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The total population of Pirkanmaa was 529,100 on 30 June 2022,[4] which makes it the second largest among Finland's regions afterUusimaa. The population density is well over twice the Finnish average, and most of its population is largely concentrated in theTampere metropolitan area.
Aerial view ofLängelmävesi, the regional lake of Pirkanmaa
Pirkanmaa has been inhabited for thousands of years. In theBronze Age, agriculture replaced hunting, and in theIron Age a settlement stretched fromEurajoki toLängelmäki, which was Finland's northernmost area of peasant culture from the 8th century. In the 11th century, the settlement was concentrated alongRiver Kokemäenjoki andLake Pyhäjärvi. In the 14th century, present-day Pirkanmaa was part of thehistorical Satakunta, the main part of which wasUpper Satakunta and a small part of which was alsoLower Satakunta. After the wilderness period, the absence of towns slowed down development. KingGustav III foundedTampere in 1775, and in the 1840s it became Finland's most important industrial centre. New inventions such as sawdust, cellulose and papermaking boosted development. Industries were established inValkeakoski,Nokia andMänttä, among others. Tampere became the centre of the province and a railway junction.
During theFinnish Civil War, Pirkanmaa was under the control of theReds and Tampere was the centre of the Reds until the city surrendered to theWhites after aheavy battle in April 1918.[5] After the war, industrialisation intensified. During theWinter War, Tampere and other cities were bombed. The County of Pirkanmaa was established in 1956. The county was also calledTammermaa, but graduallyPirkanmaa became the name of the region. In the 1950s, the only city in the province was Tampere, but from 1963 to 1977 the municipalities were made into cities. The number of municipalities decreased in the second half of the 20th century, and old place names were reintroduced as municipalities merged. In 1994 Finland wasdivided into 20 functional economic provinces, and Pirkanmaa was one of them.
The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the region was €18.3 billion in 2016, accounting for 8.5% of Finnish economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was €36,040 or 92% of the EU27 average in the same year. Pirkanmaa's GDP was the second highest among the regions and the seventh highest among the nineteen regions per capita.[6]
The economic structure of Pirkanmaa typically focuses on services for post-industrial society. A nationally significantICT concentration has grown in Tampere. Thanks to its population base, the city is also a major trading center.Industry's share of value added and jobs in Pirkanmaa is higher than the Finnish average. The region is one of Finland's main centers of manufacturing, has a long tradition of industrial activity and a good education network. The industry is largely concentrated in Tampere and its surroundings, such as towns ofNokia andValkeakoski.Mänttä-Vilppula is also a major industrial center.Agriculture accounts for a small share of economic activity. In the western part of the region, agricultural production is dominated bydairy cattle, in the south bycereals, and in the north byforestry.[7][8][9]
Pirkanmaa is a rather linguistically homogeneous region: in 2018, almost 490,000 people, or about 95 per cent of the county's population, spoke Finnish as their mother tongue. For Finno-speakers, the national population share of Pirkanmaa was 10.1 per cent.[10] In the 2010s, the number of Finnish-speakers has increased only inUusimaa, Pirkanmaa andNorthern Ostrobothnia, and slightly inSouthwest Finland andÅland.[11]
TheSwedish-speaking settlement settled in Finland in the Middle Ages did not extend to the area of present-day Pirkanmaa, so the number and share ofFinno-Swedes in the province is small. In 2018, about two thousand people spoke Swedish as their mother tongue in Pirkanmaa.[10] In 2017, 27 people spokeSámi as their mother tongue in Pirkanmaa. The second most spoken language in Pirkanmaa isRussian—in 2018 it was used by four thousand people as their mother tongue.[10]
