Content in this edit is translated from the existing Finnish Wikipedia article at [[:fi:Luhanka]]; see its history for attribution.{{Translated|fi|Luhanka}} to the talk page.
Luhanka (Swedish: Luhanka, also Luhango) is a municipalityofFinland. It is located in the Central Finland region. The municipality has a population of 702 (31 December 2023)[2] and covers an area of 313.25 square kilometres (120.95 sq mi) of which 98.73 km2 (38.12 sq mi) is water.[1]
Luhangan kunta
Luhanka kommun
Country
Joutsa sub-region
1864
• Municipal manager
Reijo Urtti
• Total
313.25 km2 (120.95 sq mi)
• Land
214.5 km2 (82.8 sq mi)
• Water
98.73 km2 (38.12 sq mi)
• Rank
256th largest in Finland
• Total
702
• Rank
300th largest in Finland
• Density
3.27/km2 (8.5/sq mi)
• Finnish
99.1% (official)
• Others
0.9%
• 0 to 14
8.4%
• 15 to 64
49.9%
• 65 or older
41.6%
• Summer (DST)
Website
The population density is 3.27 inhabitants per square kilometre (8.5/sq mi). There are also many summertime cottages in Luhanka.
The municipality is unilingually Finnish. The municipality is also been known as "Luhango" in Swedish documents.[5]
Mimicking the badger in the coat of arms of Luhanka, the permanent residents include the official animal mascot of the municipality, Sisu the Badger (Sisu-mäyrä).[6]
Neighboring municipalities are Hartola, Joutsa, Jyväskylä, Jämsä, Kuhmoinen and Sysmä.
There are all together 61 lakes in Luhanka. Biggest lakes in Luhanka are Päijänne, Tammijärvi-Hauha and Jutilanjärvi.[7]
Luhanka was first mentioned as a village within the Sysmä parish in 1462. The village gets its name from the lake Luhankjärvi or Luhankajärvi, the name of which comes from the word luha, a variant of luhta, a word which refers to a type of swamp. -nka is a derivational suffix, which is also found in other place names such as Puolanka and Maaninka.
It was granted a chapel in 1767 and became a separate parish in 1864. Due to the small population of the municipality, the parish of Luhanka became subordinate to the parish of Joutsa in 2006.[8][9]
Media related to Luhanka at Wikimedia Commons
