Kouvola Explained

Kouvola
Official Name:Finnish: Kouvolan kaupunki
Swedish: Kouvola stad
English: City of Kouvola
Settlement Type:City
Motto:Näköisesi paikka (The place you look like)
Coordinates:60.8681°N 26.7042°W
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name: Finland
Subdivision Type1:Region
Subdivision Name1: Kymenlaakso
Subdivision Type2:Sub-region
Subdivision Name2:Kouvola sub-region
Leader Title:City manager
Leader Name:Marita Toikka
Established Title:Charter
Established Date:1922
Established Title2:City rights
Established Date2:1960
Population Metro:60,776
Population Density Metro Km2:267
Population Urban:55,372
Blank3 Name:Climate
Blank3 Info:Dfc
Timezone:EET
Utc Offset:+02:00
Timezone Dst:EEST
Utc Offset Dst:+03:00
Postal Code Type:Postal code
Postal Code:45100

Kouvola (in Finnish pronounced as /ˈkou̯ʋolɑ/) is a city in Finland and the administrative capital of Kymenlaakso. It is located in the southeastern interior of the country. The population of Kouvola is approximately . It is the most populous municipality in Finland, and the 17th most populous urban area in the country.

Kouvola is located along the Kymijoki River in the region of Kymenlaakso, kilometers east of Lahti, west of Lappeenranta and northeast of the capital, Helsinki. With Kotka, Kouvola is one of the capital centers and is the largest city in the Kymenlaakso region.

The urban area of Kouvola in the city centre itself is home to about 47,000 people.[1] The city covers an area of NaNKouvola}} of which NaNKouvola}} is water. The population density is NaNKouvola. Kouvola is bordered by the municipalities of Hamina, Heinola, Iitti, Kotka, Lapinjärvi, Loviisa, Luumäki, Miehikkälä, Mäntyharju, Pyhtää and Savitaipale. Kouvola has over 450 lakes and, together with Mäntyharju, the Kouvola area includes the Repovesi National Park.[2]

Kouvola, which had population growth as late as the 1980s, has suffered a loss of migration since the 1990s. Over time, the loss has only deepened, so that at the end of the 2010s Kouvola was Finland's worst migration loss area. Natural demographics have also trended downward; in 2017, more than 450 more people died in the city than new ones were born.[3] The reasons for the emigration are thought to be largely due to job losses in the region.[4] [5]

History

The village of Kouvola has been inhabited since the Middle Ages, and it has belonged alternately to the churches of Hollola, Iitti and Valkeala. However, the actual development did not start until the 1870s when the Riihimäki–Saint Petersburg line was built and Kouvola became a railway junction.[2] Kouvola railroad built Kymin mill founder Axel Wilhelm Wahren railway administration by on application, on the basis of the track engineers decided to recommend the creation of a fifth-end position in a half mile east of the variable alert Otava with acceptance on sandy soil on fabric. In the next decade, the Savonia railway was built from Kouvola to the north and the Kotka line to the south, resulting in Kouvola becoming one of the busiest railway junctions in Finland. Over time, Kouvola developed into an important pulp-producing, paper-milling and printing centre and even had a leading industrial engineering sector.[2]

In 1918, conflict between the Red and White factions raged heavily during the Finnish Civil War. More than 200 people were killed in the area during the fighting.

As a result of the railway, Kouvola was heavily built. In 1922 it was separated from the municipality of Valkeala and gained commercial rights immediately the following year. The city of Kouvola was established in 1960. Kouvola was annexed to Viipuri Province in 1922–1945 but in 1940 and 1944, most of Viipuri County was ceded to the Soviet Union, and the remaining areas were formed into Kymi Province in 1945. Kouvola had also become an administrative center; As the capital of Kymen County, it operated from 1955 until the 1997 county reform.

In January 2009, the six municipalities of Kouvola, Kuusankoski, Elimäki, Anjalankoski, Valkeala and Jaala were consolidated, forming the new municipality of Kouvola. Kouvola has also assumed the slogan Kymijoen kaupunki (the town of Kymijoki) previously used by Anjalankoski.[6]

Culture

Province History of Kouvola

Sports

Kouvola is the hometown of the Sudet sports club, which became Finnish champions in bandy six consecutive times, and they have a football team which is playing at the fourth highest level, Kolmonen, despite Sudet being one of the oldest football clubs in Finland. KooKoo is the most successful ice hockey team in Kymenlaakso. It plays in the Finnish top league, SM-liiga. Kouvolan Pallonlyöjät (KPL) is a baseball team based in Kouvola and known for Pesäpallo. KPL was won five Finnish championships and it plays in the Finnish top league, Superpesis. Kouvot is a basketball team based in Kouvola. the team plays in the highest level Korisliiga and has won four Finnish championships.

MyPa is one of the most successful football clubs in Finland and the 1990s was the golden era. MyPa is played 23 seasons in the Finnish top football league Veikkausliiga. MyPa are based in the industrial village of Myllykoski, part of the city of Kouvola. The club became inactive in professional football after having ceased operations in 2015 due to financial difficulties. In 2017, MyPa returned and started again from the fourth highest tier but has quickly risen to the second highest level, Ykkönen, where it is now playing.Kouvola also has a Palomäki Ski Jump Center, very close to the city, where young people and other sports enthusiasts can go to jump on a ski jump.

Local government

City Council of Kouvola! Party!Seats
Social Democratic Party16
National Coalition Party13
Centre Party9
Green League6
Finns Party5
Christian Democrats4
Sitoutumattomat (Independent)2
Left Alliance2
Suur-Kouvolan sitoutumattomat2

Climate

Kouvola has humid continental climate (Dfb).The city has four distinct seasons, the amount of precipitation is relatively uniform throughout the year. The driest season is spring. Summers are generally relatively warm as the city is considered to be one of the hottest cities in Finland as it has had the most days with "helle" (temperatures above 25°C) since 2000. Winters are cold and long, colder than cities located in the coastal areas of Finland because of its location further inland, meaning the marine effect doesn't affect the city as much than those nearer the sea and specially those nearer the southwestern coasts of the Finnish side of Gulf of Finland. This also means that the summers are warmer due to it being further inland as the sea effect is making the summer temperatures slightly cooler in coastal areas. The average annual temperature is 5.4C. The highest ever recorded temperature in the station was 34.5C, on July 28, 2010. The lowest ever recorded was -37.3C. The city has a significant rainfall throughout the year and even in the driest month the precipitation stays over a month. The average duration of sunshine per year is 1,658 hours. Kouvola Utti airport weather station has on average somewhat lower average temperatures than in the city.

Demographics

Population

The city of Kouvola has inhabitants, making it the most populous municipality in Finland. In Kouvola, 5.4% of the population has a foreign background, which is below to the national average.[8]

Languages

Kouvola is a monolingual Finnish-speaking municipality. There are Swedish speakers in Kouvola, or of the population.[8] As English and Swedish are compulsory school subjects, functional bilingualism or trilingualism acquired through language studies is not uncommon.

At least 40 different languages are spoken in Kouvola. The most commonly spoken foreign languages are Russian (1.9%), Estonian (0.5%), Arabic (0.3%) and Ukrainian (0.2%).[8]

Immigration

Population by country of birth (2022)
Nationality Population %
73,735 95.3
1,116 1.4
321 0.4
235 0.3
210 0.3
190 0.2
123 0.2
112 0.1
93 0.1
71 0.1
54 0.1
Other 1,075 1.4
, there were 4,221 persons with a migrant background living in Kouvola, or 5.4% of the population. The number of residents who were born abroad was 4,112, or 5.2% of the population. The number of persons with foreign citizenship living in Kouvola was 2,609.[8] Most foreign-born citizens came from the former Soviet Union, Estonia, Russia and Sweden.

The relative share of immigrants in Kouvola's population is below to the national average. However, the city's new residents are increasingly of foreign origin. This will increase the proportion of foreign residents in the coming years.

Religion

In 2023, the Evangelical Lutheran Church was the largest religious group with 69.2% of the population of Kouvola. Other religious groups accounted for 2.0% of the population. 28.8% of the population had no religious affiliation.[9]

International relations

See main article: List of twin towns and sister cities in Finland.

Twin towns and sister cities

Kouvola is twinned with:[10]

Regionalization

Region CommitteePopulationArea km2Population Density
Kouvola central (1)30,18544.88672.57
Kuusankoski (2)20,647692.0729.83
Anjalankoski (3)15,000752.9219.92
Valkeala (4)11,4331003.7211.39
Elimäki (5)7,900391.7420.17
5 region Committee85,1652,885.3329.52
Jaala is only one does not form its own regional committee, but is part of the Kuusankoski regional committee.

Notable people

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://pxnet2.stat.fi/PXWeb/pxweb/fi/StatFin/StatFin__vrm__vaerak/statfin_vaerak_pxt_11s8.px/table/tableViewLayout1/ Taajamat väkiluvun ja väestöntiheyden mukaan 31.12.2019
  2. Web site: Kouvola – strategic and beautiful. Katherine. Kruk. Helsinki Times. 5 April 2012. 2 November 2022.
  3. Web site: Kouvola suuren tuskan edessä . . October 13, 2021 . fi.
  4. Web site: Kaakkois-Suomen suurin kaupunki vaihtuu, jos väestöennuste toteutuu – Kouvolan väkiluku vähenee tuhansilla . . October 13, 2021 . fi.
  5. Web site: Älkää lähtekö!. Sonia. el Kamel. Touko. Hujanen. Ylioppilaslehti. November 27, 2020. October 13, 2021. fi.
  6. Web site: Kouvolan kaupunki . 20 June 2010 . Website of Kouvola.
  7. Web site: Jäntti. Pasi. Mikä on kouvo?. September 17, 2021. Kaleva. fi. May 17, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140517123839/http://www.kaleva.fi/karhu/kysy-karhuista/mika-on-kouvo/23892/. dead.
  8. Web site: Population growth biggest in nearly 70 years . 2024-04-26 . Population structure . Statistics Finland . 1797-5395 . 2024-04-29 .
  9. https://pxdata.stat.fi/PXWeb/pxweb/en/StatFin/StatFin__vaerak/statfin_vaerak_pxt_11ra.px Key figures on population by region, 1990-2023
  10. Web site: Kansainvälinen Kouvola . City of Kouvola . 20 May 2019 . 21 August 2019 . fi .