Avesta Municipality () is one of 290 municipalities of Sweden. It is in Dalarna County, in the central part of the country, and its seat is in the town of Avesta.

The municipality in its present size was created in 1967 when the four surrounding municipalities were joined with the then City of Avesta. In 1971 it became a municipality of unitary type.

Geography Avesta borders to the municipalities of: Hedemora in Dalarna, Hofors and Sandviken in Gävleborg County, Norberg and Sala in Västmanland County

Localities Avesta (the seat) Krylbo (part of the seat Avesta.) Horndal Fors

Sports Speedway: The most successful sport team in Avesta is their speedway team Masarna, translating to "the men of Dalecarlia", competing in the highest division in Sweden.

Football: Avesta AIK, Krylbo IF Ladies' handball: Avesta Brovallen HF Ice hockey: Avesta BK

Notability

From 1644 to 1776, Avesta was the largest part of the Swedish Mint, manufacturing mainly copper plate money. The world's largest – a 10 daler plate – is exhibited in the Avesta Myntmuseum, and weighs .

In Stubbsveden, just west of the town Avesta, is a wildlife park for European bison (wisent). Guided tours are conducted around and in between the confinements in the summer season. Occasionally, individuals from this and other Swedish animal parks are relocated to the reserve herds in Poland and Romania to widen their DNA pool.

The city's largest industry is its steel mill, today owned by the Finnish company Outokumpu Oyj. Iron production started here in the 16th century, was industrialized in the 17th, but was surpassed by the copper-plate-producing Swedish Mint factory from 1644. However, production was maintained during the centuries, and in 1823 a forge was added. In 1924, production of stainless, acid-proof, and fire-resistive steels was initiated. In the 1960s, these were still the main products, but twenty years later, the cold- and hot-rolled stainless qualities dominated. In 1991, British Steel Stainless merged with the Avesta firm, and in 2001 Outokumpu took over the majority of the ownership.

The largest Dalecarlian horse (Dalahäst) in the world is located in Avesta. It is tall and weighs 67 tons.

Notable natives Mats Åhlberg, ice hockey player, born 1947 in Avesta. Pär Aron Borg (1776–1839), pedagogue for the blind and deaf, born in Avesta. Mattias Ekström, racing driver, born 1978 in Falun, raised in Snickarbo, Avesta municipality. Calle Jularbo, Karl Oskar Jularbo (1893–1966) born Karlsson. Accordionist and composer, raised in Östanbyn, Avesta. Lina Hurtig (born 1995), football player for Sweden. Erik Axel Karlfeldt (1864–1931), poet, author, and Nobel laureate. Born in Karlbo, Avesta. Nicklas Lidström, ice hockey player (NHL), born in Krylbo, Avesta municipality. Carl Martin Norberg, gymnast and Olympic gold medalist, born 1886 in Avesta. Maja Nylén Persson, ice hockey player (SDHL), born in 2000 in Avesta. Tony Rickardsson, rally driver, and former speedway driver (six times a World Champion). Born 1970 in Avesta. Ola Salo, born as Rolf Ola Anders Svensson. Singer and composer, born 1977 in Avesta. Founding member of The Ark. Lars-Inge Svartenbrandt, criminal. Scar Symmetry, metal band. Dan Söderström, ice hockey player, born 1948 in Horndal, Avesta municipality. Tommy Vestlund, ice hockey player for the Carolina Hurricanes, born 1974 in Fors, Avesta municipality.

Economy Municipality is rich on natural resources in form of Ore, Forest, and Water. Avesta is also home to Outokumpu stainless steel mill, which is the largest private employer in the municipality.

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

In total there were 22,893 inhabitants, including 17,253 Swedish citizens of voting age. 47.4 % voted for the left coalition and 51.2 % for the right coalition. Indicators are in percentage points except population totals and income.

Location % % Avesta C 2,019 1,643 53.4 45.2 76 68 32 22,387 28Avesta N 2,255 1,762 49.1 49.9 82 79 21 25,508 30Avesta S 2,016 1,581 52.7 44.6 73 65 35 21,412 27Avesta V 2,337 1,607 48.6 49.8 73 67 33 23,826 27By 1,047 872 44.1 54.9 82 91 9 23,486 28Folkärna 1,598 1,240 41.2 57.7 86 91 9 27,764 31Fors 1,244 1,002 43.4 55.1 86 89 11 27,571 29Horndal 1,372 1,002 47.2 51.0 71 81 19 21,860 21Karlbo 2,110 1,620 42.2 56.9 84 87 13 26,763 27Krylbo 2,479 1,495 54.0 42.9 53 51 49 16,717 21Skogsbo C 2,201 1,724 47.3 52.1 87 88 12 25,938 29Skogsbo N 2,215 1,705 42.2 57.1 89 92 8 29,948 31Source: SVT

Politics

Riksdag This table lists the national results at Avesta's municipal level since the 1972 Swedish municipality reform. The results of the Sweden Democrats from 1988 to 1998 were not published by the SCB at a municipal level due to the party's small size nationally at the time.

Year%VotesVSMPCLKDMSDNyDLeftRight1973 91.7 17,543 6.4 54.1 26.7 5.0 2.0 5.2 60.4 36.91976 92.3 18,178 4.9 55.9 24.6 6.4 1.6 6.2 60.7 37.21979 91.8 17,989 5.7 57.0 19.5 6.2 1.7 9.4 62.7 35.11982 92.8 18,014 5.9 58.9 1.5 16.5 3.5 1.7 11.9 64.7 31.91985 90.1 17,284 5.9 58.0 1.6 14.3 8.8 11.3 63.9 34.31988 86.0 16,178 7.4 55.5 4.2 13.0 7.8 2.9 8.5 67.2 29.41991 85.9 16,034 6.1 50.1 2.4 11.6 5.7 5.7 11.8 5.9 56.3 34.71994 86.1 15,731 7.9 56.5 4.6 10.1 4.6 3.0 11.9 0.7 68.9 29.71998 80.8 14,159 14.8 46.7 4.3 6.7 2.7 9.4 13.5 65.8 32.32002 77.4 13,254 9.7 50.0 3.5 9.5 8.8 7.0 9.6 0.8 63.3 34.82006 80.6 13,734 6.6 46.1 3.4 8.4 4.9 4.4 19.3 4.0 56.2 37.02010 83.7 14,345 5.4 44.1 5.0 6.3 4.8 3.5 22.9 7.2 54.4 37.42014 86.0 14,654 5.6 41.8 3.6 5.3 3.1 3.0 15.4 19.4 50.9 27.22018 86.7 14,573 6.5 34.8 2.2 6.8 2.9 5.0 15.8 24.7 50.3 48.4

References

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