A dataset containing information about each instance of individual municipalities.
Format
A simple feature with 1337 rows and 10 variables:
- x
Universal Resource Identifier (URI) for each municipality instance in time. For example: http://www.yso.fi/onto/sapo/Maalahti(1908-1972)
- kunta_nro
Municipality code, a unique number assigned for each municipality that stays the same as long as the municipality exists. For example: "475"
- kunta_name_fi
The official name of the municipality in Finnish. For example: Maalahti
- kunta_name_fi
The official name of the municipality in Swedish. For example: Malax
- startyear
Start year of the municipality instance, e.g. founding year. For example: 1865
- endyear
End year of the municipality instance, can be NA if still valid. For example: 1972
- area
Area of the municipality, in square kilometers. For example 185.00
- muutos_kuvaus
A description of the change that occurred at the beginning of this specific instance. For example: "Ahlainen erotettiin Ulvilasta 1908"
- muutos_tyyppi
Type of the change. For example: "Jakaantuminen"
- muutos_tunniste
Identifiers for the changes that have happened, which can be used to link past and future instances of municipalities together. For example: "Jakaantuminen1534, Jakaantuminen2"
Source
Raw data downloaded from ONKI.fi website on 04 Aug 2022: http://onki.fi/en/browser/overview/sapo Data attribution: FinnONTO Consortium: https://seco.cs.aalto.fi/projects/finnonto/
Information on abolished municipalities and municipality name changes from Statistics Finland website: Municipalities and regional divisions based on municipalities in files and classification publications
Details
Most of the Finnish municipalities were formed after 1865 decree on municipal governance in the country Asetus kunnallishallituksesta maalla 1865 but the dataset contains some municipalities that were allegedly formed even before that. There are two instances of "illegal municipalities" (Mustio and Rutakko) that were not recognized as actual municipalities but functioned as such in late 1800s and early 1900s.