Örnsköldsvik Municipality (Swedish: Örnsköldsviks kommun; Southern Sami: Orrestaaren tjïelte) 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.
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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.
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.
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.