Puolanka

Puolanka (Finnish: [ˈpuo̯lɑŋkɑ]; Swedish: Puolanka, also Puolango) is a municipality in Finland located in the Kainuu region. The municipality has a population of 2,322 (31 December 2025) and covers an area of 2,598.68 square kilometres (1,003.36 sq mi) of which 137.3 km2 (53.0 sq mi) is water. The population density is 0.94 inhabitants per square kilometre (2.4/sq mi). The municipality is unilingually Finnish. The fir-tree topped line in the coat of arms of Puolanka refers to local forestry and the cattle bells to livestock management and past grazing in forest lands. The coat of arms was designed by Aake Kaarnama, and the Puolanka municipal council approved it at its meeting on 8 June 1962. The Ministry of the Interior approved the coat of arms for use on 29 August of the same year. Puolanka has been called the "most pessimistic municipality in Finland". In 2019, the municipality gained worldwide publicity when the BBC published a video about Puolanka, describing it as the "most pessimistic town in the world". Pessimism has a long tradition in the Kainuu region, and the residents of Puolanka decided to make it their trademark, which is why the residents organize various events related to the topic every year. The name Puolanka is of Sámi origin, meaning "burning land" (compare to modern Northern Sámi word buollán "burning land"), with -nka being a Finnish feature.