Laihia Laihela |
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Municipality | ||
Laihian kunta | ||
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Location of Laihia in Finland |
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Coordinates: 62°58.5′N 022°00.5′E / 62.9750°N 22.0083°ECoordinates: 62°58.5′N 022°00.5′E / 62.9750°N 22.0083°E | ||
Country | Finland | |
Region | Ostrobothnia | |
Sub-region | Kyrönmaa sub-region | |
Charter | 1576 | |
Government | ||
• Municipal manager | Juha Rikala | |
Area (2016-01-01) | ||
• Total | 504.30 km2 (194.71 sq mi) | |
• Land | 504.24 km2 (194.69 sq mi) | |
• Water | 4.14 km2 (1.60 sq mi) | |
Area rank | 172nd largest in Finland | |
Population (2016-03-31) | ||
• Total | 8,121 | |
• Rank | 126th largest in Finland | |
• Density | 16.11/km2 (41.7/sq mi) | |
Population by native language | ||
• Finnish | 98.3% (official) | |
• Swedish | 1% | |
• Others | 0.6% | |
Population by age | ||
• 0 to 14 | 18% | |
• 15 to 64 | 64.7% | |
• 65 or older | 17.3% | |
Time zone | EET (UTC+2) | |
• Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) | |
Municipal tax rate | 19.5% | |
Website | www.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 province of Western Finland and is a part of the Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of 8,121 (31 March 2016) and covers an area of 504.30 square kilometres (194.71 sq mi) of which 4.14 km2 (1.60 sq mi) is water. The population density is 16.11 inhabitants per square kilometre (41.7/sq mi). Laihia consists of 37 villages.
Laihia is within the economical region of the neighbouring city Vaasa. The municipality is unilingually Finnish. Only 79 people speak Swedish as a native language. Most inhabitants speak a dialect typical of this region. The municipal manager is Juha Rikala. There are a total of 469 farms in the municipality.
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). In any case, Laihia has high-level public services for education, health, sports, seniors etc.