The region largely corresponds to the historical province of Finland Proper. Until 2019, its official English name was Finland Proper, a designation still used in Finnish (Varsinais-Suomi) and Swedish (Egentliga Finland).
It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southwest Finlandregion. The municipality has a population of 11,241 (30 June 2025) and covers an area of 242.26 square kilometres (93.54 sq mi) of which 3.89 km (1.50 sq mi) is water. The population density is 47.13 inhabitants per square kilometre (122.1/sq mi). The municipality is unilingually Finnish.
Turku (/ˈtʊərkuː/TOOR-koo; Finnish:[ˈturku]; Swedish: Åbo, Finland Swedish:[ˈoːbu]) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately 207,000, while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 317,000. It is the 6th–most populous municipality in Finland, and the third–most populous urban area in the country after Helsinki and Tampere.
Turku is Finland's oldest city. It is not known when Turku was granted city status. Pope Gregory IX first mentioned the town of Aboa in his Bulla in 1229, and this year is now used as the founding year of the city. Turku was the most important city in the eastern part (today's Finland) of the Kingdom of Sweden. After the Finnish War, Finland became an autonomous Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire in 1809, and Turku became the capital of the Grand Duchy. However, Turku lost its status as capital only three years later in 1812, when TsarAlexander I of Russia decided to move the capital to Helsinki. It was only after the last great fire in 1827 that most government institutions were moved to Helsinki along with the Royal Academy of Turku, founded in 1640, which later became the University of Helsinki, thus consolidating Helsinki's position as the new capital. Turku was Finland's most populous city until the late 1840s and remains the regional capital, an important business and cultural centre, and a port.
The larger islands are inhabited and connected by ferries and bridges. Åland, including the largest islands of the region, forms an autonomous region within Finland. The rest of the islands are part of the region of Southwest Finland. The Archipelago Sea is a significant tourist destination.
The total population of Pirkanmaa was 529,100 on 30 June 2022, which makes it the second largest among Finland's regions after Uusimaa. The population density is well over twice the Finnish average, and most of its population is largely concentrated in the Tampere metropolitan area.
Uusimaa (Finnish:[ˈuːsimɑː]; Swedish: Nyland, Finland Swedish:[ˈnyːlɑnd]; both lit. 'new land') is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Kanta-Häme, Päijät-Häme, and Kymenlaakso. Finland's capital and largest city, Helsinki, along with the surrounding metropolitan area, are both contained in the region, and Uusimaa is Finland's most populous region. The population of Uusimaa is 1,734,000.
While predominantly Finnish-speaking, Uusimaa has the highest total number of native speakers of Swedish in Finland even at a much lower share than two other regions.
Southwest Finland in the context of Turku metropolitan area
Turku metropolitan area or Turku region (Finnish: Turun seutu, Swedish: Åbo region) is the metropolitan area around the city of Turku in Finland. The joint municipal authority of the Turku city region (Finnish: Turun kaupunkiseutu, Swedish: Åbo stadsregion) consists of six municipalities: Turku, Kaarina, Lieto, Naantali, Raisio and Rusko. The Turku metropolitan area forms a compact, urban-like regional growth centre where people commute from a relatively large area of the Southwest Finland region.
The Turku metropolitan area has a population of about 317,000, making it the third largest region in Finland after Helsinki and Tampere. The terms Turku metropolitan area, Turku region, Turku city region, Greater Turku and the other terms used are not fixed and may vary in different contexts.
Kanta-Häme (Finnish pronunciation:[ˈkɑn̪t̪ɑˌhæme̞(ʔ)]; Swedish: Egentliga Tavastland), sometimes referred to as Tavastia Proper, is a region (Finnish: maakunta, Swedish: landskap) of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Pirkanmaa, Päijät-Häme, and Uusimaa. Before the official adoption of the name Kanta-Häme in 1998, the region was commonly known as Häme.