Kitee (Finnish: [ˈkiteː]; Swedish: Kides) is a town and a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the North Karelia region, about 65 kilometres (40 mi) south of Joensuu and about 175 kilometres (109 mi) northeast of Lappeenranta. The municipality has a population of 9,689 (31 December 2023) and covers an area of 1,724.41 square kilometres (665.80 sq mi) of which 275.61 km (106.41 sq mi) is water. The population density is 7.73 inhabitants per square kilometre (20.0/sq mi).

The municipality is unilingually Finnish. Neighbouring municipalities are Parikkala, Rääkkylä, Savonlinna and Tohmajärvi.

History

Kitee is known as the ''moonshine city of Finland'' due to its legal and illegal moonshine manufacturing.

Villages

Notable residents

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• Nils Ludvig Arppe, industrialist
• Tuomas Holopainen, musician
• Jukka Nevalainen, musician
• Tarja Turunen, musician
• Tomek Valtonen, ice hockey coach and player
• Emppu Vuorinen, musician
• Sami Vänskä, musician
• Antti Aalto, ski-jumper

See also

• Kitee Airfield
• Kitee Zoo
• Lake Kitee