Puumala is a municipality of Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

.

It is located in the province

Provinces of Finland

The state of Finland consisted of six provinces between the years 1997 and 2009. The provincial authority was part of the central government's executive branch, not directly elected. The system was created in 1634, and its makeup was changed drastically in 1997, when the number of the provinces...

 of Eastern Finland

Eastern Finland

Eastern Finland was a province of Finland from 1997 to 2010. It bordered the provinces of Oulu, Western Finland and Southern Finland. It also bordered Russia.- History :...

 and is part of the Southern Savonia

Southern Savonia

Southern Savonia is a region in the south-east of Finland. It borders to the regions Northern Savonia, North Karelia, South Karelia, Kymenlaakso, Päijänne Tavastia, and Central Finland...

 region

Regions of Finland

Finland consists of 19 regions called in Finnish and in Swedish. The regions are governed by regional councils, which serve as forums of cooperation for the municipalities of a region. The main tasks of the regions are regional planning and development of enterprise and education. In addition,...

. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of km2 of which km2 is water. The population density

Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 is PD/km2.

The municipality is unilingually Finnish

Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

.

Until the year 1995 a cable ferry

Cable ferry

A cable ferry is guided and in many cases propelled across a river or other larger body of water by cables connected to both shores. They are also called chain ferries, floating bridges, or punts....

 connected the two sides of Puumalansalmi-strait. In 1995, a 781 metres (2,562.3 ft) long bridge replaced the ferry. The bridge is a very dominant structure when looking Puumala town center from a distance.

Puumala has relatively good services compared to the amount of population. In the town center is situated a post office, an Alko

Alko

Alko is the national alcoholic beverage retailing monopoly in Finland. It is the only store in the country which retails beer over 4.7% ABV, wine and spirits. Alcoholic beverages are also sold in licensed restaurants and bars but only for consumption on the premises...

store, a kiosk, several supermakets and a few restaurants. The reason for the survival of these entrepreneurs is the arrival of summer inhabitants who triple the population of Puumala during the season.

External links

• Municipality of Puumala – Official website