Huddinge Municipality


Huddinge Municipality is a municipality in Stockholm County, east central Sweden. Its seat is located in Huddinge , that is a part of Stockholm urban area.
The municipality is, with its approximately 110,000 inhabitants, the second most populated in Stockholm County.

Geography

The municipality covers the entire central part of the Södertörn peninsula. More than half of the land area consists of agriculture, forests, hills, or lakes, and it contains 13 nature reserves.
Huddinge borders the following municipalities: Stockholm Municipality, Ekerö Municipality, Botkyrka Municipality, Haninge Municipality and Tyresö Municipality.

Localities

Huddinge municipality is sub-divided into six districts:
There are four territorial parishes of the Church of Sweden within the municipality: Huddinge, Trångsund, Flemingsberg and St. Mikael.

Natural reserves

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History

Huddinge is a locality believed to trace its origins back at least 1,000 years, preceding the Viking Age. In times of conflict, the inhabitants of Huddinge would ascend to elevated areas to light beacons as a warning signal against approaching hostile ships. This practice was common throughout the entirety of Lake Mälaren, where beacons were strategically placed. The coat of arms of Huddinge is derived from this tradition of beacon lighting. The name "Huddinge" is thought to be rooted in the term "Uddung," referring to the area's earliest known inhabitants. During the Iron Age, these individuals resided along the shores of Lake Mälaren.

Split into two municipalities

After years of protests from inhabitants and after much debate, it was decided in 2007 to hold a referendum in 2008 regarding a split to make the eastern part of Huddinge its own municipality, named in published documents as Huddinge östra. However only the inhabitants of eastern Huddinge would be allowed to vote. This caused a major political split of opinions as the political opposition wanted to see a vote. At least 60% of the inhabitants of eastern Huddinge had to vote "yes" for the split for it to be approved.
The referendum ended with a clear "no" to the split, ending the discussion.

Demography

Huddinge has a total population of roughly 110,000, or 4.5% of the population of Stockholm County. The average age is 36.7 years, but one-third of the population is under 25 years of age. This means that Huddinge has a slightly younger population than both Stockholm County and the whole country. The population density of the municipality is increasing significantly. Since the 1960s, the population has doubled in size and is currently among the 14 largest municipalities in Sweden. The population of Huddinge passed the one of Gävle in 2008, and the ones of Eskilstuna and Sundsvall as well in 2009.

Population

2022 by district

This is a demographic table based on Huddinge 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 113,678 residents, including 76,114 Swedish citizens of voting age. 50.9% voted for the left coalition and 46.9% for the right coalition. Indicators are in percentage points except population totals and income.

Residents with a foreign background

On 31 December 2017, the number of people with a foreign background was 43,699, or 39.73% of the population. On 31 December 2002, the number of residents with a foreign background was 24,319, or 28.13% of the population. On 31 December 2017, there were 110,003 residents in Huddinge, of which 32,190 people were born in a country other than Sweden. Divided by country in the table below - the Nordic countries as well as the 12 most common countries of birth outside Sweden for Swedish residents have been included, with other countries of birth bundled together by continent by Statistics Sweden.

Schools

In 2012 there were 27 public schools and five independent schools. Huddinge also has five public high schools with about 3400 students combined, these are:
  • Huddingegymnasiet
  • Östra Gymnasiet
  • Sjödalsgymnasiet
  • Sågbäcksgymnasiet
  • Widerströmska gymnasiet

    Public transport

Huddinge is served by the Stockholm public transport system. There are two stations on the Stockholm Metro and five on the Stockholm commuter rail system as well as large bus network. Some main line trains call at Flemingsberg.

2018 Election

Elections to Swedish municipalities are held every fourth year on the second Sunday in September. The 2018 election to the 61-seat council resulted in the centre-right Alliance of four parties plus two local parties staying in power without a majority. The Alliance and local parties gained a seat since the 2014 election and maintains power. The three Red-Green parties are in opposition and the far right Sweden Democrats holds the balance of power but normally votes with the Alliance.

Culture

The municipality contains six public libraries, Södertörn University College and one of the campuses for Karolinska Institutet.
Kungens Kurva is one of Sweden's largest shopping areas. It hosts, among other things, the largest IKEA store in the world, the largest cinema in the country, and a large shopping centre. In total, it generates a turnover of 6 billion Swedish kronor and has 15 million visitors per year. Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth and song writer and pop artist Orup both grew up in Huddinge.

Sports

The most known sports club in Huddinge is the ice hockey club Huddinge IK, which has fostered a long line of well-known Swedish ice hockey players, such as Michael Nylander, Mattias Norström and Kent Johansson, and used to be a regular runner up in the Swedish second division and the qualifications for the Elitserien. Peter Forsberg also happened to make his debut as a senior player with his original club Modo Hockey, facing Huddinge away.

Twin cities