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Kauhajoki

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Kauhajoki
Town
Kauhajoen kaupunki
Kauhajoki stad
Kauhajoki Town Hall
Kauhajoki Town Hall
Coat of arms of Kauhajoki
Coat of arms
Location of Kauhajoki in Finland
Location of Kauhajoki in Finland
Map
Interactive map of Kauhajoki
Coordinates: 62°25′55″N 22°10′46″E / 62.43194°N 22.17944°E / 62.43194; 22.17944
CountryBERJAYA Finland
RegionSouth Ostrobothnia
Sub-regionSuupohja
Charter1868
Town privileges2001
Government
 • Town managerNiku Latva-Pukkila
Area
 (2018-01-01)[1]
 • Total
1,315.54 km2 (507.93 sq mi)
 • Land1,298.98 km2 (501.54 sq mi)
 • Water16.46 km2 (6.36 sq mi)
 • Rank55th largest in Finland
Population
 (2025-12-31)[2]
 • Total
12,429
 • Rank81st largest in Finland
 • Density9.57/km2 (24.8/sq mi)
 • Demonym
Kauhajokinen (Finnish)
Population by native language
[2]
 • Finnish95.3% (official)
 • Swedish0.4%
 • Others4.4%
Population by age
[3]
 • 0 to 1415.1%
 • 15 to 6457%
 • 65 or older27.9%
Time zoneUTC+02:00 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+03:00 (EEST)
Websitekauhajoki.fi

Kauhajoki (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈkɑu̯hɑˌjoki]; lit. “Scoop River”) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the South Ostrobothnia region, 59 kilometres (37 mi) southwest of the city of Seinäjoki. The population of Kauhajoki is 12,429 (31 December 2025)[2] and the municipality covers an area of 1,298.98 km2 (501.54 sq mi) of which 16.46 km2 (6.36 sq mi) is inland water (1 January 2018).[1] The population density is 9.57/km2 (24.8/sq mi). The town is unilingually Finnish.

The neighboring municipalities of Kauhajoki are Isojoki in the southwest, Kankaanpää in the south, Karijoki in the west, Karvia in the southeast, Kurikka in the north and Teuva in the west.[4] Kauhajoki is the center of the Suupohja sub-region.[5]

Geography

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Most of Kauhajoki is located north of the Suomenselkä's watershed. Most of the municipal area is a gently sloping plains to the west and north.[6] On the border of the Kauhajoki and Isojoki is Lauhanvuori, one of the highest points in Western Finland, which rises 231 meters above sea level. However, the highest point of Lauhanvuori is on the Isojoki side, a few tens of meters from the Kauhajoki border.[7] Lauhanvuori national park and an other national park located in Kauhajoki, Kauhaneva-Pohjankangas, belong to a Unesco Global Geopark Lauhanvuori-Hämeenkangas Archived 1 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine.

Climate

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Climate data for Kauhajoki (1991-2020 normals, extremes 1993–present)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 7.7
(45.9)		 7.6
(45.7)		 14.7
(58.5)		 23.2
(73.8)		 28.2
(82.8)		 31.6
(88.9)		 32.6
(90.7)		 30.5
(86.9)		 26.0
(78.8)		 19.0
(66.2)		 12.8
(55.0)		 9.3
(48.7)		 32.6
(90.7)
Daily mean °C (°F) −5.6
(21.9)		 −6.1
(21.0)		 −2.9
(26.8)		 2.9
(37.2)		 8.9
(48.0)		 13.4
(56.1)		 16.0
(60.8)		 14.3
(57.7)		 9.6
(49.3)		 4.1
(39.4)		 −0.2
(31.6)		 −3.3
(26.1)		 4.3
(39.7)
Record low °C (°F) −34.2
(−29.6)		 −34.0
(−29.2)		 −29.7
(−21.5)		 −17.2
(1.0)		 −6.7
(19.9)		 −3.1
(26.4)		 0.6
(33.1)		 −3.3
(26.1)		 −6.8
(19.8)		 −16.8
(1.8)		 −26.2
(−15.2)		 −32.1
(−25.8)		 −34.2
(−29.6)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 38
(1.5)		 31
(1.2)		 27
(1.1)		 27
(1.1)		 39
(1.5)		 60
(2.4)		 71
(2.8)		 72
(2.8)		 54
(2.1)		 60
(2.4)		 48
(1.9)		 47
(1.9)		 574
(22.6)
Average precipitation days 10 8 7 7 7 9 10 10 8 10 10 10 106
Source 1: FMI normals for Finland 1991-2020[8]
Source 2: Record highs and lows [9]

History

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Permanent settlement in the Kauhajoki area began in the 16th century and in 1584 chapel was built in Kauhajoki.

When the Soviet Union attacked Finland in the Winter War, in early December 1939 Parliament was evacuated and the legislature temporarily relocated to Kauhajoki, a town in western Finland far away from the frontline.[10] The parliament held 34 plenary sessions in Kauhajoki, with the last on 12 February 1940.[11]

2008 vocational college shooting

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On 23 September 2008, a school shooting at a vocational college in the city left 11 dead, including the gunman, and another woman wounded. The incident was the second school shooting in less than a year in Finland, the other being the Jokela school shooting in November 2007, in which nine people including the gunman died. Before that, only one other school shooting had taken place in the country's history, in Rauma in 1989, leaving two people dead.[12]

Demographics

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Kauhajoki has the highest proportion of Finnish Kale in Finland, with an estimated 5% of the population being Finnish Kale.[13] The town is linguistically homogenous, with 97% speaking Finnish. Kauhajoki has the highest proportion of Hungarians in Finland, with 0.6% of the population speaking Hungarian.[14]

Culture

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BERJAYA
Kauhajoki church
BERJAYA
A small Kauhajoki Baptist Church in the village of Kainasto

Food

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In the 1980s, the traditional parish dished of Kauhajoki was named sinsalla (a local name of rosolli) and charred Baltic herrings.[15]

Sports

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Today sports in Kauhajoki is mostly famous for the basketball team Karhu Basket. Karhu Basket has been the most successful team in Finland for years winning the national league in 2018, 2019 and 2022. In the season 2020-21 Karhu Basket was second and in the season 2019-20 the season was interrupted because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The home venue of Karhu Basket is the IKH Areena. IKH Areena can hold 3500 spectators, which is more than a quarter of the inhabitants of Kauhajoki.

Some internationally successful Kauhajokian sports figures include:

See also

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References

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  1. 1 2 "Area of Finnish Municipalities 1.1.2018" (PDF). National Land Survey of Finland. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 "Population growth slowed down in 2025". Population structure. Statistics Finland. 1 April 2026. ISSN 2243-3627. Retrieved 6 April 2026.
  3. ↑ "Population according to age (1-year) and sex by area and the regional division of each statistical reference year, 2003–2020". StatFin. Statistics Finland. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  4. ↑ "Kauhajoki · Kauhajoki, Suomi". Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  5. ↑ "Kauhajoki - Yritykset ja työnantajat - Finder.fi". Finder.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  6. ↑ Matti Porkkala & V. J. Marttila (1963). Kauhajoki (in Finnish). Kauhajoki-Seura ry. p. 3.
  7. ↑ Liisa Ruismäki (1987). Kauhajoen historia: esihistoriasta vuoteen 1918 (in Finnish). Jyväskylä: Kauhajoen kunta ja seurakunta. pp. 41–42. ISBN 951-99888-2-3.
  8. ↑ "FMI normals 1991-2020". fmi.fi. Retrieved 18 January 2025.
  9. ↑ "FMI open data". FMI. Retrieved 18 January 2025.
  10. ↑ "Eduskunnan viettää muistojuhlaa Kauhajoella 2.–3.12.2006" (in Finnish). Eduskunta. 2 December 2006. Retrieved 30 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  11. ↑ "Parliament to recreate Winter War evacuation". Yle Uutiset. 30 November 2019. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  12. ↑ "School Shootings Rare in Finland". YLE. 7 November 2007. Retrieved 23 September 2008.
  13. ↑ "Romanit hajautuneet kuten valtaväestökin – Kauhajoki on Suomen suurin romanipitäjä". yle.fi (in Finnish). 8 April 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  14. ↑ "Language according to sex by municipality, 1990-2021". stat.fi. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  15. ↑ Jaakko Kolmonen (1988). Kotomaamme ruoka-aitta: Suomen, Karjalan ja Petsamon pitäjäruoat (in Finnish). Helsinki: Patakolmonen. p. 148. ISBN 951-96047-3-1.
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