Virrat

Virrat (Swedish: Virdois) is a town and municipality of Finland.

For the Martian crater, see Virrat (crater).

Virrat Virdois
Town
Virtain kaupunki Virdois stad
Library of Virrat
Coat of arms
Location of Virrat in Finland
Coordinates: 62°15′N 023°46′E
Country	Finland
Region	Pirkanmaa
Sub-region	Upper Pirkanmaa sub-region
Charter	1868
Government
• Town manager	Vesa Haapamäki
Area  (2018-01-01)[1]
• Total	1,299.07 km^2 (501.57 sq mi)
• Land	1,162.34 km^2 (448.78 sq mi)
• Water	136.73 km^2 (52.79 sq mi)
Area rank	63rd largest in Finland
Population  (2019-01-31)[2]
• Total	6,727
• Rank	140th largest in Finland
• Density	5.79/km^2 (15.0/sq mi)
Population by native language [3]
• Finnish	98.5% (official)
• Swedish	0.1%
• Others	1.4%
Population by age [4]
• 0 to 14	13.4%
• 15 to 64	61.7%
• 65 or older	25%
Time zone	UTC+02:00 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+03:00 (EEST)
Municipal tax rate[5]	19.75%
Website	www.virrat.fi

It is part of the Pirkanmaa region. The town has a population of 6,727 (31 January 2019)[2] and covers an area of 1,299.07 square kilometres (501.57 sq mi) of which 136.73 km² (52.79 sq mi) is water.[1] The population density is 5.79 inhabitants per square kilometre (15.0/sq mi). Apart from the town of Virrat itself, the administratively defined municipality is largely rural, and includes the villages of Äijänneva, Härkönen Jäähdyspohja, Killinkoski, Koro, Kotala, Kurjenkylä, Liedenpohja, Ohtola, Vaskuu and Vaskivesi.

The municipality is unilingually Finnish. Virrat crater on Mars is named after it.

The town grew rapidly in the middle years of the twentieth century, and by 1950 the population reached more than 12,000. Virrat acquired town status in 1977, although it had received the right to hold markets three years earlier, in 1974. More recently the population level has been adversely impacted by the drift of employment opportunities and people to the larger towns.

Major lakes in the area are Toisvesi, beside which the town of Virrat is located, and Tarjanne at the border of the municipalities of Virrat, Mänttä-Vilppula and Ruovesi.

References

1. "Area of Finnish Municipalities 1.1.2018" (PDF). National Land Survey of Finland. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
2. "Suomen virallinen tilasto (SVT): Väestön ennakkotilasto [verkkojulkaisu]. Tammikuu 2019" (in Finnish). Statistics Finland. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
3. "Population according to language and the number of foreigners and land area km2 by area as of 31 December 2008". Statistics Finland's PX-Web databases. Statistics Finland. Retrieved 29 March 2009.
4. "Population according to age and gender by area as of 31 December 2008". Statistics Finland's PX-Web databases. Statistics Finland. Retrieved 28 April 2009.
5. "List of municipal and parish tax rates in 2011". Tax Administration of Finland. 29 November 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.

External links

Media related to Virrat at Wikimedia Commons

• Town of Virrat – Official site (in Finnish, English, and German)