Kotka

Kotka
City
Kotkan kaupunki
The centre of Kotka

Coat of arms

Location of Kotka in Finland
Coordinates: 60°28′N 026°56.5′E / 60.467°N 26.9417°E / 60.467; 26.9417Coordinates: 60°28′N 026°56.5′E / 60.467°N 26.9417°E / 60.467; 26.9417
Country  Finland
Region Kymenlaakso
Sub-region Kotka-Hamina sub-region
Charter 1879
Government
 • City manager Henry Lindelöf
Area (2018-01-01)[1]
 • Total 949.77 km2 (366.71 sq mi)
 • Land 271.29 km2 (104.75 sq mi)
 • Water 678.45 km2 (261.95 sq mi)
Area rank 239th largest in Finland
Population (2017-08-31)[2]
 • Total 53,730
 • Rank 19th largest in Finland
 • Density 198.05/km2 (512.9/sq mi)
Population by native language[3]
 • Finnish 94.4% (official)
 • Swedish 1%
 • Others 4.5%
Population by age[4]
 • 0 to 14 14.8%
 • 15 to 64 65.5%
 • 65 or older 19.6%
Time zone UTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST) UTC+3 (EEST)
Municipal tax rate[5] 19.5%
Climate Dfb
Website www.kotka.fi

Kotka is a city and municipality of Finland.

Kotka is located on the coast of the Gulf of Finland at the mouth of Kymi River and it is part of the Kymenlaakso region in southern Finland. The city has a population of 53,730 (31 August 2017)[2] and covers an area of 949.77 square kilometres (366.71 sq mi) of which 678.45 km2 (261.95 sq mi) is water.[1] The population density is 198.05 inhabitants per square kilometre (512.9/sq mi). The city centre of Kotka is located at Kotkansaari island.

The Port of Kotka is a major Finnish sea port that serves both the foreign trade of Finland and Russia.[6]

The municipality is officially unilingually Finnish.

History

The Second All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party was held in Kotka, on July 21–23 (August 3–5), 1907.

Historically, Swedish was the official language in the city until 1902. From 1902 until 1906, the city was officially bilingual. Kotka has a Swedish speaking minority (see: Swedish-speaking population of Finland), which in the 1890s accounted for 16% of the city population and 3% in the 1950s.[7] Today around 1% of the city's population are Swedish speakers. There is one school in Kotka where Swedish is the language of instruction, Kotka Svenska Samskola, which was founded in 1885.

Kotka region was one of the first heavily industrialized regions of Finland. Paper and pulp mills of Kotkamills and Stora Enso still remain important employers. In the last decades several factories have undergone restructuring which has led to an increasing unemployment. Since the 1980s the population of Kotka has been slowly decreasing, mostly due to domestic migration to Helsinki region.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Kotka is twinned with:[8]

Sports

The local football team is KTP. Founded in 1927, KTP has long, and successful football history. KTP won the Finnish football championship in 1951 and 1952, and Finnish Cup 4 times, in years 1958, 1961, 1967, and 1980. Currently the club plays in the Finnish second league Ykkönen.

KTP-Basket plays in Korisliiga

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Area of Finnish Municipalities 1.1.2018" (PDF). National Land Survey of Finland. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Ennakkoväkiluku sukupuolen mukaan alueittain, elokuu 2017" (in Finnish). Statistics Finland. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  3. ↑ "Population according to language and the number of foreigners and land area km2 by area as of 31 December 2008". Statistics Finland's PX-Web databases. Statistics Finland. Retrieved 29 March 2009.
  4. ↑ "Population according to age and gender by area as of 31 December 2008". Statistics Finland's PX-Web databases. Statistics Finland. Retrieved 28 April 2009.
  5. ↑ "List of municipal and parish tax rates in 2011". Tax Administration of Finland. 29 November 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
  6. ↑ Archived May 31, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ www.sprakbruk.fi/index.php?mid=2&pid=13&aid=2902 (in Swedish)
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Hassinen, Raino. "Kotka - International co-operation: Twin Cities". City of Kotka. Retrieved 2013-10-22.
  9. ↑ P.C., Net. "Gdynia - International Gdynia - International co-operation of Gdynia". www.gdynia.pl. Archived from the original on 2016-10-19.
  10. ↑ "Twin-cities of Klaipėda". Archived from the original on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2011-05-29.
  11. ↑ "Some 15 Finnish towns have twinned with friendship cities in China". Helsingin Sanomat International Edition. 2013-06-20. Archived from the original on 2013-10-23. Retrieved 2013-07-29.

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