Laihia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Laihia (Laihela in Swedish) is a municipality of Finland, founded in 1576 through a separation from Isokyrö and Mustasaari. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is a part of the Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of 7,567 (2005) and covers an area of 509 km² of which 2.1 km² is water. The population density is 14.7 inhabitants per km². Laihia consists of 37 villages.

Laihia is within the economical region of the neighbouring city Vaasa.

The municipality is unilingually Finnish. Only 52 persons spoke Swedish as a mother tongue (2002). Most inhabitants speak a dialect typical of this region.

The municipal manager is Ms Hilkka Annola.

There are a total of 469 farms in the municipality.

[edit] People

In Finland, Laihians are renowned for their stinginess ("nuukuus" in Finnish) 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. They even have a Museum of Stinginess. In any case, Laihia has high-level public services for education, health, sports, seniors etc.

[edit] Famous people from Laihia

Santeri Alkio, politician and journalist
Toivo Kärki, musician
Matti Vanhala, Bank of Finland Governor 1998 - 2004
Keijo Suila, former CEO of Finnair
Johan Laibecchius * Laihia 19.3.1658, vicar
Kristian Chyraeus † Laihia 1687, vicar
Samuel Backman † Laihia 3.4.1712, vicar
Jonas Lagus † Laihia 22.4.1798, vicar and dean

[edit] Links

Google Earth view
Road map
Sunrise, sunset, dawn and dusk times
Homepage: http://www.laihia.fi/
Laihia Energy-saving Village, publication of European Commission

	Municipalities of Ostrobothnia
	Isokyrö \| Jakobstad \| Kaskinen \| Korsholm \| Korsnäs \| Kristinestad \| Kronoby \| Laihia \| Larsmo \| Malax \| Nykarleby \| Närpes \| Oravais \| Pedersöre \| Vaasa \| Vähäkyrö \| Vörå-Maxmo
	Ostrobothnia Region \| Western Finland \| Finland