Brändö

This article is about the municipality in Åland. For the district of Helsinki, see Kulosaari.

Brändö is an island municipality of Åland, Finland. Characteristics of Brändö are the numerous assembly of islands and islets, most important of which are linked by bridges and causeways. The municipality has a population of 436 (31 December 2024)^[2] and covers an area of 1,643.21 square kilometres (634.45 square miles) of which 1,540.41 km² (594.76 sq mi) is water.^[1] The population density is 4.03 inhabitants per square kilometre (10.4/sq mi). The municipality is unilingually Swedish and 69.5% of the population are Swedish speakers.

Brändö
Municipality
Brändö kommun
Coat of arms
Location of Brändö in Finland
Brändö Location in Åland
Coordinates: 60°24′42″N 21°2′42″E
Country	Finland
Region	Åland
Sub-region	Archipelago
Charter	1866
Government
• Municipal manager	John Wrede
Area  (2018-01-01)[1]
• Total	1,643.21 km2 (634.45 sq mi)
• Land	108.18 km2 (41.77 sq mi)
• Water	1,540.41 km2 (594.76 sq mi)
• Rank	296th largest in Finland
Population  (2024-12-31)[2]
• Total	436
• Rank	305th largest in Finland
• Density	4.03/km2 (10.4/sq mi)
Population by native language [2]
• Swedish	69.5% (official)
• Finnish	20%
• Others	10.6%
Population by age [3]
• 0 to 14	8.9%
• 15 to 64	58.1%
• 65 or older	33%
Time zone	UTC+02:00 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+03:00 (EEST)
Website	www.brando.ax

Geography

Villages

In 1967, Brändö had 12 legally recognized villages (henkikirjakylät):^[4]

• Asterholma
• Baggholma
• Björnholma
• Brändö
• Fiskö
• Hullberga
• Jurmo
• Korsö
• Lappo
• Porsskär
• Torsholma
• Åva

Demographics

In 2020, 8.9% of the population of Brändö was under the age of 15, 58.1% were aged 15 to 64, and 33.0% were over the age of 65. The average age was 52.2, over the national average of 43.4 and regional average of 43.8. Speakers of Swedish made up 71.7% of the population and speakers of Finnish made up 18.9%, while the share of speakers of foreign languages was 9.4%. Foreign nationals made up 9.8% of the total population.^[5] Brändö has no urban areas.^[6]

The chart below, describing the development of the total population of Brändö from 1975 to 2020, encompasses the municipality's area as of 2021.

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1975 565 —     1980 550 −0.54% 1985 528 −0.81% 1990 529 +0.04% 1995 548 +0.71%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 2000 514 −1.27% 2005 519 +0.19% 2010 488 −1.22% 2015 470 −0.75% 2020 449 −0.91%
Source: Statistics Finland[7]

Economy

In 2018, 20.9% of the workforce of Brändö worked in primary production (agriculture, forestry and fishing), 11.5% in secondary production (e.g. manufacturing, construction and infrastructure), and 58.8% in services. In 2019, the unemployment rate was 1.0%, and the share of pensioners in the population was 36.2%.^[8]

The five largest employers in Brändö in 2019 were as follows:^[9]

1. Brändö Lax Ab, 35 employees
2. Municipality of Brändö, 32 employees
3. Brändö Bygg Ab, 8 employees
4. Brändö Andelshandel, 5 employees
5. Brändö Fritidsservice Ab, 5 employees

Interesting facts

The Brändö municipality was sponsor of the Ukraine men's national bandy team at the 2017 Bandy World Championship.^[10][11]