Stockholm Municipality or the City of Stockholm ( sv, Stockholms kommun or ) is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Stockholm County Stockholm County ( sv, Stockholms län, link=no ) is a county or '' län'' (in Swedish) on the Baltic Sea coast of Sweden. It borders Uppsala County and Södermanland County. It also borders Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The city of Stockholm ...

in east central

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. It has the largest population of the 290 municipalities of the country, but one of the smallest areas, making it the second most densely populated. It is also the most populous municipality in the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; literal translation, lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmar ...

. Although legally a municipality with the official proper name ''Stockholms kommun'', the municipal assembly () has decided to use the name ''Stockholms stad'' (''City of Stockholm'' in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

) whenever possible. This is purely nominal and has no effect on the legal status of the municipality. Geographically, the city comprises the Stockholm City Centre and two suburban areas,

Söderort Söderort (literally "the southern place", sometimes translated to ''South Stockholm'') is the southern suburban part of the Stockholm Municipality, Sweden. It is also part of the city of Stockholm. Geography Söderort is located in the nor ...

(South Stockholm) and

Västerort Västerort (sometimes translated to ''West Stockholm'') is the western part of Stockholm Municipality in Stockholm County, Sweden. It also forms part of Stockholm urban area and of Stockholm Metropolitan Area. It constitutes the western suburb ...

(West Stockholm). Administratively, it is subdivided into 14 districts (sometimes incorrectly called "boroughs" in English), which are administered by district councils ().

Geography

Geographically, the City of Stockholm comprises the central part of the capital (Innerstaden or '' Stockholm City Centre'') as well as the southern and western suburban parts (

or ''South Stockholm'' and

or ''West Stockholm'' respectively). Of the municipal population, all but 200 people are considered living in the Stockholm urban area, a '' tätort'' further extending into ten other municipalities.

History

When the first local government acts came into force in Sweden in 1863, Stockholm was one of the then 89

cities of Sweden This is a list of cities in modern Sweden that once enjoyed city privileges, thus were entitled to call themselves town ( sv, stad, plural ''städer''). The year indicates the year they were established or when they were granted a royal cha ...

. A first

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

was elected. The area roughly corresponded with today's ''Innerstaden''. Large areas were annexed in 1913, 1916 and 1949. The city was outside

until 1968, having its own governor. The local government reform of 1971 made Stockholm a unitary municipality like all others in the country.

Demography

Population development

Education

The share of highly educated persons, according to

Statistics Sweden Statistics Sweden ( sv, Statistiska centralbyrån ; SCB) is the Swedish government agency operating under the Ministry of Finance and responsible for producing official statistics for decision-making, debate and research. The agency's responsib ...

's definition: persons with post-secondary education that is three years or longer, is 42.4% (national average: 27.0%).

Residents with a foreign background

On the 31st of December 2017 the number of people with a foreign background (persons born outside of Sweden or with two parents born outside of Sweden) was 311 401, or 32.79% of the population (949 761 on the 31st of December 2017). On the 31st of December 2002 the number of residents with a foreign background was (per the same definition) 189 938, or 25.05% of the population (758 148 on the 31st of December 2002). On 31 December 2017 there were 949 761 residents in Stockholm, of which 234 703 people (24.71%) were born in a country other than Sweden. Divided by country in the table below - the Nordic countries as well as the 12 most common countries of birth outside of Sweden for Swedish residents have been included, with other countries of birth bundled together by continent by

.Statistiska centralbyrån: Utrikes födda efter län, kommun och födelseland 31 december 2017
(XLS-fil) Läst 4 januari 2019

Politics

National

These are the election results from the 1973 onwards in the City of Stockholm. The municipality forms one of three municipal constituencies for the

Riksdag The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...

along with

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

and

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...

. In the SCB reports from 1988 to 1998 the exact decimals of the Sweden Democrats were not reported since only parties near the 4% nationwide threshold were reported on.

Riksdag The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...

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. "Elected" is the total number of percentage points from the municipality that went to parties who were elected to the Riksdag.

Local

The municipality is governed by a Municipal assembly (''

kommunfullmäktige A municipal council ( sv, Kommunfullmäktige) is the decision-making body governing each of the 290 municipalities of Sweden. Though the Swedish Local Government Act ( sv, Kommunallagen) uses the term "municipal assembly" in an English translation ...

'') with 101 members. These are elected through municipal elections, held in conjunction with the

Parliamentary elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

every four years. The council meets twice a month and the meetings are open to the public. The council elects a Municipal executive committee ('' kommunstyrelse''), with 13 members representing both the political majority and the opposition, with the responsibility of implementing policies approved by the assembly. The political organisation also includes eight governing full-time Commissioners (''borgarråd'') and four Commissioners representing the opposition. The work is headed by the Commissioner of Finance (''finansborgarråd'', sometimes called Mayor), who also chairs the executive committee. The current Commissioner of Finance is Karin Wanngård, representing the

Social democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

Municipal elections 1994–2014

Stockholm Party is a local party, which was represented in the City Council 1979–2002.

Municipal Election 2018

On September 9, 2018 Stockhlolm held Municipality Election

Board of Commissioners since 2006

* Sten Nordin (m), Commissioner of Finance (after 2008) (''finansborgarråd'') *

Mikael Söderlund Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...

(m), Commissioner of Building and Traffic (''byggnads- och trafikborgarråd'') * Ulla Hamilton (m), Commissioner of Environment and Real Estate (''miljö och bostadsbolagsborgarråd'') * Lotta Edholm (fp), Commissioner of Education (''skolborgarråd'') * Madeleine Sjöstedt (fp), Commissioner of Culture and Sports (''kulturborgarråd'') * Kristina Alvendal (m), Commissioner of Housing and Integration (''bostads- och integrationsborgarråd'') *

Ulf Kristersson Ulf Hjalmar Ed Kristersson (born 29 December 1963) is a Swedish politician who has been serving as Prime Minister of Sweden since October 2022. He has been the leader of the Moderate Party (M) since October 2017 and a member of the Riksdag (MP) ...

(m), Commissioner of Social Services (''socialborgarråd'') * Ewa Samuelsson (kd), Commissioner of Senior Citizen's Service (''äldrevårdsborgarråd'') *

Carin Jämtin Carin Jämtin (born 3 August 1964 in Stockholm) is a Sweden, Swedish civil servant and former politician who has been serving as the Director General of the Swedish International Development Agency since 2017. She served as party secretary of the ...

(s), Commissioner in Opposition (''oppositionsborgarråd'') * Roger Mogert (s), Commissioner in Opposition (''oppositionsborgarråd'') * Ann-Margarethe Livh (v), Commissioner in Opposition (''oppositionsborgarråd'') * Yvonne Ruwaida (mp), Commissioner in Opposition (''oppositionsborgarråd'')

District Councils

The municipality is subdivided into 13 districts. These districts are sometimes incorrectly referred to as "

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

s" in

. They are, however, no legal entities or

juristic person A juridical person is a non-human legal person that is not a single natural person but an organization recognized by law as a fictitious person such as a corporation, government agency, NGO or International (inter-governmental) Organization (such ...

s of their own, but committees of the municipality itself. These districts are administered by District Councils, ''stadsdelsnämnder'', which carry responsibility for primary school, social, leisure and cultural services within their respective areas. The members of these councils are not directly elected by the inhabitants of the respective districts, but rather appointed by the ''

'' (municipal assembly). Effective January 1, 2007 the number of district councils was reduced from 18 to 14 through a number of merges. Maria-Gamla stan and

Katarina-Sofia Katarina-Sofia was a borough (''stadsdelsområde'') in central Stockholm, named after the two parishes of Katarina and Sofia. Effective January 1, 2007, the borough merged with the borough of Maria-Gamla Stan to form the Södermalm borough. Ka ...

now form

Södermalm borough Södermalm, often shortened to just Söder, is a district and island in central Stockholm. Overview The district covers the large island of the same name (formerly called ''Åsön''). Although Södermalm usually is considered an island, wat ...

Enskede-Årsta Enskede-Årsta was a borough (''stadsdelsområde'') in the southern part of Stockholm, Sweden from 1998 to 1 January 2007. It was formed when the boroughs of Enskede and Årsta merged, and was primarily made up of Enskede ( Gård, -fältet, ...

and

Vantör Vantör () was a borough (''stadsdelsområde'') in the southern part of Stockholm, Sweden, until 1 January 2007. The districts that made up the borough were Bandhagen, Hagsätra, Högdalen, Rågsved and Örby. The population as of 2004 was 35,1 ...

now form Enskede-Årsta-Vantör,

Hägersten Hägersten (''Heronstone'') is an urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * ...

and

Liljeholmen Liljeholmen is a district of the Hägersten-Liljeholmen borough in Söderort, the southern suburban part of Stockholm. History In 1860 Liljeholmen became the first suburb outside Stockholm city limits. The district was then one of two self-gov ...

now form

Hägersten-Liljeholmen Hägersten-Liljeholmen is a Boroughs of Stockholm, borough (''stadsdelsområde'') in Stockholm, Sweden. It is part of the Söderort suburban area. The borough is located in South Stockholm. The districts that make up the borough are Aspudden, Fru� ...

, and

Kista Kista () is a district in the borough of Rinkeby-Kista, Stockholm, Sweden. It has a strategic position located in between Sweden's main airport, the Stockholm-Arlanda International Airport and central Stockholm, and alongside the main nationa ...

and

Rinkeby Rinkeby () is a stadsdel, district in the Rinkeby-Kista borough, Stockholm, Sweden. Rinkeby had 19,349 inhabitants in 2016. The neighbourhood was part of the Million Programme. The Stockholm metro station Rinkeby metro station, Rinkeby was also o ...

now form

Rinkeby-Kista Rinkeby-Kista is a borough (''stadsdelsområde'') in Stockholm, Sweden. The borough is located in Västerort. Overview The districts that make up the borough are Akalla, Husby, Kista Kista () is a district in the borough of Rinkeby-Kist ...

Twin Towns - Sister Cities

The policy of Stockholm is to have informal

town twinning A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...

with all capitals of the world, its main focus being those in northern Europe. Stockholm does not sign any formal town twinning treaties, although the city claims to have established such treaties in the past which are still valid."Internationell strategi"
– Stockholm Stads official website The cities claiming to have been twinned with Stockholm are:

Notable people

* Kerstin Abram-Nilsson (1931-1998), artist, debater, and social activist

References

External links

{{Authority control Geography of Stockholm Government of Stockholm Municipalities of Stockholm County Metropolitan Stockholm Stockholm urban area