Asikkala (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈɑsikːɑlɑ]) is a municipality of Finland. Its seat is in Vääksy, at the shores of the Lake Päijänne. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Päijänne Tavastia region. Asikkala's neighboring municipalities are Hämeenlinna, Heinola, Hollola, Lahti, Padasjoki and Sysmä.

The municipality has a population of 7,968 (31 December 2023) and covers an area of 755.55 square kilometres (291.72 sq mi) of which 192.13 km (74.18 sq mi) is water. The population density is 14.14 inhabitants per square kilometre (36.6/sq mi).

The municipality is unilingually Finnish, by law since 1996.

History

The oldest prehistoric objects discovered in Asikkala, primarily tools, are presumed to date back to approximately 3000 BCE. The island of Kotasaari in the village of Kalkkinen has been a significant source of finds as well; the settlement on the island dates back to the Stone Age. In the Middle Age, the hunters populating the area of Asikkala made excursions towards the north on the Päijänne. The oldest villages in the municipality are presumed to be Kalkkinen as well as Anianpelto, the former of which also housed the largest estate in the area, known as Iisakkila or Kalkkinen.

Asikkala is mentioned in writing for the first time in a document concerning a border dispute with Sysmä in 1443. It is mentioned in 1445 as an administrative parish, whose subordinates in taxation included the villages of Viitaila, Asikkala and Urajärvi, and later Ruuhijärvi in modern-day Nastola. In the early 1600s, Asikkala became an independent chapel parish from the mother parish of Hollola.

Geography

Villages

In 1967, Asikkala had 24 legally recognized villages (henkikirjakylät):

Climate

Asikkala has a subarctic climate (Dfc) bordering on a humid continental climate (Dfb) with cold winters and mild to warm summers. The climate is slightly milder than the nearby city of Lahti due to influence from Lake Päijänne.

Demographics

In 2020, 13.3% of the population of Asikkala was under the age of 15, 52.7% were aged 15 to 64, and 34.0% were over the age of 64. The average age was 49.9, above the national average of 43.4 and regional average of 46.1. Speakers of Finnish made up 97.4% of the population and speakers of Swedish made up 0.2%, while the share of speakers of foreign languages was 2.4%. Foreign nationals made up 1.8% of the total population.

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

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1975 7,798 —     1980 8,251 +1.14% 1985 8,564 +0.75% 1990 8,822 +0.60% 1995 8,782 −0.09%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 2000 8,644 −0.32% 2005 8,560 −0.20% 2010 8,552 −0.02% 2015 8,287 −0.63% 2020 8,059 −0.56%
Source: Statistics Finland

Urban areas

In 2019, out of the total population of 8,083, 5,188 people lived in urban areas and 2,814 in sparsely populated areas, while the coordinates of 81 people were unknown. This made Asikkala's degree of urbanization 64.8%. The urban population in the municipality was divided between two urban areas as follows:

#	Urban area	Population
1	Vääksy	4,810
2	Lahti central locality	378

Notable people

Politics

Results of the 2011 Finnish parliamentary election in Asikkala:

• True Finns 26.8%
• Centre Party 20.8%
• National Coalition Party 20.5%
• Social Democratic Party 15.2%
• Christian Democrats 8.1%
• Left Alliance 4.0%
• Green League 3.7%

Economy

In 2018, 9.6% of the workforce of Asikkala worked in primary production (agriculture, forestry and fishing), 28.7% in secondary production (e.g. manufacturing, construction and infrastructure), and 58.6% in services. In 2019, the unemployment rate was 9.2%, and the share of pensioners in the population was 37.4%.

The ten largest employers in Asikkala in 2019 were as follows:

Culture

Food

In the 1980s, Asikkala's traditional parish dishes were salmon soup, rieskas made barley, and potato egg butter, as well as berry milk and sahti.

See also

• Päijänne Tavastia Aviation Museum