Upplands-Bro Municipality () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in Stockholm County in east central

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. Its seat is located in the town of

Kungsängen Kungsängen () is a locality and the seat of Upplands-Bro Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It b ...

. The municipality was formed in 1952 through the amalgamation of five rural municipalities in

Uppsala County Uppsala County () is a county or '' län'' on the eastern coast of Sweden, whose capital is the city of Uppsala. It borders the counties of Dalarna, Stockholm, Södermanland, Västmanland, Gävleborg, and the Baltic Sea. Province The nor ...

. In 1971 it was transferred to Stockholm County.

Geography

Situated by

Lake Mälaren A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

it is distinguished by its nature. The overwhelming majority of the population are located to one of the three towns

(pop. 7,500), Bro (6,200) and Brunna (4,000), and most of the remaining area is taken up by countryside, a substantial part of it being

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

History

As apparent from its

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

, Upplands-Bro takes pride in its pre-historic history, and boasts some of the oldest ancient remains in Sweden. From the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

, about 4,000 burial places have been found, and the remains from the

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

include 20

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic alphabet, runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition of erecting runestones as a memorial to dead men began in the 4th centur ...

s. The figure in the coat of arms comes from one of these remains, a 3 cm tall bronze figure found near Kungsängen. Every one of the six

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

es also hosts a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

church, built between 1100 and 1400. In the 15th century, the fortress

Almarestäket Almarestäket, or ''Stäket'', is a strait at the inlet of Lake Mälaren in central-eastern Sweden. A fortress existed there between about 1370 and 1517. A place mentioned as Stocksund by Old Norse author Snorre Sturlasson was once believed t ...

was built in the municipality, just east to the present location of Kungsängen. It was the seat of the

Swedish archbishop The Archbishop of Uppsala (spelled Upsala until the early 20th century) has been the primate of Sweden in an unbroken succession since 1164, first during the Catholic era, and from the 1530s and onward under the Lutheran church. Historical ove ...

until the Archbishop

Gustav Trolle Gustav Eriksson Trolle (September 1488 – 1535) was the archbishop of Uppsala in Sweden, in two sessions, during the turbulent Reformation events. He was the son of Eric Arvidsson Trolle, a former regent of Sweden during the era of the Kalmar ...

besieged himself there in 1517, leading to the demolition of the fortress in 1519. The ruins can still be visited. Since 1970, the main base of the combined

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...

infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...

regiment Life Guards is located in Upplands-Bro. The regiment trains

conscript Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it contin ...

companies A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether natural, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specifi ...

mechanized infantry Mechanized infantry are infantry units equipped with Armoured personnel carrier, armored personnel carriers (APCs) or infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) for transport and combat (see also armoured corps). As defined by the United States Army, me ...

, Royal Guards and

military police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. Not to be confused with civilian police, who are legally part of the civilian populace. In wartime operations, the military police may supp ...

. It is also the home of the Swedish Armed Forces International Centre (Swedint).

Demographics

2022 by district

This is a demographic table based on Upplands-Bro Municipality's electoral districts in the

2022 Swedish general election General elections were held in Sweden on 11 September 2022 to elect the 349 members of the Riksdag who in turn elected the Prime Minister of Sweden. Under the constitution, regional and municipal elections were also held on the same day. The pr ...

sourced from SVT's election platform, in turn taken from SCB official statistics. In total there were 31,031 residents, including 20,468 Swedish citizens of voting age. 43.9% voted for the left coalition and 54.1% for the right coalition. Indicators are in percentage points except population totals and income.

Population development

Residents with a foreign background

On 31 December 2017 the number of people with a foreign background (persons born outside of Sweden or with two parents born outside of Sweden) was 9 646, or 34.93% of the population (27 614 on 31 December 2017). On 31 December 2002 the number of residents with a foreign background was (per the same definition) 5 002, or 23.64% of the population (21 162 on 31 December 2002).Antal personer efter region, utländsk/svensk bakgrund och år
(Read 5 januari 2019) On 31 December 2017 there were 27 614 residents in Upplands-Bro, of which 7 088 people (25.67%) 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 of Sweden for Swedish residents have been included, with other countries of birth bundled together by continent by

Statistics Sweden Statistics Sweden ( ; SCB, ) is the Swedish government agency operating under the Ministry of Finance and responsible for producing official statistics for decision-making, debate and research. The agency's responsibilities include: * developin ...

.Statistiska centralbyrån: Utrikes födda efter län, kommun och födelseland 31 december 2017
(XLS-fil) Läst 5 januari 2019

Public transportation

The municipality is served by the Stockholm public transport system operated by SL. The municipal seat

used to be the north-western terminus of the

Stockholm commuter rail Stockholm commuter rail () is the commuter rail system in Stockholm County, Sweden. The system is an important part of the public transport in Stockholm, and is controlled by Storstockholms Lokaltrafik. The tracks are state-owned and administere ...

network, but in 2000 this line was extended to

Bålsta Bålsta is a locality and the seat of Håbo Municipality, Uppsala County, Sweden with 13,138 inhabitants in 2015. Although not in Stockholm County, it has Bålsta Station, the north-western terminus of the Stockholm suburban rail system. Many i ...

and a new station was built in Bro. A new depot for commuter trains has recently been built in the municipality. There is also a bus network.

References

External links

Upplands-Bro Municipality
– Official site {{authority control Municipalities of Stockholm County