Inari ( ; Norwegian and ) is Finland's largest municipality by area (but one of the most sparsely populated), with four official languages, more than any other in the country. Its major sources of income are tourism, service industry, and cold climate testing. With the Siida museum in the village of Inari, it is a center of Sámi culture, widely known as the "capital of Sámi culture". The airport in Ivalo and the country's key north-south European Route E75 (Finland's National Road 4) bring summer and winter vacationers seeking resorts with access to a well-preserved, uncrowded natural environment.

History

The municipality was established in 1876. It was claimed from about 1942 to 1945 by the Quisling regime during the Nazi occupation of Norway.

Geography

Inari is the largest municipality by area in Finland. Located in Lapland, it covers an area of undefined km2, of which undefined km2 is water. With an area of 1043 km2, Lake Inari is the third largest lake in Finland, 40 km2 smaller than the country's second largest Lake Päijänne. Finland's largest National Park Lemmenjoki is partly located in Inari, as is the Urho Kekkonen National Park. Vast parts of the municipality are designated wilderness areas: Hammastunturi, Muotkatunturi, Paistunturi, Kaldoaivi, Vätsäri, and Tsarmitunturi. The village of Inari is Finland's northernmost holiday resort. The airport is located in the nearby village of Ivalo.

Climate

Inari has a chilly and humid climate with fairly cold winters and cool summers (Köppen Dfc). Due to the polar night, winter time temperatures are often severely cold. However, the midnight sun contributes to surprisingly high summertime temperatures. The warmest temperature ever recorded at Ivalo Airport was 31.8 C in July 1925, while the coldest temperature on record was -48.9 C in January 1999. However, in July 1914 Thule weather station in western Inari recorded an unofficial record high temperature of 34.7 C, which is the highest temperature ever recorded in Lapland. Inari is also among the driest locations in Finland, especially in the winter when the average precipitation total is less than half of the amount that Southern Finland receives. The driest year on record was 1941 when only 120,1 mm (4,7 inches) fell.

Demographics

Population

The municipality of Inari has a population of 0. The population density is undefined PD/km2. The population peaked in 1993, at 7,874. It then decreased continuously until 2012, when the population was 6,732. Since then it has steadily increased to 7,008 in 2021. Inari is expected to be the only municipality in Lapland, along with Rovaniemi, that will experience population growth by 2040. This has been attributed to increased tourism. Its two largest villages are Ivalo and Inari. Other villages are Törmänen, Keväjärvi, Koppelo, Sevettijärvi–Näätämö, Saariselkä, Nellim, Angeli, Kaamanen, Kuttura, Lisma, Partakko, and Riutula. The registered Sámi population in Inari from the 2019 election was 2,141, which was 31% of Inari's population.

Languages

The municipality has four official languages: Finnish, Inari Sámi (c. 400 estimated speakers), Skolt Sámi (c. 400 speakers), and Northern Sámi (c. 700 speakers). The estimates of how many people have some command of each of the Sámi languages differ from the number of people who list them as their mother tongues. Of the total population of 7,008 in 2021, 6,248 people registered Finnish (89.16%) and 475 people registered one of the Sámi languages as their mother tongue (6.78%). Swedish is the mother tongue of 27 individuals (0.39%) and 258 people (3.68%) speak foreign languages. The most-spoken foreign languages are: Russian (0.86%), German (0.51%), French (0.31%), Dutch (0.22%) and English (0.20%).

Citizenship

Only about three percent, 214 persons, were citizens of countries other than Finland in 2022. The largest groups of foreign-citizens are from Russia (39 individuals), Germany (24), France (18), the Netherlands (14), Thailand (13) and Estonia (11).

Politics

Results of the 2011 Finnish parliamentary election in Inari:

Sites of interest