Lemi

Lemi
Municipality
Lemin kunta
Lemi kommun
The center of Lemi
Location of Lemi in Finland
Coordinates: 61°03.7′N 027°48.3′E / 61.0617°N 27.8050°E / 61.0617; 27.8050
Country Finland
RegionSouth Karelia
Sub-regionLappeenranta sub-region
Charter1688
Municipality1867
Government
  Municipal managerSimo Luukkanen
Area
 (2018-01-01)
  Total
262.48 km2 (101.34 sq mi)
  Land217.96 km2 (84.15 sq mi)
  Water44.71 km2 (17.26 sq mi)
  Rank255th largest in Finland
Population
 (2025-03-31)
  Total
2,867
  Rank220th largest in Finland
  Density13.15/km2 (34.1/sq mi)
Population by native language
  Finnish97.6% (official)
  Others2.4%
Population by age
  0 to 1417.3%
  15 to 6456.8%
  65 or older25.8%
Time zoneUTC+02:00 (EET)
  Summer (DST)UTC+03:00 (EEST)
ClimateDfc
Websitewww.lemi.fi

Lemi is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the South Karelia region. The municipality has a population of 2,867 (31 March 2025), which make it the smallest municipality in South Karelia in terms of population. It covers an area of 262.48 square kilometres (101.34 sq mi) of which 44.71 km2 (17.26 sq mi) is water. The population density is 13.15 inhabitants per square kilometre (34.1/sq mi).

The municipality is unilingually Finnish. The Finnish thrash metal band Stam1na is from Lemi. In 2018 Lemi won the title "heavy metal capital of the world," a title that was determined by number of bands per capita. Lemi had 13 recognised bands. Due to Lemi only having just 3,076 inhabitants at the time, it won with a ratio of 422.6 bands per 100,000 inhabitants.