Vaala
Vaala
Municipality in North Ostrobothnia, Finland
Vaala is a municipality in Finland. It is located in the North Ostrobothnia region. Established in 1954 (predecessor municipality Säräisniemi, established in 1867), the municipality has a population of 2,589 (31 December 2023)[2] and covers an area of 1,764.04 square kilometres (681.10 sq mi) of which 461.45 km2 (178.17 sq mi) is water.[1] The population density is 1.99 inhabitants per square kilometre (5.2/sq mi). Previously Vaala was part of the Kainuu region but was transferred to Northern Ostrobothnia on 1 January 2016.[5]
Oulujärvi, the fourth largest lake of Finland is located partly in Vaala.
The municipality is unilingually Finnish.
Vaala is also an old Finnish word, which means the phase in a river just before rapids.