North Karelia
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Region of North Karelia Pohjois-Karjalan maakunta Landskapet Norra Karelen | |
![]() North Karelia on a map of Finland | |
Coordinates: 63°00′N 30°00′E / 63.000°N 30.000°E | |
Country | Finland |
Historical province | Karelia |
Capital | Joensuu |
Other towns | Kitee, Lieksa, Nurmes and Outokumpu |
Area | |
• Total | 21,584.41 km2 (8,333.79 sq mi) |
Population (2023) | |
• Total | 162,312 |
• Density | 7.5/km2 (19/sq mi) |
GDP | |
• Total | €4.814 billion (2015) |
• Per capita | €29,174 (2015) |
Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
ISO 3166 code | FI-13 |
NUTS | 133 |
Regional animal | Brown bear |
Regional bird | Cuckoo |
Regional fish | Lake salmon |
Regional flower | Prickly rose |
Regional stone | Soapstone |
Regional lake | Lake Pielinen |
Website | pohjois-karjala.fi |
North Karelia (or Northern Karelia, Finnish: Pohjois-Karjala; Swedish: Norra Karelen) is a region in eastern Finland. It borders the regions of Kainuu, North Savo, South Savo and South Karelia, as well as Russia's Republic of Karelia. It is the easternmost region of Finland and shares a 300 kilometres (190 mi) border with Russia.[2] The city of Joensuu is the capital and the largest settlement of the region.
North Karelia has successfully reduced chronic diseases through public health measures.[3][4] In the 1960s Finland led industrialized nations in heart disease mortality rates; North Karelia had Finland's highest incidence. In 1972 a long-term project was undertaken which targeted this risk in North Karelia.[5] The resulting improvement in public health is still considered remarkable, a model for the rest of the nation.[6] North Karelia is also known as the most sociable region in Finland.[7]
After the second world war cardiovascular diseases, predominantly coronary heart disease, became the leading public health problem in most of the industrialised world. Mortality statistics and other studies showed that in the 1960s the highest heart disease mortality rates were observed in Finland, predominantly in men. Within Finland the highest rates were registered in eastern Finland and were particularly high in the county of North Karelia.
In first five years of the North Karelia Project, for example, most of the reduction in cigarette smoking took place in the first year of the programme; most hypertensive individuals who brought their blood pressure under control achieved this by the end of the third year; dietary changes took place gradually over a five-year period; and, as noted earlier, at the end of five years, a net reduction in risk-factor levels was observed. Concerning mortality, CHD incidence and mortality rates started to decline surprisingly quickly after the start of the intervention in North Karelia. In the rest of the country, a similar decline started several years later. Thus a significant net change in favour of North Karelia was observed, especially in 1974 to 1979 (Salonen et al, 1983). Thereafter, although the decline in North Karelia continued, the net decline was gradually reduced. Thus maximal difference in favour of the intervention area was observed some 5-8 years after its start (Puska et al, 1995). For cancer mortality, a net reduction in favour of North Karelia could be observed much later, i.e., 5 to 10 years after the intervention commenced.
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