Mölndal Municipality

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Mölndals kommun
County Västra Götaland County
Province Västergötland and Halland
Seat Mölndal
Area
 • Total area
 • Land area
265th of 290
153.22 km²
146.81 km²
Population
 • Total
35th of 290
58,938 inhabitants
Density
 • Total
18th of 290
401.5 inhabitants/km²
Website http://www.molndal.se/
Area & population from SCB as of December 31, 2006
Old industrial area, today a popular tourist attraction
Old industrial area, today a popular tourist attraction

Mölndal Municipality (Mölndals kommun or Mölndals stad) is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden, just south of Gothenburg. Its seat is located in Mölndal, which lies within the Gothenburg urban area, and the whole municipality is part of Metropolitan Gothenburg.

In 1911 a municipalsamhälle (a kind of borough within a rural municipality, handling matters of urban character) named Mölndal was instituted in the municipality of Fässberg. In 1922 Fässberg was made the City of Mölndal. In 1971 it was amalgamated with Kållered and Lindome (the latter transferred from Halland County). At the same time it became a municipality of unitary type, like all others in the country. The municipality prefers, however, to style itself Mölndals stad (City of Mölndal) as a semi-official name whenever legally possible.

Contents

[edit] Geography

View over Mölndal
View over Mölndal

The municipality is located on the western main line railway between Gothenburg and Malmö and the European highways E6/E20 run through the area from north to south. The municipality is served by the Gothenburg tramway system.

[edit] History

Mölndal in 1870
Mölndal in 1870

The name of the city derives from two words; Möln, which is a short form for Möllor, an old word for mills, and the word dal, which is the Swedish word for valley. Mölndal is the "Valley of mills". The narrow but high and long waterfalls in Kvarnbyn gave the necessary power to all the watermills that together with the windmills on the hills gave birth to the early industrialisation of Mölndal Municipality. The municipality has a cultural and industrial heritage rooted in farming, gardening, milling and paper manufacturing industry.


[edit] Industry

Today, Mölndal Municipality is mostly know for its high concentration of different companies within the life science-sector. AstraZeneca has one of its global research centres here, currently about 3 100 employees and still growing. Several other companies within pharmaceuticals, biomedicine and biotechnology to mention some research areas, are also located here. The short distance to Göteborg University and Chalmers University of Technology, and their technology parks, has supported a development of other sectors such as microwave technology and information technology. The location of two national research institutes here, IFP SICOMP AB and IVF Industrial Research and development Corporation, further enhance the position within industrial oriented research.

[edit] Population figures

The municipality has four main parts: Mölndal, Kållered, Lindome and Hällesåker.

  • Mölndal has 37,131 inhabitants (located in Västergötland)
  • Kållered has 7,257 inhabitants (Västergötland)
  • Lindome has 13,364 inhabitants (Halland)
  • Hällesåker has 900 inhabitants (Halland)

Numbers from 2003.

[edit] See also

[edit] Affiliations

Mölndal Municipality is twinned with the following towns:

[edit] External links