Ristijärvi is a

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' ...

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, ...

. It is part of the

Kainuu Kainuu (), also historically known as Cajania (), is one of the 19 regions of Finland (''maakunta'' / ''landskap''). Kainuu borders the regions of North Ostrobothnia, North Savo and North Karelia. In the east, it also borders Russia (Republic o ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

. The municipality has a population of (), which makes it the smallest municipality in Kainuu in terms of population. It covers an area of of which is water. 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 municipality is unilingually Finnish. The municipality was named after the Ristijärvi lake, ''Ristijärvi'' meaning "Cross Lake", referring to the shape of the lake.

Politics

Results of the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election in Ristijärvi: * Centre Party 41.5% *

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 ...

25.7% * Left Alliance 7.9% *

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 ...

7.6% *

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 ...

7.3% * Christian Democrats 5.8% * Green League 2.3% As of 2021 Finnish municipal elections, Ristijärvi municipal council is made up of: Centre Party (10 seats), Finns Party (2), National Coalition Party (1), Left Alliance (1), and Green League (1).

People born in Ristijärvi

* Salomo Pulkkinen, Member of Parliament * Kari Härkönen, cross country skier * Hannu Takkula, Member of the European Parliament *

Kaisa Mäkäräinen Kaisa Leena Mäkäräinen (born 11 January 1983) is a Finnish former world-champion and 3-time world-cup-winning biathlete, who currently competes for Kontiolahden Urheilijat. Outside sports, Mäkäräinen is currently studying to be a Physics t ...

, biathlete

References

External links

*
Municipality of Ristijärvi
– Official website, , , Municipalities of Kainuu Populated places established in 1867 1867 establishments in the Russian Empire {{OuluProvince-geo-stub