Maalaiskunta (
Finnish),
landskommun (
Swedish), "rural municipality", abbreviated
mlk was one of the four types of
municipality in Finland in 1865–1976. Other types were new city (in Finnish uusi kaupunki), old city (in Finnish vanha kaupunki) and
kauppala (market town). Maalaiskunta was the most common type of municipality. In the 1977 reform, all municipalities were given fully equal legal standing. Previous
maalaiskuntas associated with a city retained their name. For example,
Rovaniemen maalaiskunta ("the rural municipality of
Rovaniemi) surrounded the city of Rovaniemi, but were independently governed. From 2009, no municipalities will carry this name any more, after the merger of
Jyväskylä and
Jyväskylän mlk.