Urban areas in Sweden
Encyclopedia
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English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
translation of the Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
term tätort. The official term in English, used by Statistics Sweden, is, however, locality. There are 1,940 localities in Sweden (2005). They could be compared with census-designated place
Census-designated place
A census-designated place is a concentration of population identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns and villages...
s in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
A tätort in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
has a minimum of 200 inhabitants, and may be a city, town or larger village. Urban areas referred to as cities/towns (stad) for statistical purposes have a minimum of 10,000 inhabitants. However, since 1971, the term "stad" is no longer in use as a judicial concept in Sweden.
History
Up until the beginning of the 20th century only the cities were regarded as urban areas. The built-up area and the municipalMunicipalities of Sweden
The municipalities of Sweden are the local government entities of Sweden. The current 290 municipalities are organized into 21 counties...
entity were normally almost congruent. Urbanization and industrialization created, however, many new settlements without formal city status. New suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
s grew up just outside city limits, being de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
urban but de jure
De jure
De jure is an expression that means "concerning law", as contrasted with de facto, which means "concerning fact".De jure = 'Legally', De facto = 'In fact'....
rural. This was of course a statistical problem. The census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 1910 introduced the concept of "densely populated localities in the countryside". The term tätort (literally "dense place") was introduced in 1930. The municipal amalgamations
Amalgamation (politics)
A merger or amalgamation in a political or administrative sense is the combination of two or more political or administrative entities such as municipalities , counties, districts, etc. into a single entity. This term is used when the process occurs within a sovereign entity...
placed more and more rural areas within city municipalities, which was the other side of the same problem. The administrative boundaries were in fact not suitable for defining rural and urban populations. From 1950 rural and urban areas had to be separated even within city limits, as e.g. the huge wilderness around Kiruna
Kiruna
Kiruna is the northernmost city in Sweden, situated in Lapland province, with 18,154 inhabitants in 2005. It is the seat of Kiruna Municipality Kiruna (Northern Sami: Giron, Finnish: Kiiruna) is the northernmost city in Sweden, situated in Lapland province, with 18,154 inhabitants in 2005. It is...
had been declared a "city" in 1948. From 1965 only non-administrative localities are counted, independently of municipal and county borders. In 1971 city was abolished as a type of municipality.
Terminology
Urban areas in the meaning of tätort are defined independently on the division into counties and municipalities, and are defined solely after density of population. In practice, most references in Sweden are to municipalities, not specifically to towns or cities, which complicates international comparisons. Most municipalities contain many localities (up to 26 in Kristianstad MunicipalityKristianstad Municipality
Kristianstad Municipality is a municipality in Skåne County in southernmost Sweden. Its seat is located in the city Kristianstad....
), but some localities are, on the other hand, multimunicipal http://w41.scb.se/templates/Publikation____186288.asp; Stockholm urban area
Stockholm urban area
The Stockholm urban area is the largest and most populous of the statistical localities or urban areas in Sweden. It has no administrative function of its own, but constitutes a continuous multimunicipal built-up area, which extends into 11 municipalities in Stockholm County. It contains the...
is spread over 11 municipalities.
When comparing the population of different cities, the urban area (tätort) population is to prefer ahead of the population of the municipality. The population of e.g. Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
should be accounted as ~1.2 million rather than the ~800,000 of the municipality, and Lund
Lund
-Main sights:During the 12th and 13th centuries, when the town was the seat of the archbishop, many churches and monasteries were built. At its peak, Lund had 27 churches, but most of them were demolished as result of the Reformation in 1536. Several medieval buildings remain, including Lund...
rather ~75,000 than ~110,000.
Terms used for statistical purposes
- Tätort (= urban areaUrban areaAn urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...
or locality) is the central concept used in statistics. The definition is agreed upon in the Nordic countriesNordic countriesThe Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...
: A tätort is any village, town or city with a population of at least 200 for which the contiguous built-up area meet the criterion that houses are not more than 200 meters apart when discounting rivers, parks, roads, etc. Every fifth year (2000, 2005 etc) the localities are revised and new population figures released. - Småort (= minor locality) is a ruralRuralRural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
locality with 50–199 inhabitants in a contiguous built-up area with no more than 150 meters between houses. The concept is rarely used outside the field of statistics, where it is used for settlements just below the limit defined for tätort. - Centralort (= central locality) is mostly used in the meaning municipal seat or municipal center of service, commerce and administration for an area.
Popular and traditional terms
- Storstad (= literally "large city"; metropolitan areaMetropolitan areaThe term metropolitan area refers to a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure, and housing. A metropolitan area usually encompasses multiple jurisdictions and municipalities: neighborhoods, townships,...
) is a term usually reserved for Sweden's three largest cities: StockholmStockholmStockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Göteborg (GothenburgGothenburgGothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
) and MalmöMalmöMalmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...
. Statistics Sweden uses the term metropolitan areaMetropolitan areaThe term metropolitan area refers to a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure, and housing. A metropolitan area usually encompasses multiple jurisdictions and municipalities: neighborhoods, townships,...
("storstadsområde") for these three cities and their immediate surroundings and municipalities. - Stad (= townTownA town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
or cityCityA city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
) is in a context of statistics restricted to urban areas with a population greater than 10,000. Judicially, the term stad is obsolete since 1971, and is now mostly used describing localities which formerly were chartered towns. The statistical category "large town" used by Statistics Sweden include municipalities with more than 90,000 inhabitants within a 30 km radius from the municipality centre. There is also a category medelstor stad "middle large town". - KöpingKöpingThis article deals with the Swedish denomination for a market town. For the city, see Köping, Sweden. For the municipality, see Köping Municipality....
(= market town) was also abolished as an official term in 1971 in governmental and statistical contexts, and is only rarely kept in use by laymen, although it has survived as part of the names of several smaller towns. The meaning was a locality with an intermediary legal status below that of a town. - Municipalsamhälle (= municipal community) was a term in use between 1875 and 1971, but it is no longer used outside of historical contexts. In 1863, Sweden was divided into 2,500 municipalities, whereof 89 were towns, 8 were market towns (köpingKöpingThis article deals with the Swedish denomination for a market town. For the city, see Köping, Sweden. For the municipality, see Köping Municipality....
ar) and the rest rural municipalities ("landskommuner"). A "municipalsamhälle" was an administrative centre for one or several rural municipalities, with special regulations and privileges in common with towns. The term became obsolete in 1971 when the different types of municipalities were abandoned and a standard form for all municipalities was introduced. - Samhälle (= community) is a common concept used by for urban areas that are intermediary in size between a town and a village. The term "samhälle" is also used in Swedish to denote "societySocietyA society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
", "community" or "stateState (polity)A state is an organized political community, living under a government. States may be sovereign and may enjoy a monopoly on the legal initiation of force and are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union...
". (Compare: Gemeinschaft and GesellschaftGemeinschaft and GesellschaftGemeinschaft and Gesellschaft are sociological categories introduced by the German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies for two normal types of human association...
.) A samhälle does not necessarily meet the criteria for the current tätort — or even småort concept. - By (= villageVillageA village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
and hamletHamlet (place)A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
) is a traditional term but may in colloquial use refer to a suburbSuburbThe word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
or town of considerable size. If at all used in the context of statistics, it must be assumed that the size of a by is smaller than that of a småort. (NB! Not to be confused with the same word in DanishDanish languageDanish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
and NorwegianNorwegian languageNorwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
, where it means town, while a village is called landsby.)
Seasonal areas and suburbs
- Fritidshusområde (= seasonal area) is in statistical context an area with less than 50 permanent inhabitants but at least 50 houses (in practice: weekend cottages/summer houseSummer houseA summer house or summerhouse has traditionally referred to a building or shelter used for relaxation in warm weather. This would often take the form of a small, roofed building on the grounds of a larger one, but could also be built in a garden or park, often designed to provide cool shady places...
s) meeting the criterion that they are not more than 150 metres apart. About a third of Sweden's "second homeSecond homeSecond home may refer to:* Vacation property* Pied-à-terre* Second Home , an album by Marié Digby...
s" are located in such areas. The term belongs also to everyday usage, although less strictly defined. - Förstad and förort (= suburbSuburbThe word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
) are much used terms with a somewhat negative connotation.
Statistics
Data are computed by Statistics Sweden every five years. The latest data are as of 31 December 2005. Then the total population of the urban areas (or localities) in Sweden was 7,631,952 on an area of 5,286.23 km², which gives an average population densityPopulation density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
of 1,444/km².
- 84% of the Swedish population lives in localities (i.e. in tätortTatortTatort is a long-running German/Austrian/Swiss , crime television series set in various parts of these countries. The show is broadcast on the channels of ARD in Germany, ORF 2 in Austria and SF1 in Switzerland...
er) - 50% lives in the 64 largest urban areas
- A third lives in the 15 largest urban areas
- A quarter lives in the 5 largest
- The largest and most populous urban area is Stockholm
See also
- List of urban areas in Sweden
- Largest urban areas of the European UnionLargest urban areas of the European UnionThis is a list of all the urban areas of the European Union which have greater than 750,000 inhabitants each in 2011.This list is an attempt to present a consistent list of population figures for urban areas in the European Union. All the figures here have been compiled by Demographia.-Important...
- Geography of SwedenGeography of SwedenSweden is a country in Northern Europe on the Scandinavian Peninsula. Its borders are Norway to the west; Finland to the northeast; and the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Bothnia to the east and south....
- List of municipalities of Sweden
- List of cities in Sweden
- Largest urban areas of NorwayLargest urban areas of NorwayThis is a list of the largest urban areas of Norway by population.The population is measured by Statistics Norway. The statistics bureau uses the term tettsted , which is defined as a contiguous built-up area with a maximum distance of 50 m between houses unless a greater distance is caused by...