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Alavus Alavo | |
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Town | |
| Alavuden kaupunki Alavo stad | |
 Former Alavus city hall, demolished in 2021 | |
 Coat of arms | |
 Location of Alavus in Finland | |
| Coordinates:62°35.5′N023°37′E / 62.5917°N 23.617°E /62.5917; 23.617 | |
| Country |  Finland |
| Region | Southern Ostrobothnia |
| Sub-region | Kuusiokunnat |
| Charter | 1865 |
| Market town | 1974 |
| Town privileges | 1977 |
| Government | |
| • Town manager | Liisa Heinämäki |
| Area (2018-01-01)[1] | |
• Total | 1,151.46 km2 (444.58 sq mi) |
| • Land | 1,087.23 km2 (419.78 sq mi) |
| • Water | 52.31 km2 (20.20 sq mi) |
| • Rank | 71st largest in Finland |
| Population (2024-12-31)[2] | |
• Total | 10,780 |
| • Rank | 90th largest in Finland |
| • Density | 9.92/km2 (25.7/sq mi) |
| Population by native language | |
| • Finnish | 97.4% (official) |
| • Swedish | 0.1% |
| • Others | 2.5% |
| Population by age | |
| • 0 to 14 | 16.7% |
| • 15 to 64 | 54.6% |
| • 65 or older | 28.7% |
| Time zone | UTC+02:00 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+03:00 (EEST) |
| Website | www |
Alavus (Swedish:Alavo) is a town andmunicipality ofFinland. It is located in theprovince ofWestern Finland and is part of theSouthern Ostrobothniaregion, 52 kilometres (32 mi) southeast ofSeinäjoki, 138 kilometres (86 mi) north ofTampere and 319 kilometres (198 mi) north ofHelsinki. The town has a population of 10,780 (31 December 2024)[2] and covers an area of 1,151.46 square kilometres (444.58 sq mi) of which 52.31 km2 (20.20 sq mi) is water.[1] Thepopulation density is 9.92 inhabitants per square kilometre (25.7/sq mi). Neighbouring municipalities areAlajärvi,Kuortane, Seinäjoki,Virrat andÄhtäri.
Agriculture and forestry employ a significant share of the population. Most of the industry in Alavus is related to construction: materials, design and contractors. Alavus has 60 lakes with 324 kilometres (201 mi) of shoreline. The town is unilinguallyFinnish.
In 1967, Alavus had five legally recognized villages(henkikirjakylät):[6]
In 2020, 16.7% of the population of Alavus was under the age of 15, 54.6% were aged 15 to 64, and 28.7% 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 ofFinnish made up 98.3% of the population and speakers ofSwedish made up 0.1%, while the share of speakers of foreign languages was 1.6%. Foreign nationals made up 1.2% of the total population.[7]
The chart below, describing the development of the total population of Alavus from 1975 to 2020, encompasses the municipality's area as of 2021.
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| Source:Statistics Finland[8] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In 2019, out of the total population of 6,919, 4,485 people lived inurban areas and 3,641 in sparsely populated areas, while the coordinates of 64 people were unknown. This made Alavus's degree of urbanization 60.7%.[9] The urban population in the municipality was divided between three urban areas as follows:[10]
| # | Urban area | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alavus central locality | 4,004 |
| 2 | Alavus railway station area | 1,240 |
| 3 | Töysä parish village | 898 |
| 4 | Tuuri | 777 |
In 2018, 9.1% of the workforce of Alavus worked in primary production (agriculture,forestry andfishing), 24.0% in secondary production (e.g.manufacturing,construction andinfrastructure), and 65.6% inservices. In 2019, the unemployment rate was 8.5%, and the share of pensioners in the population was 33.0%.[11]
The ten largest employers in Alavus in 2019 were as follows:[12]
Media related toAlavus at Wikimedia Commons| Municipalities |  | |
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| International | |
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| Geographic | |
