Helsinki, Helsingfors is the capital and largest city of Finland. It is located in the southern part of Finland on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is 565,186 (30 April 2007). Helsinki's position as the most populous municipality in Finland is clear. While only about 10.8% of the total population of Finland, Helsinki's population is 2.42 times that of the second most populous city Espoo, or 1.29 times that of Espoo and Tampere put together.
Helsinki, along with the neighbouring cities of Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen, constitutes what is known as the capital region, with over 1,000,000 inhabitants. The Greater Helsinki area contains several additional municipalities and has a population of 1,293,093.