Närpes

Närpes (Finnish: Närpiö) is a town and municipality of Finland.

The municipality is located in the former province of Western Finland (all provinces were abolished in 2010) and is part of the Ostrobothnia region. The town has a population of 9,422 (30 June 2015) and covers an area of 2,334.15 square kilometres (901.22 sq mi) of which 1,357 km² (524 sq mi) is water. The population density is 9.64 inhabitants per square kilometre (25.0/sq mi).

The municipality is unilingually Swedish. In 2014 the municipal council made a decision to transform Närpes into a bilingual municipality, but this decision has not yet been implemented. Due to many residents being descendants of Swedish migrants from centuries ago, they speak a very archaic Swedish dialect. It has not evolved in the same way as modern Swedish, and resembles Old Swedish. The many bands who sing in that dialect include 1G3B and Nektor.

Economically, the municipality is known for extensive greenhouse farming of tomatoes and manufacture of trailers for trucks.