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

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Quick Facts Laihela, Country ...

Laihia Laihela
Municipality
Laihian kunta Laihela kommun
Coat of arms
Location of Laihia in Finland
Coordinates: 62°58.5′N 022°00.5′E
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	1.2%
• 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

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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 90 people speak Swedish as a native language. Most inhabitants speak Finnish or a dialect typical of this region.^[5] 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.

In Finland, Laihians are renowned for their stinginess (Finnish: nuukuus, saituus, itaruus, piheys or kitsaus) and there are hundreds of jokes told about them. However, Laihians are not usually offended by it. To the contrary, they are proud of their frugality and even have a Museum of Stinginess (Nuukuuren museo).^[6] In any case, Laihia has high-level public services for education, health, sports, seniors etc.

The private coach company OnniBus route Helsinki—Seinäjoki—Vaasa has a stop at Laihia.