Vaala

Vaala (Finnish pronunciation:) is a municipality in Finland. It is located in the North Ostrobothniaregion. Established in 1954 (predecessor municipality Säräisniemi, established in 1867), the municipality has a population of 2,544 (31 December 2025) and covers an area of 1,764.04 square kilometres (681.10 sq mi) of which 461.45 km (178.17 sq mi) is water. The population density is 1.95 inhabitants per square kilometre (5.1/sq mi). Previously Vaala was part of the Kainuu region but was transferred to Northern Ostrobothnia on 1 January 2016. The municipality is unilingually Finnish.

Half of Oulujärvi, the fifth largest lake of Finland is located in Vaala. Vaala is also an old Finnish word, which means the phase in a river just before rapids.

Google is planning a data center to be located in Vaala.