Helsinki

"Helsingfors" redirects here. For ships with the name, see SS Helsingfors. For other uses, see Helsinki (disambiguation). It is not to be confused with Hälsingfors, Helsingør or Helsingborg.

Helsinki Helsingfors (Swedish)
Capital city
Helsingin kaupunki Helsingfors stad City of Helsinki
View of central Helsinki along Mannerheimintie Suomenlinna Parliament House Helsinki Cathedral Temppeliaukio Church Kalasatama skyline
Flag Coat of arms Wordmark
Nicknames:  Stadi (by city dwellers), Hesa (by other Finnish people), the Daughter of the Baltic, the Pearl of the Baltic Sea
Location (in red) within the Uusimaa region and the Helsinki sub-region (in yellow)
Interactive map of Helsinki
Helsinki Location within Finland Helsinki Location in the Baltic Sea Helsinki Location within Europe
Coordinates: 60°10′15″N 24°56′15″E
Country	Finland
Region	Uusimaa
Sub-region	Helsinki sub-region
Metropolitan area	Helsinki metropolitan area
Charter	12 June 1550
Capital city	8 April 1812
Government
• Mayor	Daniel Sazonov (Kok)
• Governing body	City Council of Helsinki
Area  (2018-01-01)
• Capital city	715.48 km2 (276.25 sq mi)
• Land	214.42 km2 (82.79 sq mi)
• Water	501.74 km2 (193.72 sq mi)
• Urban	680.12 km2 (262.60 sq mi)
• Metro	3,698.99 km2 (1,428.19 sq mi)
Elevation	26 m (85 ft)
Population  (2025-12-31)
• Capital city	694,392
• Rank	Largest in Finland
• Density	3,238.47/km2 (8,387.6/sq mi)
• Urban	1,360,075
• Urban density	1,999.8/km2 (5,179.3/sq mi)
• Metro	1,623,283 (metro)
• Metro density	438.8/km2 (1,136/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	helsinkiläinen (Finnish) helsingforsare (Swedish) Helsinkian (English)
Population by native language
• Finnish	73.4% (official)
• Swedish	5.4% (official)
• Others	21.2%
Population by age
• 0 to 14	14.3%
• 15 to 64	68.3%
• 65 or older	17.4%
Time zone	UTC+02:00 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+03:00 (EEST)
Area code	+358-9
Climate	Dfb
Website	www.hel.fi/en

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Helsinki, until about 1930 known in English by its Swedish name of Helsingfors, is the capital and most populous city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About 694,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.3 million in the capital region and 1.6 million in the metropolitan area. As the most populous urban area in Finland, it is the country's most significant centre for politics, education, finance, culture, and research. Helsinki is 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tallinn, Estonia, 400 kilometres (250 mi) east of Stockholm, Sweden, and 300 kilometres (190 mi) west of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Helsinki is a bilingual municipality with Finnish and Swedish as its official languages.

Together with the cities of Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen—and surrounding commuter towns, including the neighbouring municipality of Sipoo to the east—Helsinki forms a metropolitan area. This area is often considered Finland's only metropolis and is the world's northernmost metropolitan area with over one million inhabitants. Additionally, it is the northernmost capital of an EU member state. Helsinki is the third-largest municipality in the Nordic countries, after Stockholm and Oslo. Its urban area is the third-largest in the Nordic countries, after Stockholm and Copenhagen. Helsinki Airport, in the neighbouring city of Vantaa, serves the city with frequent flights to numerous destinations in Europe, North America, and Asia.

Helsinki has one of the highest standards of urban living in the world, and often ranks highly in various city quality of life indices. In the Condé Nast Traveler magazine's 2023 Readers' Choice Awards, Helsinki was ranked the 4th-friendliest city in Europe. Helsinki, along with Rovaniemi in Lapland, is also one of Finland's most important tourist cities. Due to the large number of sea passengers, Helsinki is classified as a major port city, and in 2017 it was rated the world's busiest passenger port. Helsinki has hosted the 1952 Summer Olympics, the first CSCE/OSCE Summit in 1975, the first World Athletics Championships in 1983, and the 52nd Eurovision Song Contest in 2007 and was the 2012 World Design Capital. The city is recognized as a "Design City" in 2014 by UNESCO's Creative Cities Network.