to a lack of progress in developing pre-school, the major problem for the Algerian education system remains the high number of students who repeat years, particularly at lower secondary school, as this generates children dropping out of school and adds to school wastage. Crime is not very low as it sits 51% on the crime index the highest being corruption and bribery and the lowest is being physically attacked because of gender, religon etc. The overall Algeria healthcare system is not yet up to the mark, and it will take a while before it can become good enough to match international standards.

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Weather Forecast and Conditions for Alger Centre, Algiers, Algeria - The Weather Channel | Weather.com

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Today's and tonight's Alger Centre, Algiers, Algeria weather forecast, weather conditions and Doppler radar from The Weather Channel and Weather.com

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Information about crime in Algiers, Algeria. Shows how much people think the problem in their community are property crimes (home broken, car theft, etc.), violent crimes (being mugged or robbed, being attacked or insulted), corruption and other crimes.

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Expat Financial - Global Insurance for Expats

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Algeria Healthcare System & Insurance Options for Expats

Picturesque Algeria is the largest country in the African continent. It is home to more than 35 million people. Furthermore, the Sahara desert covers 80% of the land, which makes it the second-largest desert in the world. With such geographic beauty, expats from all over the world come to Algeria.

Some of Algeria's major cities have a decent healthcare system. While healthcare services in the rest of the country are essential, it is non-existent in remote areas. Global expats coming to Algeria are therefore advised to procure a good international health insurance plan so that they can seek prompt medical assistance whenever they need it. Additionally, these plans should ideally include top-notch local emergency healthcare services. It includes airlifting a patient to another country that has a better healthcare system if need be. You can seek more health-related information about Algeria by clicking here.

These are recommendations for anyone who plans to live in another country for any length of time. In Algeria, the common diseases afflicting local citizens as well as expats are typhoid, tuberculosis, malaria, and other ailments. It is due to the scarcity of clean drinking water and insufficient sanitation facilities. Malnutrition is another major problem that explains why many people in the country live below the poverty line. Algeria healthcare system has improved over the past few years. But it still lags way behind the average international medical standards as prescribed by the World Health Organization.

Overview of Healthcare System

The constitution of Algeria makes healthcare services and expat financial planning mandatory for every citizen of the country. Despite that, those living in remote areas continue to be deprived of adequate healthcare services. These people either have to make do with whatever the less effective local medical setups can provide or travel long distances to cities to avail better facilities. Some hospitals based in cities too lack sufficient staff and specialists for treating certain critical diseases. Patients with such dangerous ailments are usually flown to another country where that particular treatment is available.

The country's private healthcare system has quickly evolved to make up for the abysmal public healthcare system that's way behind international standards. However, these private facilities do not offer any benefits or policies that are accessible in public hospitals. Moreover, these private facilities are available in limited numbers in select cities, so not everyone benefits from them. The Algerian government is doing its best to bridge this gap and is developing new hospitals with better equipment and amenities around the country.

Algerian Healthcare System for Expats

Algeria's national healthcare system is available for free for all the citizens of the country. In addition to that, there are two different government-funded medical schemes currently followed in Algeria. The first is CNAS, or Caisse Nationale de la Securite Sociale des Travailleurs Salaries, which covers about 73% of the country's population. This scheme covers salaried employees as well as their dependents. There is also another medical scheme covering independent workers as well as their dependents.

Public Healthcare

All citizens of Algeria have free access to the country's public healthcare services. The country's social security system also makes it possible for expats to obtain free public healthcare services. Their employers have to register them and make monthly contributions while deducting the same from their (employees') salaries. It's also worth mentioning here that most of the hospital staff speak French and not English. So if you can't speak French, you may have to face some communication issues.

Private Healthcare

The private healthcare system is costly, but these high charges allow the administration to maintain higher standards of healthcare as compared to those of public healthcare, and better quality equipment. Moreover, since there aren't enough qualified medical personnel available in the country, these hospitals hire staff from other states, who can also speak English reasonably well. The emphasis on meeting expatriates insurance standards makes these private facilities the expat population's first choice for medical treatment.

There is no private health insurance currently available in the country, which is why expats can instead obtain a comprehensive international health insurance plan to get the required cover as per their needs.

Emergency Services

Those seeking emergency services in the country can dial 112. But you may again struggle to communicate as the people who handle calls speak French, and not English as their native language. Moreover, those who live in remote areas may have to wait longer for the ambulance to arrive. Private hospitals may have different ambulances, which you will need to check before calling for one.

Pharmacies

People can purchase medicines from pharmacies in Algeria. However, those who need prescription medicines should bring their own before arriving in the country.

Best International Medical Insurance for Expats Living in Algeria

The overall Algeria healthcare system is not yet up to the mark, and it will take a while before it can become good enough to match international standards. It is one of the primary reasons why expats must consider buying an optimum international health insurance plan before planning their trip to the country. Currently, the best international insurance company offering services in the country is Cigna Global. You can go through the Algeria insurance plans they offer and figure out how those could fit into your needs before buying one for yourself. You may also want to check whether your policy covers emergency evacuation and emergency treatments in other countries.

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A Guide to the Healthcare System in Algeria for Expats

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Get familiar with the Algeria healthcare system in this comprehensive guide for expats. Learn about coverage, services, and more.

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Some of the similarities are they both coastal cities, have reliable public transport, international airports, have unique architecture and have safe drinking water (To some extent). The main differences are the education, crime and healthcare as schools in Helsinki are some of the bests in the world but on the other-hand schools in Algiers have a high dropout rate because of the low standards. Some more differences are the house pricing and immigration, Helsinki has very high house pricing and a fair number of immigrants, but Algiers has very low housing and a lot of migration. In conclusion these cities have more differences than simalarities and completly different enviorments.