title: Lestijärvi
text: # Lestijärvi
  
  Lestijärvi is a municipality of Finland. There is also the Lake Lestijärvi in the area.
  
  Lestijärvi is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Central Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of 682 (28 February 2023), which make it the smallest municipality in Central Ostrobothnia in terms of population. It covers an area of 559.06 square kilometres (215.85 sq mi) of which 78.37 $km^2$ (30.26 sq mi) is water. The population density is 1.42 inhabitants per square kilometre (3.7/sq mi).
  
  Neighbouring municipalities are Halsua, Kinnula, Kokkola, Perho, Reisjärvi, Sievi and Toholampi.
  
  The municipality is unilingually Finnish.
  
  ## Demographics
  
  This small, isolated rural area suffers from depopulation as in many other similar parts of Finland. The local community provide a subsidy of €1,000 p.a. to families who have a child and stay in the community. Other areas of Finland have similar schemes, such as providing very cheap land. After several years, the subsidy seems to be increasing the number of children in the community.
  
  ## People born in Lestijärvi
  
  * Arthur Aspelin (1868 – 1949)
  * Heimo Rekonen (1920 – 1997)
  