Österåker Municipality Facts for Kids

Österåker Municipality (which means Österåkers kommun in Swedish) is a local government area in Stockholm County, located in east-central Sweden. Its main town and administrative center is Åkersberga, which had about 26,727 people living there in 2005.

For a short time, from 1974 to 1982, Österåker was part of Vaxholm Municipality.

This area is very popular because it is located near the beautiful Stockholm archipelago and the Roslagen region. Many people choose to live here and travel to Stockholm for work. It's also a great place for tourists to visit. Österåker has several golf courses and offers many chances for outdoor fun like canoeing, horse riding, and fishing.

Österåker also has a rich history. You can find at least three important castles from the 1600s and 1700s, with stories going back even further in time. Sweden's largest quartz mine, called the Härsbacka mine, is also located here.

Like many other areas around Metropolitan Stockholm, a lot of people living in Österåker travel to Stockholm for their jobs. About 13,000 people commute from Österåker to Stockholm every day.

Exploring Österåker's Geography
- Main Towns and Villages
How Österåker's Population Has Grown
- People with Different Backgrounds
Understanding the 2022 Election
Getting Around: Public Transportation
Images for kids
See also

Exploring Österåker's Geography

Österåker Municipality is known for its many islands and small islands, called islets. There are about 800 of them! The biggest island is Ljusterö. It's a community on its own, covering the eastern part of the mainland, and you can even drive there. Regular ferries, including an old steamship from 1898, make it easy to reach the island. Other important islands in the area include Finnhamn, Husarö, and Ingmarsö.

Main Towns and Villages

Here are some of the important places you can find in Österåker Municipality:

Rydbo
Skärgårdsstad
Svinninge
Åkersberga (This is the main town)
Österskär

How Österåker's Population Has Grown

This chart shows how the number of people living in Österåker Municipality has changed over the years, from 1970 to 2019. You can see that the population has steadily increased, meaning more and more people are choosing to live in this area.

Population development in Österåker Municipality 1970–2019
Year	Population
1970	15,527
1975	22,664
1980	25,631
1985	26,324
1990	30,230
1995	32,140
2000	34,427
2005	37,336
2010	39,521
2015	42,130
2019	45,574

People with Different Backgrounds

As of December 31, 2017, about 8,916 people in Österåker had a foreign background. This means they were either born outside Sweden or had two parents who were born outside Sweden. This made up about 20.20% of the total population of 44,130 people at that time. Back in 2002, this group was smaller, making up about 14.25% of the population.

Understanding the 2022 Election

Elections for local councils in Sweden happen every four years, on the third Sunday in September. In the 2022 election, people voted for the 51 members of the Österåker council. The group of four parties that were already in power (called the centre-right majority) stayed in charge. These parties are the Moderates (M), Liberals (L), Christian Democrats (KD), and Centre Party (C).

	M	L	C	KD	S	V	MP	RP	SD	MED	Others	The Majority (M, L, C, KD)	R-G (S, V, MP)
2022 Election Results	The Majority				Red-Green Parties			Other				The Majority (M, L, C, KD)	R-G (S, V, MP)	Other

2022 Percentage	38.24%	5.39%	4.56%	3.35%	22.55%	4.54%	3.48%	6.54%	8.98%	2.2%	0.18%	51.54%	30.57%	17.9%
2022 Seats	20	2	3	2	11	2	2	3	5	1	0	27	15	9

Getting Around: Public Transportation

Österåker has a good public transportation system, which is part of the larger Stockholm public transport system run by SL. You can find six stops for the narrow gauge Roslagsbanan suburban railway here. There are also buses that go to Stockholm and Norrtälje, plus a large network of local buses to help you get around within the municipality.