Älvsbyn Municipality

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This page deals with both Älvsbyn Municipality and the urban area (tätort) Älvsbyn

**Älvsbyn Municipality (*Kommun*)**
Älvsbyn Municipality in Sweden Map outlining municipalities of Sweden	Coat of arms
	Municipal facts
	Seat	Älvsbyn
	65° 41′ N 21° 1′ E
	County	Norrbotten County
	Province	Norrbotten
	Area Rank	1,713 km² 52nd of 290
	Population Rank (2005)	8,775 236 of 290
	Density	5/km²

Älvsbyn Municipality is a Swedish municipality in Norrbotten County, in northern Sweden. Its seat is in Älvsbyn with about 5,000 inhabitants, located at 50 meters height.

Other towns are Korsträsk (pop. 400), Vidsel (620), and Vistheden (250). Of the smaller villages, Vistheden is the best known, as a division of the Swedish army is stationed there.

Älvsbyn Municipality has 8689 inhabitants. For many years, the number was dropping, but lately, the municipality has been accepting refugees and immigrants. In the first quarter of 2006, 25 people died, and 65 people moved away from Älvsbyn. At the same time, 13 were born, about 50 foreginers settled here. Roughly a dozen moved south, and another dozen moved back home from neighboring municipalities.^[1]

1 Geography
2 Industry
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Geography

The municipality stretches along the Pite River for about 60 kilometers in a naturesque surrounding.

[edit] Industry

Two main industries in the town of Älvsbyn are AB Älvsbyhus, which builds houses, and Polarbageriet AB, which is nationally famous for their breads.

Polarbageriet has a production of about 1.5 million breads per day. They do not make loaves, but rather flat slices of a whitish bread. Their main distribution is within Sweden, but a small export goes to Finland, Denmark, UK, Germany and France, where it is popular to use for homemade pizza.

Älvsbyhus has its base in Älvsbyn, and one of its factories there too. It is Scandinavia's biggest producer of prefabricated houses in wood. Their average production is around two houses per day, although much of the production is located at other factories closer to the market.

RFN is a government military testing facility, not just for domestic use. It is one of very few places where live missiles and robots can be tested over land, and attracts military testers from other countries as well.

There is also some tourism, with a popular place to visit in the nature reserve Storforsen, just west of the town Vidsel.