Vantaa is bordered by Helsinki, the Finnish capital, to the south; Espoo to the southwest; Nurmijarvi to the northwest; Kerava and Tuusula to the north; and Sipoo to the east.
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Companies with headquarters in Vantaa include Finnair, Finavia, R-kioski, Tikkurila Oyj, Veikkaus Oy, and Metsahallitus.
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City of Vantaa is bilingual, both Finnish and Swedish being official languages.
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The rapids of river Vantaa were known as Helsingfors, from which the current Swedish name of Helsinki derives.
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Swedish colonisation in Vantaa started in connection with the colonisation in the rest of Uusimaa in the late 13th century after the Second Swedish Crusade.
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Since the days of the rural municipality, Vantaa has rapidly developed to its current form because of rural flight and good traffic connections.
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Vantaa is a part of the Finnish Capital Region, which is the inner core of the Greater Helsinki metropolitan area.
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Vantaa is divided into seven major regions : Tikkurila, Hakunila, Koivukyla, Korso, Aviapolis, Myyrmaki, and Kivisto.
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Up to 2008, Vantaa still reached the seashore at its southeastern corner at the Porvarinlahti bay, until the "Vasterkulla wedge" with its seashore was annexed into Helsinki together with part of Sipoo in 2009.
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Vantaa belongs to the taiga zone and its flora represents the southern parts of the zone.
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The river valleys running through Vantaa have previously been full of lush groves, but today most of them are farmed land.
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The most common type of forest in Vantaa is a blueberry conifer forest with spruce and birch trees, whereas dry forests are only located at bare cliff areas.
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The groves in Vantaa vary greatly, ranging from moist and shady spruce groves growing ostrich fern to dry groves growing liverwort and common hazel and hardwood groves.
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Vantaa has a humid continental climate, slightly above the threshold for subarctic classification.
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Population in Vantaa, about half were born in the Helsinki capital region.
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The proportion of foreign language speakers in Vantaa is higher than in any other municipality in Finland.
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Income levels in Vantaa vary greatly because of the differences between suburbs and detached house areas.
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Vantaa has been a primarily Finnish-speaking municipality since the early 20th century.
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In 1960 about ten percent of the population in Vantaa spoke Swedish, while the proportion in 1980 was about five percent.
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In regard to the total population, the proportion of Swedish speakers in Vantaa is the lowest in all bilingual municipalities in Finland.
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Since 2016 Vantaa has been home to the Lutheran congregation of the Holy Trinity belonging to the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland.
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Independent Pentecostal congregations in Vantaa include the Credo church, the Korso Pentecostal congregation and Seutulan Betania.
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Vantaa has been in increasing debt since the early 2000s, due to a decrease in state funding and an increase in investments.
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The most common industries in Vantaa include the food, architectural engineering, and machine industries.
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The municipal and city managers of Vantaa have repeatedly rejected Helsinki's proposal fearing Vantaa would become a "backyard" of Helsinki.
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Signature animal of Vantaa is the salmon, featured in the coat of arms of the city, the traditional dish is salmon soup and the signature plant is the common dog-violet.
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Vantaa Pops, conducted by a Welshman Nick Davies, is the only professional full symphonic pops orchestra in Finland.
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City museum of Vantaa is located in the old station building of the railway station in Tikkurila which has exhibitions with various themes on local history.
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Vantaa has two hospitals, Peijas Hospital in Asola and Katriina Hospital in Seutula.
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Sports, Vantaa has five swimming halls, four sports halls, several gyms, 25 tennis courts, indoor ice rinks in Tikkurila and Myyrmaki, 69 hockey and skating rinks, 16 lit-up running tracks, and 14 skateparks.
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Vantaa infrastructurally serves as the transportational hub of the Helsinki metropolitan area.
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On 16 December 2019 the city council of Vantaa approved the investment of 400 million euro to the planning of the Vantaa light rail with votes 45 to 22.
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Road noise in Vantaa is caused by the Ring III beltway, Hameenlinnanvayla, Tuusulanvayla, Lahdenvayla and Porvoonvayla.
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In contrast, the largest primary schools in Vantaa are Finnish-speaking schools of over 800 students such as the Mikkola and Lehtikuusi schools.
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Vantaa has five Finnish-speaking upper secondary schools, including Tikkurila Upper Secondary, the largest upper secondary school in the Nordic Countries, as well as one Swedish-speaking upper secondary school.
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Vocational education, Vantaa has several vocational schools, such as the Varia vocational school, the Mercuria school of business economics, the Vocational school for probation, Tyotehoseura and Edupoli, of which the latter two offer vocational training for youths and adults and hold vocational screening.
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Vantaa has two universities of applied sciences: Metropolia and Laurea.
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