Viitasaari

Viitasaari is a Finnish town and municipality located in the Central Finland region. It is located between the neighbouring municipalities of Pihtipudas to the north and Äänekoski to the south. The town has a population of 5,787 (30 June 2025)^[5] and covers an area of 1,589.13 square kilometres (613.57 sq mi) of which 340.43 km² (131.44 sq mi), or 21%, is water.^[1] There are all together 230 lakes in Viitasaari. The biggest lakes are Lake Keitele, Lake Kolima and Muuruejärvi.^[6] The population density is 4.64 inhabitants per square kilometre (12.0/sq mi).

Viitasaari
Town
Viitasaaren kaupunki Viitasaari stad
Coat of arms
Location of Viitasaari in Finland
Coordinates: 63°04′30″N 025°51′35″E
Country	Finland
Region	Central Finland
Sub-region	Saarijärvi–Viitasaari sub-region
Charter	1635
Town privileges	1996
Government
• Municipal manager	Helena Vuopionperä-Kovanen
Area  (2018-01-01)[1]
• Total	1,589.13 km2 (613.57 sq mi)
• Land	1,248.53 km2 (482.06 sq mi)
• Water	340.43 km2 (131.44 sq mi)
• Rank	59th largest in Finland
Elevation	140 m (460 ft)
Population  (2025-06-30)[2]
• Total	5,787
• Rank	158th largest in Finland
• Density	4.64/km2 (12.0/sq mi)
Population by native language [3]
• Finnish	97.5% (official)
• Others	2.5%
Population by age [4]
• 0 to 14	11.6%
• 15 to 64	51.9%
• 65 or older	36.5%
Time zone	UTC+02:00 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+03:00 (EEST)
Postal code	44500
Area code	(+358) 01
Website	viitasaari.fi

The municipality is unilingually Finnish.

Politics

Results of the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election in Viitasaari:^[7]

• Social Democratic Party 31.2%
• Centre Party 24.6%
• Finns Party 20.5%
• National Coalition Party 7.9%
• Christian Democrats 6.7%
• Left Alliance 4.2%
• Green League 2.3%

Sister cities

The following cities or municipalities are twinned with Viitasaari:^[8][9]

• Nõo Parish, Estonia
• Staffanstorp Municipality, Sweden
• Storuman Municipality, Sweden
• Sør-Odal Municipality, Norway
• Schlangen, Germany
• Rokietnica, Poland

See also

• Blue Highway, an international tourist route
• Huopanankoski, a rapids in the Huopana village