Avesta Municipality

Avesta Municipality (Avesta kommun) is one of 290 municipalities of Sweden. It is in Dalarna County, in the central part of the country, and its seat is in the town of Avesta.

Avesta Municipality Avesta kommun
Municipality
Coat of arms
Country	Sweden
County	Dalarna County
Seat	Avesta
Area [1]
• Total	669.08 km^2 (258.33 sq mi)
• Land	613.25 km^2 (236.78 sq mi)
• Water	55.83 km^2 (21.56 sq mi)
	Area as of 1 January 2014
Population  (31 December 2019)[2]
• Total	23,178
• Density	35/km^2 (90/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	SE
Province	Dalarna
Municipal code	2084
Website	www.avesta.se
Density is calculated using land area only.

The municipality in its present size was created in 1967 when the four surrounding municipalities were joined with the then City of Avesta. In 1971 it became a municipality of unitary type.

Avesta borders to the municipalities of:

• Hedemora in Dalarna,
• Hofors and Sandviken in Gävleborg County,
• Norberg and Sala in Västmanland County

Sports

Speedway: The most successful sport team in Avesta is their speedway team Masarna, translating to "the men of Dalecarlia", competing in the highest division in Sweden.
Football: Avesta AIK, Krylbo IF
Ladies' handball: Avesta Brovallen HF
Ice hockey: Avesta BK

Localities

• Avesta (the seat)
• Krylbo (part of the seat Avesta.)
• Horndal
• Fors

Notability

A large 8 daler copper plate from 1658 (the British Museum)

1644–1776, Avesta was the largest part of the Swedish Mint, manufacturing mainly copper plate money. The World's largest - a 10 daler plate - is exhibited in the Avesta Myntmuseum, and weighs 19.4 kg.

European bison (wisent) in captivity, Avesta Visentpark, Dalarna, Sweden.

In Stubbsveden, just west of the town Avesta, is a wildlife park for European bison (wisent). Guided tours are conducted around and in between the confinements in the summer season. Occasionally, individuals from this and other Swedish animal parks are relocated to the reserve herds in Poland and Romania to widen their DNA pool.

Wisent statue made of stainless steel, located in Avesta City park

The city's largest industry is its steel mill, today owned by the Finnish company Outokumpu Oyj. Iron production started here in the 16th Century, was industrialized in the 17th, but was surpassed by the copper plate producing Swedish Mint factory from 1644. However, production was maintained during the centuries, and in 1823 a forge was added. 1924, production of stainless, acid proof, and fire-resistive steels was initiated. In the 1960s, these were still the main products, but twenty years later, the cold- and hot-rolled stainless qualities dominated. In 1991, British Steel Stainless merged with the Avesta firm, and in 2001 Outokumpu took over the majority of the ownership.

The World's largest dalahäst.

The largest Dalecarlian horse (Dalahäst) in the world is located in Avesta. It is 13 meters tall and weighs 67 tons.

Notable natives

• Pär Aron Borg (1776–1839), pedagogue for the blind and deaf, born in Avesta.
• Mattias Ekström, racing driver, born 1978 in Falun, raised in Snickarbo, Avesta municipality.
• Calle Jularbo, Karl Oskar Jularbo (1893–1966) born Karlsson. Accordionist and composer, raised in Östanbyn, Avesta.
• Erik Axel Karlfeldt (1864–1931), poet, author, and Nobel laureate. Born in Karlbo, Avesta.
• Marcus Kock (1585-1657), mintmaster, born in Liège, Belgium, active in Avesta from 1626.
• Nicklas Lidström, ice hockey player (NHL), born in Krylbo, Avesta municipality.
• Carl Martin Norberg, gymnast and Olympic gold medalist, born 1886 in Avesta.
• Maja Nylén Persson, ice hockey player (SDHL), born in 2000 in Avesta
• Tony Rickardsson, rally driver, and former speedway driver (six times a World Champion). Born 1970 in Avesta.
• Ola Salo, born as Rolf Ola Anders Svensson. Singer and composer, born 1977 in Avesta. Founding member of The Ark.
• Lars-Inge Svartenbrandt, criminal.
• Scar Symmetry, metal band.
• Dan Söderström, ice hockey player, born 1948 in Horndal, Avesta municipality.
• Jesper "JW" Wecksell, professional CS:GO player, playing for Fnatic.
• Tommy Vestlund, ice hockey player for the Carolina Hurricanes, born 1974 in Fors, Avesta municipality.
• Mats Åhlberg, ice hockey player, born 1947 in Avesta.

Politics

Riksdag

This table lists the national results at Avesta's municipal level since the 1972 Swedish municipality reform. The results of the Sweden Democrats from 1988 to 1998 were not published by the SCB at a municipal level due to the party's small size nationally at the time.

Year	Turnout	Votes	V	S	MP	C	L	KD	M	SD	ND
1973[3]	91.7	17,543	6.4	54.1	0.0	26.7	5.0	2.0	5.2	0.0	0.0
1976[4]	92.3	18,178	4.9	55.9	0.0	24.6	6.4	1.6	6.2	0.0	0.0
1979[5]	91.8	17,989	5.7	57.0	0.0	19.5	6.2	1.7	9.4	0.0	0.0
1982[6]	92.8	18,014	5.9	58.9	1.5	16.5	3.5	1.7	11.9	0.0	0.0
1985[7]	90.1	17,284	5.9	58.0	1.6	14.3	8.8	0.0	11.3	0.0	0.0
1988[8]	86.0	16,178	7.4	55.5	4.2	13.0	7.8	2.9	8.5	0.0	0.0
1991[9]	85.9	16,034	6.1	50.1	2.4	11.6	5.7	5.7	11.8	0.0	6.1
1994[10]	86.1	15,731	7.9	56.5	4.6	10.1	4.6	3.0	11.9	0.0	0.7
1998[11]	80.8	14,159	14.8	46.7	4.3	6.7	2.7	9.4	13.5	0.0	0.0
2002[12]	77.4	13,254	9.7	50.0	3.5	9.4	8.7	6.9	9.5	0.8	0.0
2006[13]	80.6	13,734	6.7	46.1	3.4	8.4	4.9	4.4	19.3	4.0	0.0
2010[14]	83.7	14,345	5.4	44.1	5.0	6.3	4.8	3.5	22.9	7.2	0.0
2014[15]	86.0	14,654	5.6	41.8	3.6	5.6	3.1	3.0	15.5	19.4	0.0

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.

Year	Turnout	Votes	Left	Right	SD	Other	Elected
1973	91.7	17,543	60.5	36.9	0.0	2.6	97.4
1976	92.3	18,178	60.8	37.2	0.0	2.0	98.0
1979	91.8	17,989	62.7	35.1	0.0	2.2	97.8
1982	92.8	18,014	64.8	31.9	0.0	3.3	96.7
1985	90.1	17,284	63.9	34.4	0.0	1.7	98.3
1988	86.0	16,178	67.1	29.3	0.0	3.6	96.4
1991	85.9	16,034	56.2	34.8	0.0	9.0	97.1
1994	86.1	15,731	69.0	29.6	0.0	1.4	98.6
1998	80.8	14,159	65.8	32.3	0.0	1.9	98.1
2002	77.4	13,254	63.2	34.5	0.0	2.3	97.7
2006	80.6	13,734	56.2	37.0	0.0	6.8	93.2
2010	83.7	14,345	54.5	37.5	7.2	0.8	99.2
2014	86.0	14,654	51.0	27.2	19.4	2.4	97.6

References

1. "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.
2. "Folkmängd i riket, län och kommuner 31 december 2019" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. February 20, 2020. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
3. "Riksdagsvalet 1973 (page 167)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
4. "Riksdagsvalet 1976 (page 162)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
5. "Riksdagsvalet 1979 (page 186)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
6. "Riksdagsvalet 1982 (page 187)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
7. "Riksdagsvalet 1985 (page 188)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
8. "Riksdagsvalet 1988 (page 168)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
9. "Riksdagsvalet 1991 (page 30)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
10. "Riksdagsvalet 1994 (page 44)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
11. "Riksdagsvalet 1998 (page 42)" (PDF) (in Swedish). SCB. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
12. "Valresultat Riksdag Avesta kommun 2002" (in Swedish). Valmyndigheten. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
13. "Valresultat Riksdag Avesta kommun 2006" (in Swedish). Valmyndigheten. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
14. "Valresultat Riksdag Avesta kommun 2010" (in Swedish). Valmyndigheten. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
15. "Valresultat Riksdag Avesta kommun 2014" (in Swedish). Valmyndigheten. Retrieved 17 August 2017.

External links

• Official website