Hedmark

Hedmark fylke
—  County  —

Coat of arms
Hedmark within Norway
Country Norway
County Hedmark
Region Østlandet
County ID NO-04
Official language form Neutral
Demonym Hedmarking
Administrative centre Hamar
Government
 • Governor Sigbjørn Johnsen
  Arbeiderpartiet
  (1997-2009–present)
 • County mayor Arnfinn Nergård
  Senterpartiet
  (2007–present)
Area(#3 in Norway, 8.57% of Norway's land area)
 • Total 27,397 km2 (10,578 sq mi)
 • Land 26,082 km2 (10,070.3 sq mi)
Population (2008)
 • Total 189,586
 • Density 7/km2 (18.1/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years) 0.5 %
 • Rank in Norway 11 (4.11% of country)
Time zone CET (UTC+01)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+02)
Income (per capita) 132,200 NOK
GDP (per capita) 204,205 NOK (2001)
National Rank: 11 (2.52% of country)
Website www.hedmark-f.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway
Historical populations
Year Pop. ±%
1951 173,167
1961 177,324 +2.4%
1971 179,204 +1.1%
1981 187,223 +4.5%
1991 187,314 +0.0%
2001 187,999 +0.4%
2011 191,622 +1.9%
2021? 204,065 +6.5%
2031? 216,105 +5.9%
Source: Statistics Norway.[1]
Religion in Hedmark[2][3]
religion percent
Christianity
  
89.10%
Islam
  
0.75%
Buddhism
  
0.18%
Other
  
9.97%
is a county in Norway, bordering Sør-Trøndelag, Oppland and Akershus. The county administration is in Hamar.

Hedmark makes up the northeastern part of Østlandet, the southeastern part of the country. It includes a long part of the borderline with Sweden, Dalarna County and Värmland County. The largest lakes are Femunden and Mjøsa. It also includes parts of Glomma. Geographically, Hedmark is in the traditional sense divided in the following areas: Hedemarken, east of Mjøsa, Østerdalen, north of Elverum, and Glåmdalen, south of Elverum. Hedmark and Oppland are the only Norwegian counties with no coastline. Hedmark also hosted some of the 1994 Winter Olympic Games.

Hamar, Kongsvinger, Elverum and Tynset are cities in the county. Hedmark is one of the less urbanized areas in Norway; about half of the inhabitants live on rural land. The population is mainly concentrated in the rich agricultural district adjoining Mjøsa to the southeast. The county's extensive forests supply much of Norway's timber; logs were previously floated down Glomma to the coast but are now transported by truck and train.

The Hedmark municipality of Engerdal has the distinction of marking the current southernmost border in Norway of Sápmi, the traditional region of the Sami people.

Contents

Districts

The county is divided into three traditional districts. These are Hedmarken, Østerdalen and Solør (with Odalen and Vinger).

History

In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair, Hedmark was a petty kingdom. Kings of Hedmark include:

Hedmark was originally a part of the large Akershus amt, but in 1757 Oplandenes amt was separated from it. Some years later, in 1781, this was divided into Kristians amt (now Oppland) and Hedemarkens amt.

The name

The Norse form of the name was Heiðmǫrk. The first element is heiðnir, the name of an old Germanic tribe. The last element is mǫrk f 'woodland, borderland, march'. (See also Telemark and Finnmark.)

Until 1919 the county was called Hedemarkens amt.

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times (1987). It shows three barkespader (adzes to remove the bark from timber logs).

Politics

Every four years the inhabitants of Hedmark vote to elect the 33 representatives of the Hedmark Fylkesting, the Hedmark County Assembly. After the elections of September 2007 the majority of the seats of the assembly is held by a three-party coalition consisting of the Labour Party (14 seats), the Centre Party (5 seats) and the Socialist Left Party (2 seats). A total of 8 parties are represented in the assembly, the remaining 5 being the Progress Party (4 seats), the Conservative Party (4), the Liberal Party (2), the Christian Democratic Party (1) and the Pensioners Party (1). The assembly is headed by the county mayor (Norwegian: Fylkesordfører). As of the 2007 elections the county mayor is Arnfinn Nergård. He represents the Centre Party. In 2003 a parliamentary system was established, which means that the county assembly elects a political administration or council to hold the executive political power. This county council reflects the majority of the county assembly and includes the three parties holding the majority of the assembly seats, i.e., the Labour Party, the Center Party and the Socialist Left Party. The council is led by Siv Tørudbakken, who represents the Labour Party.

Municipalities

Rank Name Inhabitants Area km²
&100000000000000010000001 Ringsaker &1000000000003252400000032,524 &100000000000011250000001,125
&100000000000000020000002 Hamar &1000000000002834400000028,344 &10000000000000339000000339
&100000000000000030000003 Elverum &1000000000001983800000019,838 &100000000000012210000001,221
&100000000000000040000004 Stange &1000000000001910400000019,104 &10000000000000642000000642
&100000000000000050000005 Kongsvinger &1000000000001737700000017,377 &10000000000000965000000965
&100000000000000060000006 Sør-Odal &100000000000077910000007,791 &10000000000000487000000487
&100000000000000070000007 Åsnes &100000000000076070000007,607 &100000000000010150000001,015
&100000000000000080000008 Løten &100000000000072720000007,272 &10000000000000363000000363
&100000000000000090000009 Trysil &100000000000067630000006,763 &100000000000029570000002,957
&1000000000000001000000010 Eidskog &100000000000063270000006,327 &10000000000000604000000604
&1000000000000001100000011 Tynset &100000000000054900000005,490 &100000000000018310000001,831
&1000000000000001200000012 Nord-Odal &100000000000051180000005,118 &10000000000000476000000476
&1000000000000001300000013 Grue &100000000000050780000005,078 &10000000000000787000000787
&1000000000000001400000014 Åmot &100000000000042850000004,285 &100000000000013060000001,306
&1000000000000001500000015 Våler &100000000000038700000003,870 &10000000000000685000000685
&1000000000000001600000016 Stor-Elvdal &100000000000026790000002,679 &100000000000021440000002,144
&1000000000000001700000017 Alvdal &100000000000024410000002,441 &10000000000000927000000927
&1000000000000001800000018 Os &100000000000020330000002,033 &100000000000010130000001,013
&1000000000000001900000019 Rendalen &100000000000019980000001,998 &100000000000030730000003,073
&1000000000000002000000020 Tolga &100000000000016710000001,671 &100000000000011010000001,101
&1000000000000002100000021 Folldal &100000000000016690000001,669 &100000000000012660000001,266
&1000000000000002200000022 Engerdal &100000000000014340000001,434 &100000000000019210000001,921
Total Hedmark &10000000000190709000000190,709 &1000000000002738800000027,388

References

External links