Kitee
Town in North Karelia, Finland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kitee (Finnish: [ˈkiteː]; Swedish: Kides) is a town and a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the North Karelia region, about 65 kilometres (40 mi) south of Joensuu and about 175 kilometres (109 mi) northeast of Lappeenranta. The municipality has a population of 9,483 (30 June 2025)[2] and covers an area of 1,724.41 square kilometres (665.80 sq mi) of which 275.61 km2 (106.41 sq mi) is water.[1] The population density is 7.56 inhabitants per square kilometre (19.6/sq mi).
Kitee
Kides | |
|---|---|
Town | |
| Kiteen kaupunki Kides stad | |
 Kitee Church | |
 Coat of arms | |
 Location of Kitee in Finland | |
| Coordinates: 62°06′N 030°08′E | |
| Country |  Finland |
| Region | North Karelia |
| Sub-region | Central Karelia |
| Charter | 1631 |
| City rights | 1992 |
| Government | |
| • Town manager | Kirsi Hämäläinen |
| Area (2018-01-01)[1] | |
• Total | 1,724.41 km2 (665.80 sq mi) |
| • Land | 1,253.82 km2 (484.10 sq mi) |
| • Water | 275.61 km2 (106.41 sq mi) |
| • Rank | 57th largest in Finland |
| Population (2025-06-30)[2] | |
• Total | 9,483 |
| • Rank | 102nd largest in Finland |
| • Density | 7.56/km2 (19.6/sq mi) |
| Population by native language | |
| • Finnish | 91.5% (official) |
| • Others | 8.5% |
| Population by age | |
| • 0 to 14 | 11.2% |
| • 15 to 64 | 51.8% |
| • 65 or older | 37% |
| Time zone | UTC+02:00 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+03:00 (EEST) |
| Website | www |
The municipality is unilingually Finnish. Neighbouring municipalities are Parikkala, Rääkkylä, Savonlinna and Tohmajärvi.
History
Villages
- Haapasalo
- Haarajärvi
- Hammaskallio
- Heinoniemi
- Jaakkima
- Juurikka
- Kantosyrjä
- Kiteenkylä
- Kiteenlahti
- Kontiola
- Kunonniemi
- Lahdenkylä
- Leinovaara
- Loukunvaara
- Misola
- Muljula
- Niinikumpu
- Nivunki
- Närsäkkälä
- Ojamäki
- Piimäjärvi
- Potoskavaara
- Puhos
- Puhossalo
- Päätye
- Riihijärvi
- Rokkala
- Ruppovaara
- Satulavaara
- Suoparsaari
- Suorlahti
- Särkijärvi
- Säynejärvi
- Taipale
- Tasapää
- Tolosenmäki
- Varmoniemi
- Välivaara
Sports
The men's pesäpallo club Kiteen Pallo -90 competes in the Superpesis national league, playing at Shore Field.
Notable people
- The founding members of symphonic metal band Nightwish all hail from the town of Kitee:
- Tarja Turunen, singer
- Emppu Vuorinen, guitarist
- Tuomas Holopainen, keyboardist
- Sami Vänskä, bassist
- Jukka Nevalainen, drummer
- Only Holopainen and Vuorinen remain in the band to this day. (Forced by health issues to stop performing, Nevalainen remains part of the band's management).
- Antti Aalto, ski-jumper
- Nils Ludvig Arppe, industrialist
- Tomek Valtonen, ice hockey coach and player
