Inari (; ; ; ; Norwegian and ) is

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

's largest

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''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 A is an organisation of humans traditionally present in Sámi people, Sámi societies consisting of several families of reindeer herders whose reindeer graze together. s traditionally encompassed more resources than reindeer, but after changes ...

museum in the village of Inari, it is a center of

Sámi Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

culture, widely known as the "capital of Sámi culture". The

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

Ivalo Ivalo (, , , ) is a village in the municipality of Inari, Lapland, Finland, located on the Ivalo River south of Lake Inari in the Arctic Circle. It has a population of 3,998 and a small airport, located 11 kilometres (7 mi) southwest from Iv ...

and the country's key north-south

European Route E75 European route E 75 is part of the International E-road network, which is a series of main roads in Europe. The E 75 starts at the town of Vardø (town), Vardø in Norway by the Barents Sea, and it runs south through Finland, Poland, C ...

( 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 The Quisling regime, or Quisling government are common names used to refer to the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, collaboration government led by Vidkun Quisling in German occupation of Norway, German-occupied Norway during th ...

during the

Nazi occupation of Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the World War II, Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the Norwegian Campaign, German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi G ...

Geography

Inari is the largest municipality by area in Finland. Located in Lapland, it covers an area of , of which is water. With an area of ,

Lake Inari Lake Inari (, , , , , ) is the largest lake in Sápmi and the third-largest lake in Finland. It is located in the northern part of Lapland, north of the Arctic Circle. The lake is above sea level, and is regulated at the Kaitakoski power plan ...

is the third largest lake in Finland, smaller than the country's second largest

Lake Päijänne Lake Päijänne () is the second largest lake in Finland (). The lake drains into the Gulf of Finland via the Kymi River. The major islands are from north to south Vuoritsalo, Muuratsalo, Onkisalo, Judinsalo, Edessalo, Taivassalo, Haukkas ...

. Finland's largest

National Park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

Lemmenjoki is partly located in Inari, as is the

Urho Kekkonen National Park Urho Kekkonen National Park (, , often abbreviated to ''UKK'') is a national park in Lapland, Finland, situated in area of municipalities of Savukoski, Sodankylä and Inari. Established in 1983 and covering , it is one of Finland's largest prot ...

. Vast parts of the municipality are designated

wilderness areas Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural) are Earth's natural environments that have not been significantly modified by human activity, or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally ...

: 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 Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

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 Ivalo Airport () (, , , , ) is an airport in Ivalo, Inari, Finland, Inari, Finland. It is located southwest from Ivalo, the municipal centre of Inari, and north of Saariselkä. It is the northernmost airport in Finland and in the European Union ...

was in July 1925, while the coldest temperature on record was in January 1999. However, in July 1914 Thule weather station in western Inari recorded an unofficial record high temperature of , 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 (). The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

is . 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 7,160 in 2024. 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

and Inari. Other villages are Törmänen, Keväjärvi, Koppelo,

Sevettijärvi Sevettijärvi (Skolt Sámi: Čeʹvetjäuʹrr, and ) is a village in the municipality of Inari, Finland approximately north of downtown Inari. Neiden in Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

– Näätämö,

Saariselkä Saariselkä (; ; ) is a fell area in Lapland, northern Finland. It is located in the Inari, Savukoski and Sodankylä municipalities. The highest point is high Mt Sokosti. The range is mostly two-billion-year-old granulite. The last ice age end ...

Nellim Nellim ( or '; ; ) is a village on the shore of Lake Inari in Inari, Finland that has three distinctly different cultures: Finns, the Inari Sámi and the Skolt Sámi Skolt Sámi (, , ; or , , ) is a Sámi languages, Sámi language that is ...

, Angeli,

Kaamanen Kaamanen is a village in the municipality of Inari, Finland, Inari, Lapland (Finland), Lapland. The village counts about 200 inhabitants, whose main sources of livelihood are reindeer husbandry and tourism. The area is extremely valuable for bird ...

Kuttura Kuttura is a small village in Finland, in the southwest corner of the municipality of Inari, Finland, Inari on the west bank of the Ivalo River next to the Hammastunturi Wilderness Area. At the end of 2005, 21 people lived in the village. Histor ...

, 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 Inari Sámi may refer to: *Inari Sámi language *Inari Sámi people Inari or Aanaar Sámi (Inari Sámi language, Inari Sámi: ''anarâšah'') are a group of Sámi people who inhabit the area around Lake Inari, Finland. They speak the Inari Sámi l ...

( estimated speakers),

Skolt Sámi Skolt Sámi (, , ; or , , ) is a Sámi languages, Sámi language that is spoken by the Skolts, with approximately 300 speakers in Finland, mainly in Sevettijärvi and approximately 20–30 speakers of the (Notozero) dialect in an area surround ...

( speakers), and

Northern Sámi Northern Sámi or North Sámi ( ; ; ; ; ; disapproved exonym Lappish or Lapp) is the most widely spoken of all Sámi languages. The area where Northern Sámi is spoken covers the northern parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland. Geographic distr ...

( 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, 6,249 people registered Finnish (87.68%) and 492 people registered one of the

Sámi languages The Sámi languages ( ), also rendered in English language, English as Sami and Saami, are a group of Uralic languages spoken by the Indigenous Sámi peoples in Northern Europe (in parts of northern Finland, Norway, Sweden, and extreme northwest ...

as their mother tongue (6.90%). Swedish is the mother tongue of 28 individuals (0.39%) and 358 people (5.02%) speak foreign languages. The most-spoken foreign languages are: Russian (0.95%), German (0.60%), French (0.35%), English (0.35%), Thai (0.34%), Tagalog (0.29%) and Dutch (0.25%) and .

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 Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 17 April 2011 after the termination of the previous parliamentary term. Early voting, Advance voting, which included voting by Finnish expatriates, was held between 6 and 12 April with a turnout o ...

in Inari: * Centre Party 36.2% *

Finns Party The Finns Party ( , PS; , Sannf), formerly known as the True Finns, is a right-wing populist political party in Finland. It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party. The party achieved its electoral breakthro ...

19.2% * Left Alliance 13.8% *

National Coalition Party The National Coalition Party (NCP; , Kok; , Saml) is a liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in Finland, political party in Finland. It is the current governing political party of Finland. Founded in 1918, the ...

10.5% *

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

9.8% *

Green League The Green League, ( , Vihr; ; ; ; ) shortened to the Greens, (; ) is a green political party in Finland. Ideologically, the Green League is positioned on the centre-left of the political spectrum. It is a reformist party and it supports femi ...

6.6% *

Swedish People's Party The Swedish People's Party of Finland (SPP; , SFP; , RKP) is a Finnish political party founded in 1906. Its primary aim is to represent the interests of the minority Swedish-speaking population of Finland. The party is currently a participant in ...

2.2% *

Christian Democrats Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well a ...

1.2% *Other parties 0.5%

Sites of interest

* Inari village **

, Sámi Museum and Northern Lapland Nature Centre ** Sajos, Sámi Cultural Center *

village **

river *

holiday resort *

* Lemmenjoki National Park * Hammastunturi Wilderness Area * Otsamo fell, a popular hiking destination

Notable people

Amoc The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is the main ocean current system in the Atlantic Ocean.IPCC, 2021Annex VII: Glossary atthews, J.B.R., V. Möller, R. van Diemen, J.S. Fuglestvedt, V. Masson-Delmotte, C. Méndez, S. Seme ...

(born 1984), rapper *

Pauliina Feodoroff Pauliina Feodoroff (born 1977 in Inari, Finland) is a Skolt Sámi film director, theater director, screenwriter, and Sápmi advocate. An active advocate of Sámi culture and Sámi rights, she has served as Chair of the Saami Council. Biography Pa ...

(born 1977), Skolt filmmaker * Jenni Laiti (born 1981), Sámi artist * Matti Morottaja (born 1942), Sámi author and politician * Petter Morottaja (born 1982), Sámi author and translator * Mikkel Näkkäläjärvi (born 1990), politician * Marja-Liisa Olthuis (born 1967), linguist *

Janne Seurujärvi Janne Antero Seurujärvi (born 15 May 1975 in Inari, Finland) is a Finnish Sami politician. He was the first Sami ever to be elected to the Finnish Parliament. Seurujärvi represents the Finnish Centre Party (''Keskusta''). Seurujärvi was a ...

(born 1975), Sámi politician

References

External links

*
Municipality of Inari
– official website {{Authority control Sámi-language municipalities Populated places established in 1876 Populated places of Arctic Finland 1876 establishments in Finland Populated lakeshore places in Finland Municipalities of Lapland (Finland)