Raisio (; ) is a town in Finland, located in the Southwest Finland region. It lies north of the regional capital, Turku. The population of Raisio is approximately , while the Turku sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the most populous municipality in Finland, and the third largest municipality in the Southwest Finland region after Turku and Kaarina.
The town of Raisio has a land area of ,
The coat of arms of Raisio is inspired by Martin of Tours, the patron saint of the medieval stone church of Raisio parish. The coat of arms was designed by Olof Eriksson and approved for use on 23 April 1954.
History
The oldest known written record of Raisio is from 1292, and there is strong evidence of
Stone Age settlement in the area, but Raisio did not become a town until 1974. It was an agricultural area until the late 20th century. The success of the
Raisio Group company transformed the town into an industrial centre and triggered a huge increase in population - during the 20th century the population of Raisio increased elevenfold. The town's existence was threatened by Turku city's plans to merge with Raisio. This changed after the Raisio Group became a successful company.
Name
The name
Raisio was originally given to the river
Raisionjoki. The earliest form of the
river's name is
Raisajoki, which means "
marsh/
bog river", and
etymological evidence for this can be found in the Estonian word
raisnik, which means "
mire". Another theory about the
etymology of the name
Raisio is that it comes from the word
raiskio, meaning a
forest damaged by poor
foresting, as the Raisio landscape was altered by siltation and post-glacial uplift after the Ice Age.
Politics
Results of the 2019 Finnish parliamentary election in Raisio:
-
Social Democratic Party 23.9%
-
True Finns 22.5%
-
National Coalition Party 19.2%
-
Left Alliance 13.2%
-
Green League 7.2%
-
Centre Party 6.7%
-
Christian Democrats 2.1%
-
Movement Now 1.8%
-
Swedish People's Party 1.8%
Economy
The town's location, with good transport links and close to the regional capital, has contributed greatly to its growth. Its main industries are services, food and chemical production. The largest employer in the town is the Raisio Group, a manufacturer of food, animal feed and health products.
Raisio is also home to the Mylly shopping centre, one of the largest in Scandinavia.
The town also has the third IKEA of Finland.
The biggest employers in Raisio:
| +
!Employer
!Employees |
| City of Raisio (2023) | 800 |
| Raisiokeskus in total (2020) | 500 |
| Raisio Oyj (2020) | 330 |
| Ikea Raisio (2020) | 190 |
| Inhan Tehtaat Oy Ab (2021) | 171 |
| HIAB, Raisio (2020) | 170 |
| TYKS/Raisio hospital (2020) | 150 |
| Konepaja Häkkinen Oy (2021) | 133 |
| Kaukora Oy (2021) | 127 |
| Veho Oy ja Veho Group Oy (2020) | 122 |
| Bauhaus (2020) | 100 |
| TRP Group (2021) | 99 |
| Bunge Finland Oy (2021) | 90 |
| Tuulilasivarikko Oy (2021) | 79 |
| Varsinais-Suomen Auto-Center (2021) | 74 |
| Oy Martinex Ab (2021) | 61 |
| Raision Sähkö-insto Oy (2021) | 60 |
Points of interest
The town of Raisio has many cultural facilities, such as the Friisilä Handicraft Centre, which offers visitors an insight into traditional Finnish handicrafts. The Harkko Cultural Centre in the town centre includes an art museum, an archaeological museum and a theatre. The town library and the Ulpukka swimming centre are also worth a visit. Raisio is also home to Finland's largest secondary school, Vaisaaren yläkoulu.
Raisio railway station, located on the Turku-Uusikaupunki railway line, has been declared a built cultural environment of national significance by the Finnish Heritage Agency.
Demographics
Population
The city of Raisio has inhabitants, making it the most populous municipality in Finland. The city of Raisio is part of the
Turku sub-region, which is the third largest urban area in Finland with inhabitants.
Languages
Raisio is a monolingual
Finnish language municipality. , the majority of the population, persons (), spoke Finnish as their first language. In addition, the number of Swedish speakers was persons () of the population. Foreign languages were spoken by of the population.
As
English language and
Swedish language are compulsory school subjects, functional bilingualism or trilingualism acquired through language studies is not uncommon.
At least 30 different languages are spoken in Raisio. The most common foreign languages are Ukrainian (2.2%), Russian language (2.2%), Albanian (1.3%) and Bosnian language (0.9%).
Immigration
Population by country of birth (2024) |
|
| 87.7 |
| 2.5 |
| 1.2 |
| 1.1 |
| 0.8 |
| 0.5 |
| 0.5 |
| 0.4 |
| 0.4 |
| 0.3 |
| 0.3 |
| 4.2 |
|
, there were 3,557 persons with a foreign background living in Raisio, or 14% of the population. The number of residents who were born abroad was 3,171, or 12% of the population. The number of persons with foreign citizenship living in Raisio was 2,296. Most foreign-born citizens came from the former
Soviet Union, the former
Yugoslavia,
Ukraine and
Estonia.
The relative share of immigrants in Raisio's population is above the national average. Moreover, the city's new residents are increasingly of foreign origin. This will increase the proportion of foreign residents in the coming years.
Religion
In 2023, the Evangelical Lutheran Church was the largest religious group with 62.1% of the population of Raisio. Other religious groups accounted for 2.9% of the population. 35.0% of the population had no religious affiliation.
[ Key figures on population by region, 1990-2023 Statistics Finland]
Notable residents
Twin towns – sister cities
Raisio is
twin towns with:
Notes
External links
