Kangasniemi

Kangasniemi
Kangasniemi
Municipality
	Kangasniemen kunta; Kangasniemi kommun
	Kangasniemi town hall
	Coat of arms
	Location of Kangasniemi in Finland
	Coordinates: 61°59.4′N 026°38.5′E / 61.9900°N 26.6417°E
Country	Finland
Region	Southern Savonia
Sub-region	Mikkeli sub-region
Charter	1867
Government
• Municipal manager	Kimmo Kainulainen
Area (2018-01-01)
• Total	1,326.75 km2 (512.26 sq mi)
• Land	1,068.89 km2 (412.70 sq mi)
• Water	256.86 km2 (99.17 sq mi)
• Rank	73rd largest in Finland
Population (2024-10-31)
• Total	5,084
• Rank	164th largest in Finland
• Density	4.76/km2 (12.3/sq mi)
Population by native language
• Finnish	97% (official)
• Swedish	0.2%
• Others	2.8%
Population by age
• 0 to 14	11.8%
• 15 to 64	51.5%
• 65 or older	36.7%
Time zone	UTC+02:00 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+03:00 (EEST)
Website	www.kangasniemi.fi

Kangasniemi is a municipality in the Southern Savonia region, Finland. The municipality has a population of 5,084 (31 October 2024)^[2] and covers an area of 1,326.75 square kilometres (512.26 sq mi) of which 256.86 km² (99.17 sq mi) is water.^[1] The population density is 4.76 inhabitants per square kilometre (12.3/sq mi).

Kangasniemi is located on the Finnish national road 13, 50 km (31 mi) northwest of Mikkeli and 63 km (39 mi) southeast of Jyväskylä. Distance to the national capital, Helsinki is 250 km (160 mi). Its neighbour municipalities are Hankasalmi, Hirvensalmi, Joutsa, Mikkeli, Pieksämäki and Toivakka.

There are almost 3600 (May 2014) summer houses, and summer guests redouble the number of inhabitants during the summer months.

The municipality is unilingually Finnish.

History

The municipality was founded in 1867.

Nature

There are more than 1,550 kilometres (960 mi) of shoreline. The largest lakes are Puulavesi and Kyyvesi. Some other lakes are Mallos and Synsiä. In 1997, Kangasniemi was voted the most beautiful municipality in Finland by television show.^{[citation needed]}

Economy

Kangasniemi has large forest resources, approximately 12,000,000 cubic metres (420,000,000 cu ft), and the yearly growth is approximately 500,000 m³ (18,000,000 cu ft). There is also Puula golf field.^{[citation needed]}