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Kuopio - The Centre of Eastern Finland
Kuopio is a developing centre for Eastern Finland, casting its influence over an area that contains 600,000 people. There are 86,000 inhabitants in Kuopio, 90% live in the city and suburbs and 10% in rural areas.
Kuopio is a thriving modern city. Compared to the whole country, the average age of the population is lower than elsewhere.
In recent years the increase in the population has been about 500 annually.
Kuopio is a centre of commerce, whose wholesale and retail services cover the whole of Eastern Finland. There are several important administrative centres and institutions in Kuopio for example the East Finland Appeal Court, the headquarters of Finnvera Ltd (a regional development fund), the University of Kuopio, The North Savo Polytechnic and the Orthodox Church Council of Finland. The city covers nearly 1,200 km2, of which 34% is water. The shoreline is 1,600 km long. Kuopio is surrounded by lake Kallavesi.
Kuopio is easily reached by road, rail, air or water. The main artery of the region is highway no 5 leading from Helsinki to Lapland.
The distance from the capital of Finland, Helsinki, is 400 km, 45 minutes by air. The ship route from Kuopio to the Baltic Sea is navigable most of the year.
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