Sävsjö Municipality

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

**Sävsjö Municipality (*Kommun*)**
Sävsjö in southern Jönköping County Map outlining the municipalities of Sweden	Coat of arms
	Municipal facts
	Seat	Sävsjö
	{{{locationReadable}}}
	County	Jönköping County
	Province	Smalandia
	Area Rank	683 km² 141st of 290
	Population Rank (2005)	10,973 x of 290
	Population density	16/km²

Sävsjö Municipality is a municipality in Jönköping County, in southern Sweden where the town Sävsjö (pop. 5,000) is seat.

The industry is dominated by various small companies.

The town of Sävsjö is located on the main line railway between Stockholm and Malmö. The distance to Malmö is about 220 kilometers.

[edit] Geography

Sävsjö is located on the Smalandian Highlands that in the county also includes the eastern municipality of Vetlanda. It is considerred a scenic nature because the forests are not as dense as in the rest of Smalandia and the terrain is more varied.

[edit] History

The area itself, the surroundings, have been inhabited since old times. Both archeological finds and the five medieval churches from the 12th century stands as reminiscence from those days. And a few kilometers from where the town Sävsjö is located today was for instance the centre of the old administrative hundred called Västra Härad. However, there have been no urban areas there until modern times.

Sävsjö regards the date October 1, 1864 as the start of its current history, because it was then that the train station Sävsjö was inaugurated, being traficed by train on the main line railway. At the time Sävsjö was nothing more than a few houses, but attracted by the railway it began expanding, attracting both industries and inhabitants. The municipality with its then 1.56 square kilometres had 1,481 people in 1917 at which time several small industries had established themselves there, most notably carpenters and other wood industries, and there was also a bank, a pharmacy and a post office. ^[2]

It was deemed substantial enough to receive a charter in 1947, making one of the now defunct Cities of Sweden.

[edit] Today

Sävsjö in the year 2000 agreed to accept 60 international refugess every year. A reason may be the decreasing population: In 1986 it was some 11,500, then it increased to a high of 12,130 in 1991 (possibly due to refugess from Yugoslavia), but has since decreased every year, until it in the year 2000 reached it current level of some 11,000. This is still below the level it was before the refugees began coming.

Sävsjö is working hard to grow in population. It currently offers a half-price offer when buying lots with the intention of building a house and home there.

Politically Sävsjö is a comparably stronghold of the Kristdemokraterna, the Christian Democrats (12 mandate of 45), and for the Centerpartiet (10 mandate), a traditional farmers party. The largest party is however still the Socialdemokraterna (13 mandate).

In contemporary Sweden today, Sävsjö is perhaps most known for the successful handball team Sävsjö HK.