Boden Municipality

Boden Municipality () is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Boden.

In 1919 the evolving garrison town of Boden was detached from Överluleå and instituted as a city municipality of its own. In 1967 the rest of Överluleå was merged into the city together with a part of Råneå. In 1971 Edefors (which in 1892 also had been detached from Överluleå) was added and the present municipality was formed.

History According to recent finds, the oldest human settlements are believed to be from around 5,000 BC. From this early time nothing is known (except some scarce finds). First accounted-for sources are from the 16th century, when Boden is referred to as Bodebyn or Bodarna, which may refer to the sheds (bod means "shed"). In 1543 there were seven farmers in the community (each farmer at that time might have several workers and a family). It was also mentioned that native Sami people were living in the proximity.

Geography The closest larger city is Luleå, which is located some southeast on the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia. Luleå is the largest city in Norrbotten County and hosts the main campus of Luleå University of Technology.

The main northern railway line, Stambanan genom övre Norrland, ends in Boden. By rail, Boden is connected to Luleå, and, on the same line, Uppsala, Stockholm, and finally Bräcke in the south.

Localities There were six localities in the municipality as of 2018:

Demographics This is a demographic table based on Boden Municipality's electoral districts in the 2022 Swedish general election sourced from SVT's election platform, in turn taken from SCB official statistics.

In total there were 28,135 residents, including 22,002 Swedish citizens of voting age. 54.7% voted for the left coalition and 44.2% for the right coalition. Indicators are in percentage points except population totals and income.

Location % % Björknäs 1,437 1,163 61.0 37.8 72 79 21 19,866 30Bosvedjan-Unbyn 1,682 1,281 53.5 45.5 88 93 7 29,145 45Centrum N 738 653 60.4 38.5 77 86 14 21,250 32Centrum S 1,309 1,191 60.9 38.2 74 89 11 18,935 36Erikslund-Fagersnäs 2,113 1,639 51.8 47.8 82 93 7 25,470 33Gunnarsbyn 579 496 60.0 39.0 82 91 9 22,267 25Harads 1,258 1,038 52.7 45.6 81 88 12 22,084 25Heden-S Bredåker 1,498 1,149 45.5 53.2 88 93 7 27,863 33Prästholmen 2,147 1,771 61.3 37.1 73 80 20 21,057 33Sanden 1,800 1,475 55.9 43.3 82 86 14 24,609 40Svartbjörsbyn 2,085 1,624 52.6 46.8 86 94 6 26,982 37Svartbyn 2,369 1,808 57.1 42.2 90 94 6 29,858 51Sveafältet 1,782 1,211 53.2 44.2 69 61 39 18,711 26Sävast 1,875 1,376 58.5 40.5 86 91 9 28,725 53Sävastön 1,801 1,302 50.0 48.4 89 90 10 31,017 55Torpgärdan 1,167 911 55.9 43.6 80 86 14 25,647 38Trångfors 1,309 1,028 54.1 45.5 90 96 4 31,021 47Vittjärv-N Bredåker 1,186 906 47.9 51.5 88 93 7 28,972 37Source: SVT

Language In Boden Municipality, as in all of Sweden, there is no "official" language, but Swedish is by far the mostly used one. Some people are also, due to the proximity to the Finnish border, proficient in Finnish, and a few speak Sami. Nowadays, due to immigration, a lot of languages from around the world can also be heard.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities Boden Municipality is twinned with: Alta, Norway Oulu, Finland (since 1948) Apatity, Russia

All of these are northerly located, only Oulu being on a more southern latitude than Boden.

Notable natives Andreas Bäckman, racing driver Jessica Bäckman, racing driver Peter Englund, author, historian (tenth member of the Swedish Academy) Berit Granquist, fencer Eyvind Johnson, author (awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1974) Niclas Wallin, ice hockey player (team member of the winner of the 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Carolina Hurricanes)

Politics Following 2018 elections the municipal council is dominated by the Social Democrats despite their losing two seats compared to the previous elections. Two regional parties, Aktiv samling – Bodenalternativet and Health Care Party of Norrbotten, performed well, gaining 10 seats between them in the 49-member council. The head of executive is Social Democrat Claes Nordmark.

Party Votes % Seats ± Social Democrats 6,555 34.17 17 −2 Moderate Party 3,075 16.03 8 −5 Aktiv samling – Bodenalternativet 2,338 12.19 6 +6 Sweden Democrats 1,806 9.41 5 −1 Health Care Party 1,557 8.12 4 +2 Left Party 1,227 6.40 3 −1 Centre Party 1,028 5.36 3 +2 Liberals 567 2.96 2 +1 Green Party 407 2.12 1 −1 Others 626 3.26 Invalid/blank votes 255 Total 19,441 86.13 49-

Boden Municipality

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