Laihia

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Municipality in Ostrobothnia, Finland

Laihia Laihela
Municipality
Laihian kunta Laihela kommun

Coat of arms
Location of Laihia in Finland
Coordinates: 62°58.5′N 022°00.5′E / 62.9750°N 22.0083°E / 62.9750; 22.0083
Country	Finland
Region	Ostrobothnia
Sub-region	Vaasa sub-region
Charter	1576
Government
• Municipal manager	Juha Rikala
Area (2018-01-01)^[1]
• Total	508.44 km² (196.31 sq mi)
• Land	505.16 km² (195.04 sq mi)
• Water	4.14 km² (1.60 sq mi)
• Rank	172nd largest in Finland
Population (2023-12-31)^[2]
• Total	8,020
• Rank	124th largest in Finland
• Density	15.21/km² (39.4/sq mi)
Population by native language ^[3]
• Finnish	97.1% (official)
• Swedish	1.2%
• Others	1.8%
Population by age ^[4]
• 0 to 14	19.8%
• 15 to 64	56.7%
• 65 or older	23.5%
Time zone	UTC+02:00 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+03:00 (EEST)
Website	laihia.fi

Laihia (Swedish: Laihela) is a municipality of Finland, founded in 1576 through a separation from Isokyrö and Korsholm.

It is located in the Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of 8,020 (Jul 31, 2020) and covers an area of 508.44 square kilometres (196.31 sq mi) of which 4.14 km² (1.60 sq mi) is water.^[1] The population density is 15.21 inhabitants per square kilometre (39.4/sq mi). Laihia consists of 37 villages.

Laihia is within the economical region of the neighbouring city Vaasa. The municipality is unilingually Finnish. Only 90 people speak Swedish as a native language. Most inhabitants speak Finnish or a dialect typical of this region.^[6] The municipal manager is Juha Rikala. There are a total of 469 farms in the municipality.^{[citation needed]}.

Laihia is located along the international tourist route Blue Highway, which goes from Norway to Russia via Sweden and Finland.

People

In Finland, Laihians are renowned for their stinginess (Finnish: nuukuus, saituus, itaruus, piheys or kitsaus) and there are hundreds of jokes told about them. However, Laihians are not usually offended by it. To the contrary, they are proud of their frugality and even have a Museum of Stinginess (Nuukuuren museo).^[7] In any case, Laihia has high-level public services for education, health, sports, seniors etc.

Notable people

Santeri Alkio, politician and journalist
Mark Hoppus (born 1972), American singer and musician, of Finnish descent through great-grandparents who emigrated from Laihia^[8]
Toivo Kärki, musician
Matti Vanhala, Bank of Finland Governor 1998–2004
Keijo Suila, former CEO of Finnair
Johan Laibecchius (born in Laihia on 19 March 1658), vicar
Kristian Chyraeus (died in Laihia in 1687), vicar
Samuel Backman (died in Laihia 3 April 1712), vicar
Jonas Lagus (died in Laihia 22 April 1798), vicar and dean
Sara Siipola (born in Laihia 1997), singer

Surnames

The most common surnames in Laihia and their frequencies as of 2014:^[9]

1. Kallio (1:112)
2. Puska (1:121)
3. Kinnari (1:135)
4. Koskela (1:137)
5. Luoma (1:142)
5. Niemelä (1:142)
7. Kauppi (1:145)
8. Mäkinen (1:156)
9. Mäkelä (1:159)
10. Kankaanpää (1:163)

Transport

The private coach company OnniBus route Helsinki—Seinäjoki—Vaasa has a stop at Laihia.

References

^ ^a ^b "Area of Finnish Municipalities 1.1.2018" (PDF). National Land Survey of Finland. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
^ "Immigration record high in Finland in 2023". StatFin. Statistics Finland. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
^ "Demographic Structure by area as of 31 December 2022". Statistics Finland's PX-Web databases. Statistics Finland. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
^ "Population according to age (1-year) and sex by area and the regional division of each statistical reference year, 2003–2020". StatFin. Statistics Finland. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Luettelo kuntien ja seurakuntien tuloveroprosenteista vuonna 2023". Tax Administration of Finland. 14 November 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
^ "Laihia Municipality in Finland / Further information about the population structure". citypopulation.de. 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
^ "Laihian kunta". Archived from the original on 14 September 2010. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
^ Jokelainen, Jarkko (6 July 2016). "Amerikkalaisyhtye Blink-182:n riveissä on pohjalaisverta – "Toivon todella, että esiinnymme Suomessa ensi kesänä"". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Sanoma. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
^ Most common surnames in Laihia