Älvsbyn Municipality

Älvsbyn Municipality

*Älvsbyns kommun*
Älvsbyn Municipality Älvsbyns kommun
Municipality
	Storforsen
	Coat of arms
	Coordinates: 65°41′N 21°01′E / 65.683°N 21.017°E
Country	Sweden
County	Norrbotten County
Seat	Älvsbyn
Area
• Total	1,795.24 km2 (693.15 sq mi)
• Land	1,698.04 km2 (655.62 sq mi)
• Water	97.2 km2 (37.5 sq mi)
	Area as of 1 January 2014.
Population (31 December 2023)
• Total	7,783
• Density	4.3/km2 (11/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	SE
Province	Norrbotten
Municipal code	2560
Website	www.alvsbyn.se

Älvsbyn Municipality (Swedish: Älvsbyns kommun) is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Älvsbyn.

The present municipality has the same size as the original one, created at the time the municipalities of Sweden were formed in 1863. 1948-1968 a part of it constituted a market town (köping) and a municipality of its own, but the entities were reunited in 1969.

Geography

The municipality stretches along the Pite River for about 60 kilometres in a naturesque surrounding.

Localities

There are four localities (or urban areas) in Älvsbyn Municipality:^[3]

#	Locality	Population
1	Älvsbyn	5,042
2	Vidsel	569
3	Korsträsk	397
4	Vistträsk	258

The municipal seat in bold

Demographics

This is a demographic table based on Älvsbyn Municipality's electoral districts in the 2022 Swedish general election sourced from SVT's election platform, in turn taken from SCB official statistics.^[4]

In total there were 8,003 residents, including 6,194 Swedish citizens of voting age.^[4] 57.5% voted for the left coalition and 41.4% for the right coalition. Indicators are in percentage points except population totals and income.

Location

%

Vidsel

1,587

1,270

59.4

39.7

77

88

12

22,114

25

Älvsbyn N

2,177

1,646

58.0

40.7

75

82

18

20,347

22

Älvsbyn V

1,992

1,518

56.5

42.9

83

90

10

25,291

23

Älvsbyn Ö

2,247

1,760

57.5

41.2

83

91

9

25,727

32

Source: SVT^[4]

Economy

Two main industries in the town of Älvsbyn are AB Älvsbyhus, which builds houses, and Polarbageriet AB, which is nationally famous for their breads.

Polarbageriet has a production of about 1.5 million breads a day. They do not make loaves, but rather flat slices of a whitish bread. Their main distribution is within Sweden, but a small export goes to Finland, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Germany and France, where it is popular to use for homemade pizza.

Älvsbyhus has its base in Älvsbyn, and one of its factories there too. It is Scandinavia's biggest producer of prefabricated homes in wood. Their average production is around two houses a day, although much of the production is located at other factories closer to the market.

RFN is a government military testing facility, not just for domestic use. It is one of very few places where live missiles can be tested over land, and attracts military testers from other countries as well.

There is also some tourism, with a popular place to visit in the nature reserve Storforsen, just west of Vidsel.