Övertorneå Municipality (, ) is a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
in
Norrbotten County
Norrbotten County (, Meänkieli/, ) is the northernmost county or '' län'' of Sweden. It is also the largest county by land area, almost a quarter of Sweden's total area. It shares borders with Västerbotten County to the southwest, the Gulf ...
in northern
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
, bordering Finland. Its
seat
A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation.
Types of seat
The ...
is located in
Övertorneå
Övertorneå (; ) is a urban areas of Sweden, locality and the seat of Övertorneå Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden with 1,917 inhabitants in 2010.
It is located at the shore of the Torne (Finnish and Swedish river), Torne River, oppos ...
.
Until the
Finnish War
The Finnish War (; ; ) was fought between the Gustavian era, Kingdom of Sweden and the Russian Empire from 21 February 1808 to 17 September 1809 as part of the Napoleonic Wars. As a result of the war, the eastern third of Sweden was established a ...
(1808–1809) Övertorneå and the Finnish
Ylitornio
Ylitornio (; ; ; ) is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland.
It is located in the provinces of Finland, province of Lapland, Finland, Lapland along the Torne (Finnish and Swedish river), Tornio River, opposite the Sweden, Swedish ...
were a single parish. Following the war, the eastern part of the municipality was ceded to
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
as a part of Finland. In 1870 a minor part of Övertorneå Municipality was split off, forming the rural municipality
Korpilombolo
Korpilombolo () is a locality situated in Pajala Municipality, Norrbotten County, Sweden with 529 inhabitants in 2010.
The band Goat
The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept a ...
(now part of
Pajala Municipality
Pajala Municipality (; Meänkieli and Finnish: ''Pajalan kunta'') is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden, bordering Finland. Its seat is located in the locality of Pajala.
In 1884 Tärendö was detached from Pajala Municipalit ...
). In 1969 Övertorneå and Hietaniemi municipalities were merged, forming the present municipality.
Many places in the municipality have both a Swedish and a Meänkieli name, one of the
minority languages of Sweden
In 1999, the Minority Language Committee of Sweden formally declared five official minority languages: Finnish, Sámi languages, Romani, Yiddish, and Meänkieli (Tornedal Finnish).
The Swedish language dominates commercial and cultural life in ...
.
Localities
There are four
localities
Locality may refer to:
* Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada
* Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England
* Locality (linguistics)
* Locality (settlement)
* Suburbs and localitie ...
(or urban areas) in Övertorneå Municipality:
The municipal seat in bold
Smaller localities
There are nine smaller localities in Övertorneå Municipality:
Statistics Sweden as of December 31, 2005
Demographics
This is a demographic table based on Övertorneå Municipality's electoral districts in the 2022 Swedish general election
General elections were held in Sweden on 11 September 2022 to elect the 349 members of the Riksdag who in turn elected the Prime Minister of Sweden. Under the constitution, regional and municipal elections were also held on the same day. The pr ...
sourced from SVT's election platform, in turn taken from SCB official statistics.[ 58.1% voted for the left coalition and 40.9% for the right coalition. The relatively high degree of people with foreign background by Norrbotten standards is a result of cross-border connections with ]Finland
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
. Indicators are in percentage points except population totals and income.
Elections
Riksdag
These are the results of the elections to the Riksdag
The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the parliamentary sovereignty, supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportional rep ...
since the 1972 municipal reform. Norrbotten Party The Norbotten Party (''Norrbottenspartiet'') was a minor, regional party in Sweden. The base of the party was in the most northern Swedish province, Norrbotten County, and in the local and regional parties, the Kiruna Party and the Norrbotten Heal ...
also contested the 1994
The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations.
In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...
election but due to the party's small size at a nationwide level SCB did not publish the party's results at a municipal level. The same applies to the Sweden Democrats
The Sweden Democrats ( , SD ) is a Nationalism, nationalist and Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in Sweden founded in 1988. As of 2024, it is the largest member of Sweden's Right-wing politics, right-wing bloc and the sec ...
between 1988 and 1998. "Turnout" denotes the percentage of eligible voters casting any ballots, whereas "Votes" denotes the number of actual valid ballots cast.
Blocs
This lists the relative strength of the socialist and centre-right blocs since 1973, but parties not elected to the Riksdag are inserted as "other", including the Sweden Democrats results from 1988 to 2006, but also the Christian Democrats pre-1991 and the Greens in 1982, 1985 and 1991. The sources are identical to the table above. The coalition or government mandate marked in bold formed the government after the election. New Democracy got elected in 1991 but are still listed as "other" due to the short lifespan of the party.
Sights
Two old wooden churches in Övertorneå and Hedenäset. The church in Övertorneå has an organ
Organ and organs may refer to:
Biology
* Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function
* Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body.
Musical instruments
...
from the 17th century.
Juoksengi is intersected by the Arctic Circle
The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the northernmost of the five major circle of latitude, circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth at about 66° 34' N. Its southern counterpart is the Antarctic Circle.
The Arctic Circl ...
and is known as the "Arctic Circle Village" (''Polcirkelbyn'').
References
External links
Övertorneå Municipality
– Official site
Ylitornio-Övertorneå
– Tourist site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Overtornea Municipality
Municipalities of Norrbotten County
Meänkieli-language municipalities