Övertorneå Municipality

Övertorneå Municipality (Swedish: Övertorneå kommun, Meänkieli: Matarengin kunta) is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden, bordering Finland. Its seat is located in Övertorneå.

Övertorneå Municipality Övertorneå kommun
Municipality
Övertorneå Railway Station
Coat of arms
Coordinates: 66°23′N 23°40′E
Country	Sweden
County	Norrbotten County
Seat	Övertorneå
Area [1]
• Total	2,492.29 km2 (962.28 sq mi)
• Land	2,362.07 km2 (912.00 sq mi)
• Water	130.22 km2 (50.28 sq mi)
	Area as of 1 January 2014.
Population  (31 December 2024)[2]
• Total	4,057
• Density	1.6/km2 (4.2/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	SE
Province	Norrbotten
Municipal code	2518
Website	www.overtornea.se

Until the Finnish War (1808–1809) Övertorneå and the Finnish Ylitornio were a single parish. Following the war, the eastern part of the municipality was ceded to Russia as a part of Finland. In 1870 a minor part of Övertorneå Municipality was split off, forming the rural municipality Korpilombolo (now part of Pajala Municipality). In 1969 Övertorneå and Hietaniemi municipalities were merged, forming the present municipality.

Many places in the municipality have both a Swedish and a Meänkieli name, one of the minority languages of Sweden.

Localities

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

#	Locality	Population
1	Övertorneå	1,965
2	Juoksengi	401
3	Hedenäset	285
4	Svanstein	207

The municipal seat in bold

Smaller localities

There are nine smaller localities in Övertorneå Municipality:^[4]

#	Smaller locality	Population
1	Pello	193
2	Kuivakangas	125
3	Aapua	122
4	Poikijärvi	107
5	Rantajärvi	102
6	Neistenkangas	93
7	Pudas	85
8	Haapakylä	59
9	Jänkisjärvi	52

Demographics

This is a demographic table based on Övertorneå Municipality's electoral districts in the 2022 Swedish general election sourced from SVT's election platform, in turn taken from SCB official statistics.^[5]

In total there were 4,211 residents, including 3,187 Swedish citizens of voting age.^[5] 58.1% voted for the left coalition and 40.9% for the right coalition. The relatively high degree of people with foreign background by Norrbotten standards is a result of cross-border connections with Finland. Indicators are in percentage points except population totals and income.

Location	Residents	Citizen adults	Left vote	Right vote	Employed	Swedish parents	Foreign heritage	Income SEK	Degree
			%	%
Hedenäset	663	521	57.4	41.2	75	73	27	19,797	32
Kuivakangas	866	708	53.9	45.5	84	79	21	23,191	30
Svanstein	787	625	65.0	34.8	79	79	21	20,617	34
Övertorneå	1,895	1,333	58.4	40.0	76	62	38	21,491	27
Source: SVT[5]

Elections

Riksdag

These are the results of the elections to the Riksdag since the 1972 municipal reform. Norrbotten Party also contested the 1994 election but due to the party's small size at a nationwide level SCB did not publish the party's results at a municipal level. The same applies to the Sweden Democrats between 1988 and 1998. "Turnout" denotes the percentage of eligible voters casting any ballots, whereas "Votes" denotes the number of actual valid ballots cast.

Year	Turnout	Votes	V	S	MP	C	L	KD	M	SD	ND	NP/SP
1973[6]	89.4	4,174	13.8	43.3	0.0	31.1	2.0	1.0	7.7	0.0	0.0	0.0
1976[7]	91.1	4,186	13.5	44.3	0.0	29.7	2.6	1.2	8.1	0.0	0.0	0.0
1979[8]	91.2	4,147	11.7	45.0	0.0	27.1	3.0	1.5	8.8	0.0	0.0	0.0
1982[9]	89.9	4,059	10.8	50.1	0.6	23.5	1.8	1.7	9.8	0.0	0.0	0.0
1985[10]	88.0	3,950	11.8	49.8	0.3	23.1	4.6	0.0	10.3	0.0	0.0	0.0
1988[11]	83.8	3,617	10.9	48.6	2.1	20.2	5.1	2.5	9.2	0.0	0.0	0.0
1991[12]	83.0	3,536	10.1	46.9	1.2	19.8	4.0	4.4	10.6	0.0	2.9	0.0
1994[13]	84.3	3,628	12.2	52.6	1.9	16.2	2.4	2.8	9.7	0.0	0.3	0.0
1998[14]	80.5	3,357	22.0	39.6	2.7	11.6	1.4	8.3	12.7	0.0	0.0	0.0
2002[15]	74.7	2,929	12.8	36.8	3.0	11.7	2.6	6.1	6.3	0.1	0.0	20.1
2006[16]	74.9	2,785	11.7	43.9	2.7	14.9	3.2	4.6	12.7	1.0	0.0	4.2
2010[17]	80.7	2,901	10.5	52.2	2.6	11.4	2.8	3.4	13.5	3.4	0.0	0.0
2014[18]	80.5	2,733	10.1	47.6	2.8	11.1	2.2	3.6	10.7	11.0	0.0	0.0

Blocs

This lists the relative strength of the socialist and centre-right blocs since 1973, but parties not elected to the Riksdag are inserted as "other", including the Sweden Democrats results from 1988 to 2006, but also the Christian Democrats pre-1991 and the Greens in 1982, 1985 and 1991. The sources are identical to the table above. The coalition or government mandate marked in bold formed the government after the election. New Democracy got elected in 1991 but are still listed as "other" due to the short lifespan of the party.

Year	Turnout	Votes	Left	Right	SD	Other	Elected
1973	89.4	4,174	57.1	40.8	0.0	2.1	97.9
1976	91.1	4,186	57.8	40.4	0.0	1.9	98.1
1979	91.2	4,147	56.7	38.9	0.0	4.4	95.6
1982	89.9	4,059	60.9	35.1	0.0	4.0	96.0
1985	88.0	3,950	61.6	38.0	0.0	0.4	99.6
1988	83.8	3,617	61.6	34.5	0.0	3.9	96.1
1991	83.0	3,536	57.0	38.8	0.0	4.2	98.7
1994	84.3	3,628	66.7	31.1	0.0	2.2	97.8
1998	80.5	3,357	64.3	34.0	0.0	1.7	98.3
2002	74.7	2,929	52.6	26.7	0.0	21.7	78.3
2006	74.9	2,785	58.3	35.4	0.0	6.3	93.7
2010	80.7	2,901	65.3	31.1	3.4	0.2	99.8
2014	80.5	2,733	60.5	27.6	11.0	0.9	99.1

Sights

Two old wooden churches in Övertorneå and Hedenäset. The church in Övertorneå has an organ from the 17th century.

Juoksengi is intersected by the Arctic Circle and is known as the "Arctic Circle Village" (Polcirkelbyn).