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Alajärvi is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the South Ostrobothnia region. The town has a population of 9,321 (31 December 2021)[2] and covers an area of 1,056.74 square kilometres (408.01 sq mi) of which 47.99 km² (18.53 sq mi) is water.[1] The population density is 9.24 inhabitants per square kilometre (23.9/sq mi). The town is unilingually Finnish; there are few immigrants.

Alajärvi
Town
Alajärven kaupunki Alajärvi stad
Alajärvi Church
Coat of arms
Location of Alajärvi in Finland
Coordinates: 63°00′N 023°49′E
Country	Finland
Region	South Ostrobothnia
Sub-region	Järviseutu sub-region
Charter	1869
Town privileges	1986
Government
• Town manager	Vesa Koivunen
Area  (2018-01-01)[1]
• Total	1,056.74 km2 (408.01 sq mi)
• Land	1,008.76 km2 (389.48 sq mi)
• Water	47.99 km2 (18.53 sq mi)
• Rank	78th largest in Finland
Population  (2021-12-31)[2]
• Total	9,321
• Rank	106th largest in Finland
• Density	9.24/km2 (23.9/sq mi)
Population by native language [3]
• Finnish	98.9% (official)
• Swedish	0.1%
• Others	1%
Population by age [4]
• 0 to 14	17.4%
• 15 to 64	54.3%
• 65 or older	28.3%
Time zone	UTC+02:00 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+03:00 (EEST)
Municipal tax rate[5]	21.75%
Website	www.alajarvi.fi

The municipality of Lehtimäki was consolidated with Alajärvi on 1 January 2009.

Geography

The neighboring municipalities of Alajärvi are Alavus, Kuortane, Kyyjärvi, Lappajärvi, Lapua, Perho, Soini, Vimpeli and Ähtäri.

Villages

In 1967, Alajärvi had eight legally recognized villages (henkikirjakylät):[6]

Demographics

In 2020, 17.4% of the population of Alajärvi was under the age of 15, 54.3% were aged 15 to 64, and 28.3% were over the age of 64. The average age was 46.1, above the national average of 43.4 and regional average of 44.7. Speakers of Finnish made up 96.8% of the population and speakers of Swedish made up 0.1%, while the share of speakers of foreign languages was 3.0%. Foreign nationals made up 2.8% of the total population.[7]

The chart below, describing the development of the total population of Alajärvi from 1975-2020, encompasses the municipality's area as of 2021.

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1975 10,771 —     1980 11,089 +0.58% 1985 11,683 +1.05% 1990 11,963 +0.47% 1995 11,890 −0.12%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 2000 11,503 −0.66% 2005 10,910 −1.05% 2010 10,487 −0.79% 2015 10,006 −0.93% 2020 9,419 −1.20%
Source: Statistics Finland[8]

Urban areas

In 2019, out of the total population of 9,562, 5,846 people lived in urban areas and 3,641 in sparsely populated areas, while the coordinates of 75 people were unknown. This made Alajärvi's degree of urbanization 61.6%.[9] The urban population in the municipality was divided between three urban areas as follows:[10]

#	Urban area	Population
1	Alajärvi central locality	5,029
2	Lehtimäki	570
3	Luoma-aho	247

Economy

In 2018, 11.2% of the workforce of Alajärvi worked in primary production (agriculture, forestry and fishing), 29.9% in secondary production (e.g. manufacturing, construction and infrastructure), and 57.1% in services. In 2019, the unemployment rate was 9.3%, and the share of pensioners in the population was 33.0%.[11]

Though a small town, Alajärvi has a few shops, namely Supermarket, Tokmanni, Lidl and a few others. In 2013 a public natatorium was opened, which also includes a weight room.

Culture

The Alajärvi church was designed by Carl Ludvig Engel, and completed in 1836.[12]

The administrative centre and library buildings are based on designs by Alvar Aalto.[13]

The town is home to the Nelimarkka Museum. The museum was built by the painter Eero Nelimarkka. It was designed by his friend, the architect Hilding Ekelund.[14]

Notable people

• Reijo Hongisto
• Martti Korkia-Aho
• Matti Luoma-aho
• Eino Ojajärvi
• Verner Thomé
• Reijo Vähälä
• Eero Nelimarkka

Gallery

• 
  The sun in Alajärvi, Finland.
• 
  Lake Alajärvi, 2017
• 
  Alajärvi municipal border sign
• 
  Alajärvi plains
• 
  field in Alajärvi, 2014
• 
  Market in Alajärvi

References

External links

• Media related to Alajärvi at Wikimedia Commons
• Town of Alajärvi – Official website

На других языках

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- [en] Alajärvi

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[ru] Алаярви

А́лаярви (фин. Alajärvi) — город в западной части Финляндии, в области Южная Остроботния. Площадь муниципалитета составляет 1056,75 км².

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