Örnsköldsvik Municipality

Örnsköldsviks kommun
Municipality

Coat of arms
Country Sweden
County Västernorrland County
Seat Örnsköldsvik
Area[1]
 • Total 8,428.78 km2 (3,254.37 sq mi)
 • Land 6,376.46 km2 (2,461.96 sq mi)
 • Water 2,052.32 km2 (792.41 sq mi)
  Area as of January 1, 2014.
Population (March 31, 2015)[2]
 • Total 55,285
 • Density 6.6/km2 (17/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code SE
Province Ångermanland
Municipal code 2284
Density is calculated using land area only.

Örnsköldsvik Municipality (Örnsköldsviks kommun) is one of Sweden's 290 municipalities, in Västernorrland County in northern Sweden. Its seat is in the town Örnsköldsvik. The present municipality was created in 1971 by the amalgamation of the City of Örnsköldsvik with seven former rural municipalities.

Geography

Örnsköldsvik is situated near the northern end of the "High Coast", which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has the third longest suspension bridge in Europe, the Höga Kusten Bridge. The city is located around 100 km south of Umeå and 550 km north of Stockholm. The area is dominated by forest, but it also contains minor areas of agriculture.

Population distribution (31 December 2005)

The municipality of Örnsköldsvik is built up from a number of parishes, within which are towns and villages. The population is distributed as follows:

Parish (town) number of citizens

Total: 54,943

Transportation

Main road transportations are provided by the European route E4. The Örnsköldsvik Airport provides daily flights to and from the Stockholm-Arlanda Airport courtesy of Höga Kusten Flyg, and also charter flights to Turkey courtesy of Pegasus Airlines. Railway transportation will in the future be provided by high-speed railway Botniabanan, which is currently under construction. There is also a harbour, where cargo ships load and unload timber and other merchandise. In North America the town is known for its excellent hockey players, a number of whom play with the NHL.

Recreation and sports

Due to the hilly surroundings, hiking and exploring the scenery of the High Coast is popular in the area. In the wintertime, skiing is popular. Both cross-country skiing, alpine skiing and even ski jumping is practiced almost in the downtown area. Since Örnsköldsvik is a coastal town, there are also beaches near town, as well as campsites. There's also an indoor water park called Paradisbadet, with one of the longest water slides in Europe.

Sports is also popular, the main spectator sport in town is ice hockey, with the local team Modo Hockey in Swedish Hockey League, the main league for ice hockey in Sweden. The local football teams are not quite as successful, but still pretty popular, on the men's side especially the teams Friska Viljor FC from central Örnsköldsvik and Anundsjö IF from Bredbyn outside of town, and women's Själevads IK. A couple floorball teams from town have also had some success.

Notable natives

Örnsköldsvik is the birthplace of many world-famous ice hockey players, including Peter Forsberg, Markus Näslund, Niklas Sundström, and twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin. Samuel Påhlsson, also an ice hockey player, lived there for a long time but was born in Ånge. Many stars from hockey's previous generation, including Anders Hedberg, Thomas Gradin and Anders Kallur, were also either Örnsköldsvik natives (Hedberg) and/or played in the town for the Modo Hockey club.

Sister cities

Örnsköldsvik's sister cities are:

Etymology

Notable residents

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Statistiska centralbyrån, Kommunarealer den 1 januari 2014" (Microsoft Excel) (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. Retrieved 2014-04-18.
  2. ↑ "Folkmängd i riket, län och kommuner 31 mars 2015" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. May 11, 2015. Retrieved May 11, 2015.

External links

Coordinates: 63°17′N 18°44′E / 63.283°N 18.733°E / 63.283; 18.733

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