Gävle Municipality

Gävle Municipality
Gävle kommun
Municipality

Coat of arms
Country Sweden
County Gävleborg County
Seat Gävle
Area[1]
  Total 3,199.84 km2 (1,235.47 sq mi)
  Land 1,613.37 km2 (622.93 sq mi)
  Water 1,586.47 km2 (612.54 sq mi)
  Area as of January 1, 2014.
Population (December 31, 2014)[2]
  Total 98,314
  Density 31/km2 (80/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
  Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code SE
Province Gästrikland
Municipal code 2180

Gävle Municipality (Gävle kommun) is a municipality in east central Sweden where the City Gävle is the municipal seat.

Geographically the municipality is situated north of the mouth of the river Dalälven and is the southernmost municipality of the historical land of Norrland.

The present municipality was created in 1971, when the City of Gävle was amalgamated with four surrounding rural municipalities. All of them were original entities, instituted as municipalities by the local government acts of 1862. The area had not been affected by the national subdivision reform in 1952.

Geography

Gävle is situated by the Baltic Sea near the mouth of the river Dalälven. At 60 degrees north and 17 degrees east, Gävle has the same latitude as Helsinki and the same longitude as Vienna and Cape Town.

Gävle has a similar climate to the rest of central Sweden with an average temperature of −5 °C (23 °F) in January and 17 °C (63 °F) in July. Yearly rainfall is around 600 mm (24 in).

Politics

The municipal assembly (kommunfullmäktige) has 65 members, elected for a four-year period. The last election was held in September 2014. Eight parties are represented in the assembly. The largest party is the Swedish Social Democratic Party which has 25 seats. The current chairman of the municipal executive committee (kommunstyrelsen) is the social democrat Carina Blank.

Localities

Data from 2000.

Town Population Area (km²)
Gävle 92,681 41.58
Valbo 6,984 8.14
Forsbacka 1,716 1.71
Hedesunda 1,071 1.67
Norrsundet 1,044 1.89
Bergby 834 1.91
Forsby 617 0.87
Hamrångefjärden 558 1.57
Furuvik 472 0.96
Åbyggeby 457 0.87
Lund 380 1.14
Björke 362 0.58
Trödje 321 0.67
Bönan 273 0.65
Totra 255 0.76
Berg 231 0.51
Hagsta 206 0.74

(Source: )

Major employers

  1. Gävle Municipality 8,000
  2. County Council 8,000
  3. Stora Enso 1,200
  4. Ericsson 1,100
  5. Korsnäs 1,100
  6. Lantmäteriverket 900

International relations

Town twinning

The municipality's is twinned with:[3]

Education

The University College of Gävle currently enrolls 12,500 students.

It offers courses of study at six departments: Business Administration, Education and Psychology, Caring Sciences and Sociology, Humanities and Social Sciences, Mathematics, Natural and Computer Sciences and Technology, and Built Environment.

Some courses are given in English taught both to visiting students from foreign partner institutions and to Swedish students.

Whisky

Valbo, a suburb of Gävle, is home to Mackmyra Whisky, the only whisky distillery in Sweden. Malt whisky is produced since 1999.

See also

External links

References

Notes

Coordinates: 60°40′N 17°10′E / 60.667°N 17.167°E