Ähtäri

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Ähtäri (Etseri in Swedish) is a city in Finland.

It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southern Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of 7,000 (2003) and covers an area of 908.70 km² of which 103.33 km² is water. The population density is 8.7 inhabitants per km².

The municipality is unilingual Finnish.

Ähtäri is known for its zoo. Additionaly, the melodic death metal band Noumena was founded here.

Ähtäri is also the site of a major longitudinal epidemiological study on depression in old age, carried out by researchers at the University of Oulu. The study tracked 786 residents of Ähtäri. The first round of interviews and examinations was performed in 1984/1985 and the second round in 1989/1990.