Laihia
Laihela | |
---|---|
Municipality | |
Laihian kunta Laihela kommun | |
Coordinates: 62°58.5′N 022°00.5′E / 62.9750°N 22.0083°E | |
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 | |
• Finnish | 97.1% (official) |
• Swedish | 1.1% |
• Others | 1.8% |
Population by age | |
• 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 |
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 84 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.
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.
The most common surnames in Laihia and their frequencies as of 2014:[9]
The private coach company OnniBus route Helsinki—Seinäjoki—Vaasa has a stop at Laihia.