It is located in the province of Lapland along the Tornio River, opposite the Swedish town of Övertorneå about 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) by road to its northwest. The two localities are connected by an international bridge that goes between Övertorneå through an island and enters Finland in a rural portion of Ylitornio's municipality, about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) north of town. Literally translated to English the two locations would be called Upper Tornio.
The municipality has a population of 3,736 (31 October 2024)[2] and covers an area of 2,212.47 square kilometres (854.24 sq mi) of which 183.83 km2 (70.98 sq mi) is water.[1] The population density is 1.84 inhabitants per square kilometre (4.8/sq mi).
The municipality is unilingually Finnish in contrast to much of far-western Finland. Finland is officially bilingual.
A unique ski flying hill project has been presented. The inruns of the hills will be through a mountain inside a pipe tunnel.[1]
