Vörå (; ; ) 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, ...

, located on the west coast of the country. Vörå is situated in Ostrobothnia, along the

Gulf of Bothnia The Gulf of Bothnia (; ; ) is divided into the Bothnian Bay and the Bothnian Sea, and it is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea, between Finland's west coast ( East Bothnia) and the northern part of Sweden's east coast ( West Bothnia an ...

, about east of

Vaasa Vaasa (; , ), formerly (1855-1917) known as Nikolaistad (; ),Kokkola Kokkola (; , ) is a town in Finland and the regional capital of Central Ostrobothnia. It is located on the west coast of the country, on the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Kokkola is approximately , while the Kokkola sub-region, sub-region h ...

. The population of Vörå is approximately , while the

sub-region A subregion is a part of a larger geographical region or continent. Cardinal directions are commonly used to define subregions. There are many criteria for creating systems of subregions; this article is focusing on the United Nations geoscheme ...

has a population of approximately . It is the most populous

in Finland. Vörå is a

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

municipality with

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

and Finnish as its official languages. The population consists of Finnish speakers, Swedish speakers, and speakers of other languages.

Etymology

The name ''Vörå'' was first mentioned in documents in 1367 and the parish of Vörå was first mentioned in 1443. The parish name has been the subject of both historical and

toponymy Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' ( proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for a proper na ...

research since at least 1734. It has been debated whether the name is originally Swedish ''Vörå'' or Finnish ''Vöyri'' and what the basis for the name was. The parish of Vörå is located on a historical language border. Its village names and many family names are undoubtedly of Finnish origin. It is estimated that the population only became Swedish during the 16th century. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that the parish name itself is of Finnish origin.

Lars Huldén Lars Evert Huldén (5 February 1926 – 11 October 2016) was a Swedish-speaking Finn writer, scholar and translator. Born in Jakobstad, Finland, he was professor at University of Helsinki 1964–1989. In 1986 Huldén received an honorary doctorat ...

believed that the original name is Finnish and one-part, possibly derived from the word ''vieru''. Its

diphthong A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...

reverts to a long '' e'' and is seen in the old spelling ''Weru''. Huldén believed that the factual basis for the name was its

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

: an edge, a cliff, or a place from which the earth has rolled away.

History

The first church in Vörå was built in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. The church was built on the hill in the early 16th century, and the current church was completed in 1627. The oldest livelihoods of the people of Vörå were

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

and

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...

. In the 18th century, tar making also became common. Agriculture developed considerably in the 19th century, when the municipality began to industrialize. The

Battle of Oravais The Battle of Oravais (occasionally Orawais; ; ) from September 14 until September 15 was one of the decisive battles in the Finnish War, fought from 1808 to 1809 between Sweden and the Russian Empire as part of the wider Napoleonic Wars. Takin ...

during the

Finnish War The Finnish War (; ; ) was fought between the Gustavian era, Kingdom of Sweden and the Russian Empire from 21 February 1808 to 17 September 1809 as part of the Napoleonic Wars. As a result of the war, the eastern third of Sweden was established a ...

(1808–1809) took place in Vörå on 14 September 1808. The former municipality called Old Vörå had a population of 3,524 (2003) and covered an area of of which is water. The population density was 8.3 inhabitants per km². The majority were speakers of

(85%) and the minority speakers of Finnish (14%). In 2011, Vörå was formed by merging the municipalities of Vörå-Maxmo and

Oravais Oravais () is a former municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Ostrobothnia region. The municipality had a population of 2,189 (31 October 2010) and covered a land area of . The population de ...

. Vörå-Maxmo, in turn, was established in 2007 by merging the municipalities of (old) Vörå and

Maxmo Maxmo () is a former municipality of Finland. It was located in the province of Western Finland and was part of the Ostrobothnia region. The municipality was consolidated with Vörå to form the new municipality of Vörå-Maxmo in 2007. The ...

Economy

As an economic region, Vörå belongs to the

Vaasa sub-region Vaasa sub-region is a subdivision of Ostrobothnia and one of the Sub-regions of Finland Sub-regions (, ) are divisions used for Statistics, statistical purposes in Finland. The country is divided into 69 sub-regions, which are formed by grou ...

, whose regional

gross domestic product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performanc ...

per capita was €47,978 in 2022. The regional GDP is higher than the national average and the 11th largest among the regions. As of 2014, primary industries in Vörå employ "15.5 per cent of the population, 32.9 per cent of people work in the industrial sector, and 50.3 per cent of people work in the service sector."

Education

''Vörå idrottsgymnasium'', a Swedish-language sports high school, operates at the Campus Norrvalla camp center in Vörå.

Culture

Vörå has its own Swedish dialect, which is part of the Ostrobothnian Swedish dialects. In the 1980s, a clot soup called ''vöråsoppan'' was named the traditional dish of Vörå. Vörå is the hometown of the comedy trio

KAJ Kaj may refer to: Places * Kaj River, a river of Afghanistan Places in Iran * Kaj, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari * Kaj, Hamadan * Kaj, Isfahan * Kaj, Qom * Kaj, Razavi Khorasan * Kaj, Sistan and Baluchestan People and characters * Kaj (name) * A fict ...

, which consists of Kevin Holmström, Axel Åhman, and Jakob Norrgård. The group represented

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2025 The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 was the 69th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Basel, Switzerland, following the country's victory at the with the song "The Code (Nemo song), The Code" by Nemo (singer), Nemo. Organised ...

after winning

Melodifestivalen 2025 Melodifestivalen 2025 was the 65th edition of the Swedish music competition Melodifestivalen, organised by (SVT) and took place over a six-week period between 1 February and 8 March 2025, hosted by Edvin Törnblom and Kristina "Keyyo" Petrus ...

with their song "

Bara bada bastu "" () is a song by KAJ (group), KAJ, a group from the Swedish-speaking population of Finland, Swedish-speaking minority in Finland, released as a single on 21 February 2025 through Warner Music Sweden. The song was written by the group alongside ...

Notable people

Immanuel Bäck Jacob Immanuel Bäck (25 May 1876 – 7 March 1939) was a Finnish Lutheran clergyman and politician. He was a member of the Parliament of Finland from 1922 to 1924 and again from 1927 to 1930, representing the Swedish People's Party of Finland ...

(1876–1939), Lutheran clergyman and politician *

Johannes Bäck Alfred Johannes Bäck (1 September 1872 - 22 March 1952) was a Finnish Lutheran clergyman and politician. He was a member of the Parliament of Finland from 1907 to 1913 and again from 1916 to 1919, representing the Swedish People's Party of Finlan ...

(1872–1952), Lutheran clergyman and politician *

Edvard Haga Edvard Haga (19 October 1893, Vörå - 21 January 1968) was a Finnish farmer, bank director and politician. He was a member of the Parliament of Finland from 1929 to 1944, representing the Swedish People's Party of Finland The Swedish People's ...

(1893–1968), farmer, bank director and politician *

(Kevin Holmström, Axel Åhman, and Jakob Norrgård; born 1993), music and comedy group * Johannes Miemois (1866–1924), farmer and politician *

David Söderberg David Söderberg (born 11 August 1979 in Vörå) is a male hammer thrower from Finland. His personal best throw is 78.83 metres, achieved in July 2003 in Lahti. He won the bronze medal at the 2003 Summer Universiade and finished fourth at the 2 ...

(born 1979), hammer thrower * Tim Sparv (born 1987), football coach and a former professional footballer

References

External links

Municipality of Vörå
– Official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Vora Populated places established in 2011