Boden Municipality

Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden

Boden Municipality Bodens kommun
Municipality
Rödberget fort, part of Boden Fortress
Coat of arms

Coordinates: 65°50′N 21°43′E / 65.833°N 21.717°E / 65.833; 21.717
Country	Sweden
County	Norrbotten County
Seat	Boden
Area ^[1]
• Total	4,285.13 km² (1,654.50 sq mi)
• Land	4,007.86 km² (1,547.44 sq mi)
• Water	277.27 km² (107.05 sq mi)
	Area as of 1 January 2014.
Population (31 December 2023)^[2]
• Total	27,943
• Density	6.5/km² (17/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	SE
Province	Norrbotten
Municipal code	2582
Website	www.boden.se

Boden Municipality (Swedish: Bodens kommun) 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 35 kilometres (22 miles) 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.

Southern Boden seen from Rödbergsfortet, part of Boden Fortress

Localities

There were six localities in the municipality as of 2018:^[3]

Locality	Population
Boden	16,816
Sävast	3,177
Trångforsen och Heden	1,860
Vittjärv	521
Harads	511
Unbyn	459

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.^[4]

In total there were 28,135 residents, including 22,002 Swedish citizens of voting age.^[4] 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

Residents

Citizen
adults

Left vote

Right vote

Employed

Swedish
parents

Foreign
heritage

Income
SEK

Degree

Björknäs

1,437

1,163

61.0

37.8

19,866

Bosvedjan-Unbyn

1,682

1,281

53.5

45.5

29,145

Centrum N

738

653

60.4

38.5

21,250

Centrum S

1,309

1,191

60.9

38.2

18,935

Erikslund-Fagersnäs

2,113

1,639

51.8

47.8

25,470

Gunnarsbyn

579

496

60.0

39.0

22,267

Harads

1,258

1,038

52.7

45.6

22,084

Heden-S Bredåker

1,498

1,149

45.5

53.2

27,863

Prästholmen

2,147

1,771

61.3

37.1

21,057

Sanden

1,800

1,475

55.9

43.3

24,609

Svartbjörsbyn

2,085

1,624

52.6

46.8

26,982

Svartbyn

2,369

1,808

57.1

42.2

29,858

Sveafältet

1,782

1,211

53.2

44.2

18,711

Sävast

1,875

1,376

58.5

40.5

28,725

Sävastön

1,801

1,302

50.0

48.4

31,017

Torpgärdan

1,167

911

55.9

43.6

25,647

Trångfors

1,309

1,028

54.1

45.5

31,021

Vittjärv-N Bredåker

1,186

906

47.9

51.5

28,972

Source: SVT^[4]

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:

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

Notable natives

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)
Tobias "Tejbz" Öjerfalk, online personality.

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.^[6] 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	-

References

^ "Statistiska centralbyrån, Kommunarealer den 1 januari 2014" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. 2014-01-01. Archived from the original (Microsoft Excel) on 2016-09-27. Retrieved 2014-04-18.
^ "Folkmängd och befolkningsförändringar - Kvartal 4, 2023" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. February 22, 2024. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
^ "Folkmängd per tätort efter region och vart 5:e år" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. Retrieved 2019-07-28.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ ^a ^b ^c "Valresultat 2022 för Boden i riksdagsvalet" (in Swedish). SVT. 11 September 2022. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
^ "Ystävyyskaupungit (Twin Cities)". Oulun kaupunki (City of Oulu) (in Finnish). Retrieved 2013-07-27.
^ "Val till kommunfullmäktige i Boden" (in Swedish). Valmyndigheten. 2018-09-17.