Subdivisions of Helsinki

In addition to the borough division, which exists for city planning purposes, the city is also divided into 34 districts (peruspiiri, distrikt) to facilitate the coordination of public services. The districts, which may comprise several boroughs, are organised into eight major districts (suurpiiri, stordistrikt). Different quarters of a borough may belong to different districts, but individual quarters are never divided between boroughs.

The district division was created by a decision of the city council on 13 December 1982, when the number of different subdivisions used by different municipal departments was seen as confusing and problematic. Before the reform, in 1980, there were 101 different divisions used by the departments, of which only 17 corresponded to the official borough division. The new districts came to use within all providers of public services by 1986.

Helsinki is also often unofficially divided into four distinct geographic areas. These have no absolute definitions, but they are roughly as follows.

• Central Helsinki: the southern major district (except Lauttasaari) and the southern part of the central major district.
• West Helsinki: the western major district plus Lauttasaari.
• North Helsinki: the northern and northeastern major districts and the northern part of the central major district.
• East Helsinki: the eastern and southeastern major districts.

The city is also divided into postal code areas numbered between 10 and 99. Postal codes for private residences in Helsinki have the form 00xx0, where the initial '00' shows that the postal code is located in Helsinki, the next two digits show the postal code area, and the final zero indicates that the code is for a private residence (post offices use the number one, and other numbers are set aside for large businesses that have their own postal codes). (See also Postal codes in Finland.)

• Subdivisions of Tampere

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Subdivisions of Helsinki.

• Helsinki by District 2011 City of Helsinki Urban Facts. (in English, Finnish, and Swedish)
• Helsinki district divisions 2008 Official map. (in Finnish and Swedish)