Laihia

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

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Quick Facts Laihela, Country ...

Laihia Laihela
Municipality
Laihian kunta Laihela kommun

Coat of arms
Location of Laihia in Finland
Coordinates: 62°58.5′N 022°00.5′E
Country	Finland
Region	Ostrobothnia
Sub-region	Vaasa
Charter	1576
Government
• Municipal manager	Jari Rantala
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 (2025-03-31)^[2]
• Total	8,020
• Rank	122nd largest in Finland
• Density	15.14/km² (39.2/sq mi)
Population by native language ^[3]
• Finnish	96.7% (official)
• Swedish	1.1%
• Others	2.2%
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

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 15.14 inhabitants per square kilometre (39.2/sq mi). Laihia consists of 37 villages.

Laihia is within the economical region of the neighbouring city Vaasa. The municipality is unilingually Finnish. Only 88 people speak Swedish as a native language. Most inhabitants speak Finnish or a dialect typical of this region.^[5] 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).^[6] 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^[7]
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:^[8]

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)

People

Notable people

Surnames

Transport

References

External links

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