Vantaa

The arms of Vantaa

Vantaa (Swedish: Vanda) is the fourth largest city in Finland (after Helsinki, Espoo and Tampere). It is part of the Greater Helsinki area. The most important parts of Vantaa are Tikkurila, Hakunila, Koivukylä, Korso, Martinlaakso and Myyrmäki. Tuusula, Kerava, Sipoo, Helsinki, Espoo and Nurmijärvi are neighbour communities and cities of Vantaa.

Vantaa has been a city since 1974. As of April 2014, the population was about 208,800. The current mayor is Juhani Paajanen.

The biggest airport in Finland, Helsinki-Vantaa, is in Central Vantaa.

Finnish and Swedish are the official languages of Vantaa. In 2006 Swedish was the mother language of 3.1 percent of population of Vantaa.

Mayors of Vantaa

• Lauri Lairala 1974-1989
• Pirjo Ala-Kapee 1989-1997
• Erkki Rantala 1997-2003
• Juhani Paajanen 2003-2011
• Jukka Peltomäki 2011
• Kari Nenonen 2012-2018
• Ritva Viljanen 2018-2023
• Pekka Timonen 2023-

Population growth

Population

Year	Population
1980	132,050
1985	143,844
1990	154,933
1995	166,480
2000	178,471
2005	187,281
2010	200,055

People who were born in Vantaa

• Patrik Antonius, a professional poker player
• Sampsa Astala, a musician on Lordi
• Valtteri Filppula, a ice hockey player
• Jaakko Hintikka, a professor in Boston University
• Mika Häkkinen, Formula 1 world champion
• Sami Kapanen, an ice hockey player
• Ville Peltonen, an ice hockey player
• Jarkko Ruutu, an ice hockey player
• Tuomo Ruutu, an ice hockey player
• Eicca Toppinen, a cellist on Apocalyptica
• Ossi Väänänen an ice hockey player

Other websites

• The official Vantaa page Archived 2011-02-04 at the Wayback Machine, in Finnish, Swedish and English