Örnsköldsvik Municipality (; ) 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 formerly 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.

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

Parish (town) number of citizens (31 December 2005): Örnsköldsvik: 9,123 Arnäs: 7,653 Anundsjö: 4,100 Bredbyn: 1,216 Mellansel: 821 Solberg Skorped: 667 Sidensjö: 1,192 Nätra: 5,402 Bjästa: 1,777 Köpmanholmen: 1,263 Själevad: 18,960 Domsjö Gullänget Sund Gene Mo: 1,309 Grundsunda: 3,214 Gideå: 1,215 Björna: 1,586 Trehörningsjö: 522 Gottne: 250

Total: 54,943

Demographics This is a demographic table based on Örnsköldsvik 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 55,778 residents, including 43,029 Swedish citizens of voting age. 58.5% voted for the left coalition and 40.3% for the right coalition. Indicators are in percentage points except population totals and income.

Location % % Arnäsvall 1,258 962 54.0 45.8 87 95 5 27,692 37Billsta 706 542 52.8 45.9 87 96 4 27,645 42Bjästa 1,820 1,444 61.4 37.6 79 86 14 21,783 32Björna N 1,115 868 52.5 44.7 79 88 12 21,955 28Björna S 679 545 61.4 37.7 87 97 3 26,574 29Bonäset 1,944 1,449 56.0 43.5 89 96 4 31,980 60Bredbyn-Sörflärke 1,890 1,535 60.1 38.6 85 94 6 23,055 28Centrum 1,999 1,876 53.2 45.6 78 90 10 25,093 41Domsjö S 1,216 902 61.9 37.2 85 93 7 27,360 42Domsjö V 1,786 1,352 56.7 42.6 86 91 9 29,578 43Gene 1,694 1,154 56.5 41.6 72 81 19 22,749 35Gideå 1,084 855 56.0 43.1 87 94 6 24,361 28Gimåt-Högland 1,445 1,055 57.5 42.0 89 94 6 30,119 54Grundsunda N 1,273 1,011 53.2 45.3 82 92 8 26,144 28Grundsunda S 640 559 51.9 47.3 88 94 6 28,704 42Gullänget 1,929 1,351 58.5 40.6 84 87 13 26,159 40Haffsta 958 698 53.4 46.1 87 93 7 27,552 39Husum 1,021 783 62.7 36.3 71 80 20 21,559 22Hörnett 1,980 1,478 59.7 39.2 86 93 7 29,957 46Järved 1,278 956 59.7 38.9 86 94 6 27,826 52Kroksta 1,539 1,161 61.3 37.5 89 95 5 29,220 46Köpmanholmen 1,603 1,231 59.0 39.7 80 92 8 24,642 34Mellansel 1,002 756 66.7 32.4 82 85 15 22,375 29Mo 1,218 930 54.9 43.5 87 97 3 26,874 35Norrflärke-Solberg 645 522 64.6 35.4 83 95 5 23,559 32Norrlungånger 1,207 919 62.7 34.6 73 76 24 21,586 34Nätra-Landsbygd 1,864 1,454 58.5 40.3 86 94 6 26,913 32Ovansjö 1,156 876 53.5 44.2 89 96 4 28,064 42Prästbordet 1,848 1,402 52.4 45.7 86 91 9 27,451 41Sidensjö Skorped 1,704 1,325 59.6 39.3 86 94 6 24,362 32Sjukhuset 1,181 1,015 57.9 39.6 81 86 14 22,623 41Skyttis 1,753 1,412 64.2 34.5 69 70 30 21,423 34Sund 2,313 1,778 59.4 39.8 84 91 9 26,601 41Svartby-Brösta 1,028 780 58.8 40.8 90 92 8 28,503 46Valhalla 1,644 1,139 69.5 29.4 59 55 45 18,031 27Åsdalen 1,363 1,192 61.2 38.0 79 83 17 22,850 42Östra 1,647 1,176 64.8 34.3 67 68 32 20,332 39Översjäla 2,093 1,521 59.4 39.4 87 93 7 29,042 53Övre 1,255 1,065 62.2 36.0 78 81 19 22,461 35Source: SVT

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 people Örnsköldsvik is the birthplace of many world-famous ice hockey players, including Nils Johansson, Per Svartvadet, Peter Forsberg, Markus Näslund, Niklas Sundström, Andreas Salomonsson, Magnus Wernblom, Mattias Timander, Victor Hedman, Tobias Enström, and the twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin. The Sedin twins were top players for the Vancouver Canucks, and Hedman plays for the Tampa Bay Lightning. 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.

Frida Östberg, footballer Malin Moström, footballer Miah Persson, soprano Magdalena Forsberg, cross country skier and biathlete Hans Hedberg, sculptor known for his ceramic fruit Märta Norberg, cross country skier Tomas Haake and Mårten Hagström, musicians, members of Meshuggah Thomas Hammarberg, diplomat and human rights activist Niklas Edin, curling player Fredrik Lindström, biathlete Mikael Bohman, ice hockey player Maud Olofsson, politician, leader of the Swedish Centre Party in 2001–2011, Minister for Enterprise and Energy and Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden Åsa Domeij, politician and agronomist by training, member of the Riksdag in 1988–1991 and 2002–2006 Solveig Hellquist, politician, member of the Riksdag 2002–2010 Emma Nordin, ice hockey player. Peter Artedi, naturalist, known as the "father of ichthyology" Malin Hållberg-Leuf, figure skater, Swedish national champion Eilert Pilarm, Elvis impersonator Kristina Lundberg, ice hockey player, Olympic medalist

Notable residents Markus Näslund, and twin brothers Daniel and Henrik Sedin, are all from Örnsköldsvik Municipality; Naslund played for the Vancouver Canucks from 1996 to 2008 and his number was retired by the team in honour of his many accomplishments in December 2010, while the Sedins are captain and deputy captain of the team in 2010–11.

Twin towns – sister cities

Örnsköldsvik is twinned with: Äänekoski, Finland Hveragerði, Iceland Ikast-Brande, Denmark Sigdal, Norway Tarp, Germany

Etymology The original town was named after County Governor Per Abraham Örnsköld The name Örnsköldsvik is sometimes unofficially translated into English as Eagleshieldsbay.

See also 1976 Winter Paralympics Modo Hockey

References

External links

Örnsköldsvik – Official site Örnsköldsvik Guide Örnsköldsvik Tourist Information (available in English, German and Swedish) Mid-Sweden University College at Örnsköldsvik Campus Örnsköldsvik at Umeå University Örnsköldsvik airport article Örnsköldsvik from Nordisk Familjebok (1922).