Salo (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈsɑlo]) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the Southwest Finland region. The municipality has a population of 51,563 (March 31, 2021) and covers an area of 2,168.30 square kilometres (837.19 sq mi) of which 181.78 km2 (70.19 sq mi) is water. The population density is 25.96/km2 (67.2/sq mi). The municipality is unilingually Finnish.
In Finnish salo means woodland, backwoods but also a wooded island. It is thought that Salo has meant the island that over thousand years ago existed to the south of the current town but is today (due to the post-glacial rebound typical in the area) a hill, not even very close to the sea.
Salo is located between the capital Helsinki (distance 114 kilometres (71 mi)) and the provincial capital Turku (distance 52 kilometres (32 mi)), making it a busy small city. The short distance from these bigger cities keeps the Salo region and its business life growing. Farming also plays a considerable part in the area. Salo's neighbouring municipalities are Koski Tl, Lohja, Kimitoön, Marttila, Paimio, Raseborg, Sauvo and Somero. It also is sister cities with Saint Anthony Village of Minnesota.
Once the town's main claim to fame, Salo had a large consumer electronics and mobile phone industry, with a manufacturing plant operated by Nokia and briefly by Microsoft Mobile in the 2010s until it was shut down. Nokia was once the dominant employer in the town, and the plant's closure in 2015 has led to high unemployment.
Salo is the birthplace of the president of Finland Sauli Niinistö.
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