Vilhelmina Municipality

Vilhelmina Municipality Vilhelmina kommun
Municipality
Looking across Volgsjön on a summer morning
Coat of arms
Coordinates: 64°37′N 16°39′E
Country	Sweden
County	Västerbotten County
Seat	Vilhelmina
Area
• Total	8,740.5 km2 (3,374.7 sq mi)
• Land	8,047.87 km2 (3,107.30 sq mi)
• Water	692.63 km2 (267.43 sq mi)
	Area as of 1 January 2014.
Population  (31 December 2023)
• Total	6,263
• Density	0.72/km2 (1.9/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	SE
Province	Lapland
Municipal code	2462
Website	www.vilhelmina.se

Vilhelmina Municipality (Swedish: Vilhelmina kommun; Southern Sami: Vualtjeren tjïelte) is a municipality in Västerbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Vilhelmina.

History

In 1804 the parish of Volgsjö was renamed Vilhelmina in honour of Queen Frederica Dorothea Wilhelmina of Sweden.

In 1947 the locality Vilhelmina was detached from the rural municipality with the same name, forming the market town (köping) of Vilhelmina. The two entities were reunited in 1965.

Geography

Like the rest of northern Sweden (Norrland), it is scarcely populated due to its inhospitable conditions and cold climate, but is superb for those who like wildlife and untouched nature.

Localities

There is only one locality (or urban area) in Vilhelmina Municipality:

#	Locality	Population
1	Vilhelmina	3,633

Demographics

This is a demographic table based on Vilhelmina 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 6,473 residents, including 5,093 Swedish citizens of voting age. 51.6% voted for the left coalition and 46.7% for the right coalition. 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 % % Baksjönäs 1,540 1,240 54.8 43.1 78 90 10 21,615 28 Dikanäs 366 343 57.7 40.6 82 96 4 18,250 21 Latikberg 518 388 45.8 52.8 86 95 5 24,353 32 Lövliden 1,086 721 57.5 39.7 81 80 20 23,213 27 Nästansjö 414 323 42.7 54.7 82 97 3 23,329 21 Skansholm 780 614 44.3 54.6 83 96 4 22,553 25 Vilhelmina C 1,330 1,084 52.7 45.7 80 91 9 22,176 25 Vilhelmina-Saxnäs 439 380 53.4 46.2 82 95 5 21,741 27 Source: SVT

Culture

Every July the town of Vilhelmina holds a festival called Hembygdsdagarna Vilhelmina. In addition to popular and folk music performances, tradition holds that a local engaged couple is selected each year to get married during the festival. The bride and groom lead a parade of fiddlers and other traditionally dressed Swedes through town to the church where the marriage is performed in front of all who wish to attend. They are not always able to find a couple willing to get married, however, so some years they hold the parade without an engaged couple, and hold a public church service instead of a wedding.

External links

• Vilhelmina Municipality - Official site (in Swedish)
• Article Vilhelmina from Nordisk familjebok, 1921 (in Swedish)
• Vilhelmina – An Adventure - Tourism PDF file
• Live webcam in Vilhelmina