Introduction
Region of Finland This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: "Kymenlaakso" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Finnish.  (June 2023) Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must follow the LLM translation guideline, revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Finnish Wikipedia article at [[:fi:Kymenlaakson maakunta]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|fi|Kymenlaakson maakunta}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation. (Learn how and when to remove this message) Region in FinlandKymenlaakso KymmenedalenRegionRegion of KymenlaaksoKymenlaakson maakunta (Finnish)Landskapet Kymmenedalen (Swedish) Coat of armsKymenlaakso on a map of FinlandCoordinates: 60°30′N 027°00′E / 60.500°N 27.000°E / 60.500; 27.000CountryFinlandHistorical provinceUusimaa, Karelia, TavastiaFormer provinces Fief of Viborg Viborg and Nyslott County Kymmenegård and Nyslott County Vyborg Governorate Viipuri Province Province of Kymi Southern Finland Province CapitalsKotka and KouvolaOther townHaminaArea • Total4,558.54 km2 (1,760.06 sq mi)Population (2019) • Total174,167 • Density38.2068/km2 (98.9550/sq mi)GDP • Total€6.158 billion (2015) • Per capita€34,350 (2015)Time zoneUTC+2 (EET) • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)ISO 3166 codeFI-09NUTS186Regional animalEurasian otter (Lutra lutra)Regional birdEurasian bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)Regional fishEuropean sprat (Sprattus sprattus)Regional flowerYellow Iris (Iris pseudacorus)Regional stoneRapakivi graniteRegional lakeLake VuohijärviWebsitewww.kymenlaakso.fi Kymenlaakso (Finnish: [ˈkymenˌlɑːkso]; Swedish: Kymmenedalen; lit. "Kymi/Kymmene Valley") is a region in Finland. It borders the regions of Uusimaa, Päijät-Häme, South Savo and South Karelia and Russia (Leningrad Oblast). Its name means literally The Valley of River Kymi. Kymijoki is one of the biggest rivers in Finland with a drainage basin with 11% of the area of Finland. The city of Kotka with 51,000 inhabitants is located at the delta of River Kymi and has the most important import harbour in Finland. Other cities are Kouvola further in the inland which has after a municipal merger 81,000 inhabitants and the old bastion town Hamina. Kymenlaakso was one of the first industrialised regions of Finland. It became the most important region for paper and pulp industry in Finland. Since the late 1900s many plants have closed, which has caused some deindustrialisation, unemployment and population decline in Kymenlaakso, especially in those communities that were built around plants in Kouvola.