Helsinki is the capital and most populous city in Finland, located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland. It serves as the seat of the Uusimaa region in southern Finland. The city is a bilingual municipality where both Finnish and Swedish are official languages.
As the country's primary center for politics, education, finance, culture, and research, Helsinki is the most significant urban area in Finland. The municipality has a population of approximately 694,000 people, while the broader capital region contains 1.3 million residents and the metropolitan area reaches 1.6 million.
Geographically, Helsinki is situated 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tallinn, Estonia, 400 kilometres (250 mi) east of Stockholm, Sweden, and 300 kilometres (190 mi) west of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Until about 1930, the city was commonly known in English by its Swedish name, Helsingfors.