The Sami native region of Finland (Saamelaisten kotiseutualue in Finnish, Sámiid ruovttuguovllu in Northern Sami, Samernas hembygdsområde in Swedish) is the northernmost part of the Lapland Province in Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, home of approximately half of Finland's Sami

Sami people

The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...

 population. The area is defined in and protected by the Finnish constitution (17 § and 121 §) to be autonomous on issues relating to the Sami culture and language

Sami languages

Sami or Saami is a general name for a group of Uralic languages spoken by the Sami people in parts of northern Finland, Norway, Sweden and extreme northwestern Russia, in Northern Europe. Sami is frequently and erroneously believed to be a single language. Several names are used for the Sami...

.

The Sami native region consists of the municipalities of Enontekiö

Enontekiö

Enontekiö is a municipality in the Finnish part of Lapland with approx. inhabitants. It is situated in the outermost northwest of the country and occupies a large and very sparsely populated area of about between the Swedish and Norwegian border...

, Utsjoki

Utsjoki

Utsjoki is a municipality in Finland. It is located in Lapland and borders Norway as well as the municipality of Inari. The municipality was founded in 1876. It has a population of and covers an area of ofwhich is water. The population density is....

 and Inari

Inari, Finland

Inari is Finland's largest, sparsely populated municipality with four official languages, more than any other in the country. Its major sources of income are lumber industry and nature maintenance. With the museum Siida in the village of Inari, it is a center of Sami culture...

 as well as a part of the municipality of Sodankylä

Sodankylä

-Twin towns: Kola, Russia, since 1968 Berlevåg, Norway, since 1971 Norsjö, Sweden, since 1977 Heiligenblut, Austria, since 1979-External links:* – Official website* * * * * *...

. Finns are the majority population on the area. An important activity organized in Finland's Sami native region is the election of the Sami Parliament of Finland

Sami Parliament of Finland

The Sami Parliament of Finland is the representative body for people of Sami heritage in Finland. The parliament consists of 21 elected mandates...

(Saamelaiskäräjät) every four years. Only Sami residents are eligible in the elections. The Sami Parliament of Finland was established in 1973.

Depending on the definition of what a "Sami" is, various percentages may be given for Sami population's share in different municipalities. The Finnish Population Registry Center defines a Sami as a person whose mother tongue is Sami. Based on this, the Sami percentages in the municipalities are:

• Inari 5.7%
• Enontekiö 7.4%
• Utsjoki 46.7%
• Sodankylä 1.4%

However, the Sami Parliament of Finland applies a wider definition by defining a Sami as a person who considers himself a Sami and has at least one parent or grandparent who spoke a Sami language. Thus the official percentages are:

• Inari 30%
• Enontekiö 19%
• Utsjoki 70%
• Sodankylä 4%