Luhanka (Swedish: Luhanka, also Luhango) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Central Finland region. The municipality has a population of 703 (31 December 2021)[2] and covers an area of 313.25 square kilometres (120.95 sq mi) of which 98.73 km2 (38.12 sq mi) is water.[1] In relation to its population Luhanka is not just the smallest municipality in the region but also smallest in the whole Mainland Finland.
Luhanka | |
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Municipality | |
| Luhangan kunta Luhanka kommun | |
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Coat of arms | |
Location of Luhanka in Finland | |
| Coordinates: 61°48′N 025°42′E | |
| Country | |
| Region | Central Finland |
| Sub-region | Joutsa sub-region |
| Charter | 1864 |
| Government | |
| • Municipal manager | Reijo Urtti |
| Area (2018-01-01)[1] | |
| • Total | 313.25 km2 (120.95 sq mi) |
| • Land | 214.52 km2 (82.83 sq mi) |
| • Water | 98.73 km2 (38.12 sq mi) |
| • Rank | 256th largest in Finland |
| Population (2021-12-31)[2] | |
| • Total | 703 |
| • Rank | 301st largest in Finland |
| • Density | 3.28/km2 (8.5/sq mi) |
| Population by native language | |
| • Finnish | 99.6% (official) |
| • Swedish | 0.1% |
| • Others | 0.2% |
| Population by age | |
| • 0 to 14 | 8.4% |
| • 15 to 64 | 49.9% |
| • 65 or older | 41.6% |
| Time zone | UTC+02:00 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+03:00 (EEST) |
| Municipal tax rate[5] | 18.5% |
| Website | www |
The population density is 3.28 inhabitants per square kilometre (8.5/sq mi). There are also many summertime cottages in Luhanka.
The municipality is unilingually Finnish. The municipality is also been known as "Luhango" in Swedish documents.[6]
Mimicking the badger in the coat of arms of Luhanka, the permanent residents include the official animal mascot of the municipality, Sisu the Badger (Sisu-mäyrä).[7]

Neighboring municipalities are Hartola, Joutsa, Jyväskylä, Jämsä, Kuhmoinen and Sysmä.
There are all together 61 lakes in Luhanka. Biggest lakes in Luhanka are Päijänne, Tammijärvi-Hauha and Jutilanjärvi.[8]
Luhanka was first mentioned as a village within the Sysmä parish in 1462. The village gets its name from the lake Luhankjärvi or Luhankajärvi, the name of which comes from the word luha, a variant of luhta, a word which refers to a type of swamp. -nka is a derivational suffix, which is also found in other place names such as Puolanka and Maaninka.
It was granted a chapel in 1767 and became a separate parish in 1864. Due to the small population of the municipality, the parish of Luhanka became subordinate to the parish of Joutsa in 2006.[9][10]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)Places adjacent to Luhanka | ||||||||||||||||
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Municipalities of Central Finland | ||
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The smallest municipalities of Finland by region in terms of population | |
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