Salo, Finland

Salo has existed as a centre of rural commerce since at least the 16th century, emerging in the location where the Great Coastal Road,^[7] the important East-West road, crossed River Salo; the river provided the fairway to the sea. In 1887 Salo officially became a market town and, in the beginning of 1891, an independent municipality.^[8] The area of the municipality was initially very small, only 0.65 km². In 1932 it grew to 18 km² when areas from neighbouring Uskela and Halikko were annexed to Salo. Eventually Salo became a town in 1960. The municipality of Uskela was consolidated with Salo 1967. The municipalities of Halikko, Kiikala, Kisko, Kuusjoki, Muurla, Perniö, Pertteli, Suomusjärvi and Särkisalo were consolidated with Salo in the beginning of 2009.Salo is also a popular last name in Finland.

Population

The city of Salo has 51,097 inhabitants, making it the 20th most populous municipality in Finland. The Salo region has a population of 59,506. In Salo, 7.4% of the population has a foreign background, which is slightly below the national average.^[11]

Languages

Salo is a monolingual Finnish-speaking municipality. The majority of the population - 46,698 people or 91.7% - speak Finnish as their first language. In Salo, 596 people, or 1.2% of the population, speak Swedish.^[11] 7.1% of the population of Salo have a mother tongue other than Finnish or Swedish.^[11] As English and Swedish are compulsory school subjects, functional bilingualism or trilingualism acquired through language studies is not uncommon.

At least 30 different languages are spoken in Salo. The most common foreign languages are Russian (1.7%), Estonian (1.4%), Kurdish (0.5%) and Albanian (0.4%).^[11]

Immigration

Population by country of birth (2022)[11]
Nationality	Population	%
Finland	47,428	93.1
Soviet Union	748	1.5
Estonia	590	1.2
Sweden	223	0.4
Iraq	198	0.4
Russia	133	0.3
Thailand	121	0.2
Latvia	111	0.2
Yugoslavia	106	0.2
China	98	0.2
Ukraine	96	0.2
Other	1,081	2.1

In 2022, there were 3,758 persons with a migrant background living in Salo, or 7.4% of the population.^{[note 1]} The number of residents who were born abroad was 3,505, or 6.9% of the population. The number of persons with foreign citizenship living in Salo was 2,462.^[13] Most foreign-born citizens came from the former Soviet Union, Estonia, Sweden and Iraq.^[11]

The relative share of immigrants in Salo's population is slightly below 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 2022, the Evangelical Lutheran Church was the largest religious group with 72.1% of the population of Salo. Other religious groups accounted for 1.8% of the population. 26.2% of the population had no religious affiliation.^[11]

Salo was well known in Finland and around the world for its large mobile phone factory operated by Nokia. Nokia first started producing mobile phones in Salo in 1981. A new plant, 15,000 square metres, opened in June 1995. By this time 1,200 people were employed there, and it exported products to 70 countries as of 1995.^[14] As of 2008, 5,000 people were employed at the plant.^[15]

In 2012 amid heavy financial losses, Nokia laid off a third of Salo's 3,500 workforce and gradually shifted manufacturing to Asia. It had a negative impact on the town with unemployment rising. In 2010 Nokia accounted for 95% of the town's corporate tax income, amounting to €60 million, but this dropped to just €14 million by 2012.^[16] By the end of the year Salo no longer produced hardware and became a research and development centre.

After the centre was in the hands of Microsoft Mobile, layoffs continued and eventually in June 2015 Microsoft announced the closure of the plant, putting the jobs of the 1,100 employees at risk. By this time Salo's unemployment rate was 15%, and the layoffs could push that further to 20%. Solidarity was expressed by some Finnish politicians after Salo's decline, which also came amid Finland's slow post-2008 crisis economy.^[17]

The city is home to the professional basketball team Salon Vilpas Vikings, which plays in the Finish 1st Division Korisliiga. It plays its home games in the Salohalli. The most important orienteering club is Angelniemen Ankkuri, which organizes the Halikko relay every autumn.

European route E18 runs through Salo, passing the city center a few kilometers North, but the national road 52 between Raseborg and Somero goes through the city center. The "Coastal Railway" from Helsinki to Turku and further to Turku Harbour crosses the town center; all InterCity trains and most of the high-speed Pendolino trains stop at Salo railway station. The closest airports are Turku Airport (limited number of domestic and international flights) and Helsinki-Vantaa Airport.

In 2016, the city of Salo signed a letter of intent with Los Angeles-based company Virgin Hyperloop One in order to launch a project to build a 50 km long Hyperloop tube between Salo and Turku.^[18]

In recent years, the town of Salo has become known for the popular Kurpitsaviikot ("Pumpkin Weeks"), which are organized in Halikko in every autumn.^[19] At the local field, thousands of different sizes pumpkins and carved jack-o'-lanterns are presented to tourists.^{[20][21][22][23]} The event celebrating Halloween culture has gathered audiences from all over Finland, from Hanko to Ivalo,^[24][20][21] and for example, the event organized in 2020 had as many as 100,000 visitors.^[25] The event has also been noticed abroad, all the way to North America.^[26]

Twin towns — eleven cities

Salo has eight sister cities:^[27]

• Anija, Estonia
• Elva, Estonia
• Gárdony, Hungary
• Nagykanizsa, Hungary
• Odder, Denmark
• Puchheim, Germany
• Rzhev, Russia
• St. Anthony, Minnesota, USA
• Wuhan, China
• Danang, Vietnam

• 
  Wooden Salo Church
• 
  Municipal library. The new library building has been designed to fit in the environment of old wooden houses.
• 
  Salo River at night
• 
  Lake Lahnajärvi in the former Suomusjärvi municipality in Salo.
• 
  Microsoft premises in Salo.
• 
  Apartment building along Turuntie.
• 
  Art gallery in the old locomotive shed.
• 
  Nokia building in Salo in 2002

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Salo.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Salo.

• Town of Salo – Official website