Laihia

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Laihia Laihela
Municipality
Laihian kunta Laihela kommun
Coat of arms
Location of Laihia in Finland
Coordinates: 62°58.5′N 022°00.5′E / 62.9750°N 22.0083°E / 62.9750; 22.0083
Country	Finland
Region	Ostrobothnia
Sub-region	Vaasa sub-region
Charter	1576
Government
• Municipal manager	Juha Rikala
Area  (2018-01-01)[1]
• Total	508.44 km2 (196.31 sq mi)
• Land	505.16 km2 (195.04 sq mi)
• Water	4.14 km2 (1.60 sq mi)
• Rank	172nd largest in Finland
Population  (2023-12-31)[2]
• Total	8,020
• Rank	124th largest in Finland
• Density	15.21/km2 (39.4/sq mi)
Population by native language [3]
• Finnish	97.1% (official)
• Swedish	1.1%
• Others	1.8%
Population by age [4]
• 0 to 14	19.8%
• 15 to 64	56.7%
• 65 or older	23.5%
Time zone	UTC+02:00 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+03:00 (EEST)
Website	laihia.fi

Laihia (Swedish: Laihela) is a municipality of Finland, founded in 1576 through a separation from Isokyrö and Korsholm.

It is located in the Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of 8,020 (Jul 31, 2020) and covers an area of 508.44 square kilometres (196.31 sq mi) of which 4.14 km² (1.60 sq mi) is water.^[1] The population density is 15.21 inhabitants per square kilometre (39.4/sq mi). Laihia consists of 37 villages.

Laihia is within the economical region of the neighbouring city Vaasa. The municipality is unilingually Finnish. Only 84 people speak Swedish as a native language. Most inhabitants speak Finnish or a dialect typical of this region.^[6] The municipal manager is Juha Rikala. There are a total of 469 farms in the municipality.^{[citation needed]}.

Laihia is located along the international tourist route Blue Highway, which goes from Norway to Russia via Sweden and Finland.