Alavus (Swedish: Alavo) is a town and municipality of Finland in the province of Western Finland. Part of the South Ostrobothnia region, it is located 52 kilometres (32 mi) southeast of Seinäjoki, 138 kilometres (86 mi) north of Tampere and 319 kilometres (198 mi) north of Helsinki. The town has a population of 10,634 (31 December 2025) and covers an area of 1,151.46 square kilometres (444.58 sq mi) of which 52.31 km2 (20.20 sq mi) is water. The population density is 9.78 inhabitants per square kilometre (25.3/sq mi). Neighbouring municipalities are Alajärvi, Kuortane, Seinäjoki, Virrat and Ähtäri.
Agriculture and forestry employ a significant share of the population. Most of the industry in Alavus is related to construction: materials, design and contractors. Alavus has 60 lakes with 324 kilometres (201 mi) of shoreline. The town is unilingually Finnish.
Geography
Villages
In 1967, Alavus had five legally recognized villages (henkikirjakylät):
- Alavus
- Rantatöysä
- Sapsalampi
- Sulkava
- Sydänmaa
Demographics
In 2020, 16.7% of the population of Alavus was under the age of 15, 54.6% were aged 15 to 64, and 28.7% were over the age of 64. The average age was 46.1, above the national average of 43.4 and regional average of 44.7. Speakers of Finnish made up 98.3% of the population and speakers of Swedish made up 0.1%, while the share of speakers of foreign languages was 1.6%. Foreign nationals made up 1.2% of the total population.
The chart below, describing the development of the total population of Alavus from 1975 to 2020, encompasses the municipality's area as of 2021.
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 13,465 | — |
| 1980 | 13,580 | +0.17% |
| 1985 | 13,781 | +0.29% |
| 1990 | 13,785 | +0.01% |
| 1995 | 13,472 | −0.46% |
| 2000 | 13,135 | −0.51% |
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 12,868 | −0.41% |
| 2010 | 12,439 | −0.68% |
| 2015 | 12,044 | −0.64% |
| 2020 | 11,332 | −1.21% |
| 2024 | 10,780 | −1.24% |
Urban areas
In 2019, out of the total population of 6,919, 4,485 people lived in urban areas and 3,641 in sparsely populated areas, while the coordinates of 64 people were unknown. This made Alavus's degree of urbanization 60.7%. The urban population in the municipality was divided between three urban areas as follows:
| # | Urban area | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alavus central locality | 4,004 |
| 2 | Alavus railway station area | 0 |
| 3 | Töysä parish village | 898 |
| 4 | Tuuri | 777 |
Economy
In 2018, 9.1% of the workforce of Alavus worked in primary production (agriculture, forestry and fishing), 24.0% in secondary production (e.g. manufacturing, construction and infrastructure), and 65.6% in services. In 2019, the unemployment rate was 8.5%, and the share of pensioners in the population was 33.0%.
The ten largest employers in Alavus in 2019 were as follows:
- Kuusiolinna Terveys Oy, 551 employees
- Town of Alavus, 518 employees
- Veljekset Keskinen Oy, 346 employees
- Alavus Ikkunat Oy, 100 employees
- Riikku Group Oy, 96 employees
- Mattiovi Oy, 90 employees
- Etelä-Pohjanmaan Osuuskauppa, 64 employees
- Kuusiokuntien sosiaali -ja terveyskuntayhtymä, 58 employees
- Normek Oy, 56 employees
- Alavuden Betoni Oy, 52 employees
Notable people
- Mimmi Bähr (1844–1923), Finnish inventor and developer of calligraphy.
- Erkki Huttunen (1901–1956), architect
- Rauha S. Virtanen (1931–2019), author
