Alavieska (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈɑlɑˌʋie̯skɑ]) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Oulu and is part of the Northern Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of 2,437 (31 December 2023) and covers an area of 253.02 square kilometres (97.69 sq mi) of which 1.66 km (0.64 sq mi) is water. The population density is 9.69 inhabitants per square kilometre (25.1/sq mi).

The municipality is unilingually Finnish. The word Ala means "lower", while the word Vieska is supposed to mean a "shallow ford".

The scythe theme of Alavieska's coat of arms refers to the extensive meadows in the municipality's territory. The coat of arms was designed by Kaj Kajander, and the Alavieska municipal council approved it at its meeting on September 20, 1960. The Ministry of the Interior approved the coat of arms for use on November 25 of the same year.

Geography

Neighbouring municipalities are Kalajoki, Merijärvi, Oulainen and Ylivieska.

Villages

In 1967, Alavieska had six legally recognized villages (henkikirjakylät):

• Alavieska
• Eteläranta
• Kähtävä
• Somero
• Taluskylä
• Käännänkylä

Demographics

In 2020, 19.3% of the population of Alavieska was under the age of 15, 55.8% were aged 15 to 64, and 24.9% were over the age of 64. The average age was 43.8, above the national average of 43.4 and regional average of 40.8. Speakers of Finnish made up 99.0% of the population and speakers of Swedish made up 0.2%, while the share of speakers of foreign languages was 0.8%. Foreign nationals made up 0.6% of the total population.

The chart below, describing the development of the total population of Alavieska from 1975-2020, encompasses the municipality's area as of 2021.

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1975 3,056 —     1980 2,990 −0.44% 1985 3,040 +0.33% 1990 3,072 +0.21% 1995 3,051 −0.14%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 2000 2,940 −0.74% 2005 2,854 −0.59% 2010 2,770 −0.60% 2015 2,687 −0.61% 2020 2,517 −1.30%
Source: Statistics Finland

Urban areas

In 2019, out of the total population of 2,519, 1,281 people lived in the sole urban area, the Alavieska parish village, while lived 1,220 in sparsely populated areas and the coordinates of 18 people were unknown. This made Alavieska's degree of urbanization 51.2%.

Economy

In 2018, 23.1% of the workforce of Alavieska worked in primary production (agriculture, forestry and fishing), 22.4% in secondary production (e.g. manufacturing, construction and infrastructure), and 52.9% in services. In 2019, the unemployment rate was 8.8%, and the share of pensioners in the population was 29.5%.

Notable people

• Pentti Kahma, discus thrower
• Teemu Kattilakoski, skier
• Rauli Pudas, pole vaulter

See also

• Ylivieska