Vaala

Vaala is a municipality in Finland. It is located in the North Ostrobothnia region. Established in 1954 (predecessor municipality Säräisniemi, established in 1867), the municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Previously Vaala was part of the Kainuu region but was transferred to Northern Ostrobothnia on 1 January 2016.
Oulujärvi, the fourth largest lake of Finland is located partly in Vaala.
The municipality is unilingually Finnish.
Vaala is also an old Finnish word, which means the phase in a river just before rapids.