Överkalix Municipality

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

**Överkalix Municipality (*Kommun*)**
Map outlining the municipalities of Sweden	Coat of arms
	Municipal facts
	Seat	Överkalix
	66° 21′ N 22° 53′ E
	County	Norrbotten County
	Province	Norrbotten
	Area Rank	2,791 km² 32nd of 290
	Population Rank (2005)	3,933 283rd of 290
	Population density	1.4/km²

Överkalix (Finnish: Ylikainuu) is a Municipality in Norrbotten County, in northern Sweden. Its seat is in Överkalix, with close to 1,000 inhabitants.

1 Language
2 Geography
3 History
4 Industry
5 Municipal towns
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Language

Due to its proximity to Finland, Finnish is a recognized official minority language in the municipality and most names have a Finn counterpart.

Their local dialect is known as the Överkalix language. Examples of this can be found here: (External link: [1])

[edit] Geography

The town Överkalix is situated along the south-going Kalix River. The unmodified scenic nature along the river attracts tourists and sport fishers every year. Within municipal borders one also finds two of the river's most powerful waterfalls: Jockfall (9 meters fall) and Linafall (16 meters fall).

The area otherwise contains much coniferous forests.

Continuing north along the Kalix River further up in Sweden one finds the iron ore mines. Travelling south towards the coast one finds larger towns, with Luleå and its with 45,000 inhabitants being the closest, located 100 kilometers south. Transportation is reliable thanks to the E10 highway.

(Source:Official website)

[edit] History

The town traces its history to a parish with this name that was formed in 1644 (not the same borders as today).

In 1921, the parish had 6,610 inhabitants and covered an area of 2,931 km², about the same size as today.

The municipality was formed in 1971 with the municipal reform. The designed coat of arms was designed in 1944 and based on the arms of the parish. Its exact meaning of the bear is not known, but many northern arms feature bears, reindeer or other animals.

(Source: [2])

[edit] Industry

The municipality is the largest employer with around 430 employees. Thereafter follows Isolamin AB, a company making wall-, ceiling and floor elements, with 110. Other sectors:

Service companies total of 150 employees
Forest and land companies have a total of 45 employees
Truckers and bus companies a total of 35 employees
Manufacturing companies 20 employees

Traditionally the industry was dominated by forest industries, but this has decreased since the 1960s. It is estimated that the service sector will continue to expand and be the dominating sector some day. Many of those companies are in the field of computers and telecommunication.

(Source: [3])
(External link: Isolamin)

[edit] Municipal towns

Population as of 2000, from Statistics Sweden.

Överkalix, 1,003
Tallvik, 473
Svartbyn, 304
Vännäsberget, 209

The population is decreasing every year. In 1995, the town figures were (respectively): 1,072, 519, 328, 220. A qualified guess is that people move to larger Norrlandian Swedish cities with university education, such as Luleå and Umeå.

Villages include: Alsån, Boheden, Gyljen, Hedensbyn, Jockfall, Lansjärv, Lomträsk, Norra Tallvik and Nybyn.

(Source:[4] and [5])