Alavieska

Alavieska
Municipality
Alavieskan kunta
Alavieska kommun
The Alavieska Church
The Alavieska Church
Coat of arms of Alavieska
Coat of arms
Location of Alavieska in Finland
Location of Alavieska in Finland
Coordinates: 64°10′N 024°18.5′E / 64.167°N 24.3083°E / 64.167; 24.3083
Country Finland
RegionNorth Ostrobothnia
Sub-regionYlivieska
Charter1879
Government
 • MayorKari Pentti
Area
 (2018-01-01)[1]
 • Total
253.02 km2 (97.69 sq mi)
 • Land251.5 km2 (97.1 sq mi)
 • Water1.66 km2 (0.64 sq mi)
 • Rank245th largest in Finland
Population
 (2024-08-31)[2]
 • Total
2,440
 • Rank238th largest in Finland
 • Density9.7/km2 (25/sq mi)
Population by native language
[3]
 • Finnish97.9% (official)
 • Swedish0.2%
 • Others1.9%
Population by age
[4]
 • 0 to 1419.3%
 • 15 to 6455.8%
 • 65 or older24.9%
Time zoneUTC+02:00 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+03:00 (EEST)
Websitewww.alavieska.fi

Alavieska (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈɑlɑˌʋie̯skɑ]) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Oulu and is part of the Northern Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of 2,440 (31 August 2024)[2] and covers an area of 253.02 square kilometres (97.69 sq mi) of which 1.66 km2 (0.64 sq mi) is water.[1] The population density is 9.7 inhabitants per square kilometre (25/sq mi).

The municipality is unilingually Finnish. The word Ala means "lower", while the word Vieska is supposed to mean a "shallow ford".[6]

The scythe theme of Alavieska's coat of arms refers to the extensive meadows in the municipality's territory. The coat of arms was designed by Kaj Kajander, and the Alavieska municipal council approved it at its meeting on September 20, 1960. The Ministry of the Interior approved the coat of arms for use on November 25 of the same year.[7][8]

Geography

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Neighbouring municipalities are Kalajoki, Merijärvi, Oulainen and Ylivieska.

Villages

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In 1967, Alavieska had six legally recognized villages (henkikirjakylät):[9]

Demographics

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Population

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On the 31 August 2024, the municipality has a population of 2,440 (238th largest in Finland).[2] The population density was 9.7/km2.[2] In 2020, the age structure of a population was: children (under 15 years old) — 19.3%; the working-age residents (15–64 years) — 55.8%; the elderly (65 years and older) — 24.9%.[4] The average age was 43.8, above the national average of 43.4 and regional average of 40.8.

Population size of in 1980—2020[10]
Year Residents
1975
3,056
1980
2,990(−0.44%)
1985
3,040(+0.33%)
1990
3,072(+0.21%)
1995
3,051(−0.14%)
2000
2,940(−0.74%)
2005
2,854(−0.59%)
2010
2,770(−0.60%)
2015
2,687(−0.61%)
2020
2,514(−1.30%)

The data refers to the conditions on 31 December of the current year according to the territorial division on 1 January 2022.

Languages

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The population by language (mother tongue) on 31 December 2022. Finnish (suomi), Swedish (ruotsi) and Sami (saame) count as indigenous languages as they have official status in the country. The rest of the languages are counted as foreign. For languages with fewer than 10 speakers, the figure is hidden by Tilastokeskus due to confidentiality reasons.[11][12] Speakers of Finnish made up 99.0% of the population and speakers of Swedish made up 0.2%, while the share of speakers of foreign languages was 0.8%. Foreign nationals made up 0.6% of the total population.[13]

Language Speakers in 2022
Quantity Part (%)
Total population 2,447 100.0
Official languages 2,425 99.1
Finnish 2,421 98.9
Swedish 4 0.2
Foreign languages 22 0.9
Other 22 0.9
Population by native language
  Finnish (98.9%)
  Swedish (0.2%)
  other (0.9%)

Urban areas

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In 2019, out of the total population of 2,519, 1,281 people lived in the sole urban area, the Alavieska parish village, while lived 1,220 in sparsely populated areas and the coordinates of 18 people were unknown. This made Alavieska's degree of urbanization 51.2%.[14][15]

Economy

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In 2018, 23.1% of the workforce of Alavieska worked in primary production (agriculture, forestry and fishing), 22.4% in secondary production (e.g. manufacturing, construction and infrastructure), and 52.9% in services. In 2019, the unemployment rate was 8.8%, and the share of pensioners in the population was 29.5%.[16]

Notable people

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Area of Finnish Municipalities 1.1.2018" (PDF). National Land Survey of Finland. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d "Finland's preliminary population figure was 5,625,011 at the end of August 2024". Population structure. Statistics Finland. 2024-09-24. ISSN 1797-5395. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
  3. ^ "Population growth biggest in nearly 70 years". Population structure. Statistics Finland. 2024-04-26. ISSN 1797-5395. Retrieved 2024-04-29.
  4. ^ a b "Population according to age (1-year) and sex by area and the regional division of each statistical reference year, 2003–2020". StatFin. Statistics Finland. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Luettelo kuntien ja seurakuntien tuloveroprosenteista vuonna 2023". Tax Administration of Finland. 14 November 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
  6. ^ Rahkonen, Pauli (2013). "Suomen etymologisesti läpinäkymätöntä vesistönimistöä". Virittäjä (in Finnish). No. 1. p. 21.
  7. ^ Suomen kunnallisvaakunat (in Finnish). Suomen Kunnallisliitto. 1982. p. 126. ISBN 951-773-085-3.
  8. ^ "Sisäasiainministeriön vahvistamat kaupunkien, kauppaloiden ja kuntien vaakunat 1949-1995 I:8 Alavieska" (in Finnish). Kansallisarkiston digitaaliarkisto. Retrieved July 28, 2022.[permanent dead link‍]
  9. ^ Maijala, Veikko; Papunen, Pentti (1967). "Alavieska". Suomenmaa: maantieteellis-yhteiskunnallinen tieto- ja hakuteos. 1: Ahlainen–Hausjärvi. Helsinki: WSOY.
  10. ^ "Väestö kielen mukaan sekä ulkomaan kansalaisten määrä ja maa-pinta-ala alueittain 1980 - 2016" (in Finnish). Tilastokeskus (Statistics Finland). 29 March 2017. Archived from the original on 17 June 2018. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  11. ^ "11rm — Kieli sukupuolen mukaan kunnittain, 1990-2023" (in Finnish). Tilastokeskus. 2023. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  12. ^ "11ra — Tunnuslukuja väestöstä alueittain, 1990-2023" (in Finnish). Tilastokeskus. 2023. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  13. ^ "Key figures on population by region, 1990-2020". StatFin. Statistics Finland. Archived from the original on 2019-04-06. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  14. ^ "Degree of urbanisation by area, 2019". StatFin. Statistics Finland. Archived from the original on 2019-11-26. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  15. ^ "Population in urban settlements and sparsely populated areas by age, sex and municipality, 2019". StatFin. Statistics Finland. Archived from the original on 2019-11-26. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  16. ^ "Municipal key figures 1987-2020 (with the 2021 regional division)". StatFin. Statistics Finland. Archived from the original on 2021-04-26. Retrieved 28 April 2021. (2018 and 2019)
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Media related to Alavieska at Wikimedia Commons Alavieska travel guide from Wikivoyage

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