Vaala is a municipality in Finland. It is located in the Northern 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 {{Infobox Finnish municipality/population densityVaala. 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.