Ekerö Municipality () is a municipality in the province of Uppland in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. The name derives from the name of the main island within the municipality whose name is Ekerön, and literally means "Oak Island". Its seat is located in the town of Ekerö.

The King of Sweden resides in Ekerö Municipality, at Drottningholm Palace (see below).

Originally, when the first local government acts were implemented in Sweden in 1863, eight rural municipalities were created, each corresponding to an old parish. The municipal reform of 1952 grouped them in two new larger entities. The next reform in 1971 merged them into the present municipality.

Geography

thumb|left|Ekerö's main islands

Ekerö is the only municipality in the Lake Mälaren region composed exclusively of islands. The post-glacial rebound has reduced the number of islands and skerries to 140, the largest of which are Adelsö, Munsö, Ekerö, Färingsö, and Lovö. 2000 years ago, during the Roman Iron Age, Färingsön was more of an archipelago of twenty islands.

Heritage

The municipality contains two UNESCO World Heritage Sites. One is Birka, an old Viking Age village, and the other is Drottningholm Palace and its surroundings.

Drottningholm, located on the Lovö island, was originally a Renaissance palace built by King John III for Queen Catherine Jagellon. On December 30, 1661, the old palace burned down. Queen Dowager Hedvig Eleonora had a new palace erected out of the preserved walls and cellar vaults from King John III’s palace in the French Baroque style to the design of architect Nicodemus Tessin the Elder, a work later completed by Nicodemus Tessin the Younger, Carl Hårleman, and Jean Eric Rehn. Since 1981 it is the permanent residence of the royal family, but large parts of the park are accessible to the public. The palace features several uniquely preserved structures, including the Palace Theatre, inaugurated in 1766 and still delivering operas using the preserved original machinery; and the Chinese Pavilion, the Rococo design of Carl Fredrik Adelcrantz filled with Chinese luxury delivered by the Swedish East India Company.

Kanton is a group of twenty buildings next to the Chinese Pavilion built in the 1750s and 1760s, intended to be a mercantile prototype settlement. 70-80 people lived there for a few decades producing luxury items for the royal court and the nobility, including some of the interior of the China Pavillin. The buildings later inspired author Elsa Beskow to some of her fairy tales.

Ekebyhov is a real estate created around 1630. Its main building, Ekebyhov Palace, is a wooden structure begun in 1674 and completed in 1704. It is the oldest preserved wooden palace in Europe. The gardens of the palace boasts several unique plants and features a café. It is since 1980 owned by the municipality.

Skytteholm is a seat farm. Its main building, Skytteholm Mansion, was one of the mansions of Johan Skytte, mentor of Gustavus Adolphus the Great, had built in the Lake Mälaren region. Founded in 1631, its present appearance is mostly from around 1920. It is today mostly used for conferences and as a hotel.

The Barrow of Björn Ironside on Munsö Island is part of the Iron Age grave field Munsö-Husby. On Munsö is also Munsö Church; one of three round churches in the Stockholm area. Probably built in 1187, it contains several medieval wooden sculptures.

| label_type = Year

| data_type = Population

| bar_width = 35

| width_units = em

| data_max = 35000

| label1 = 1970

| data1 = 12594

| label2 = 1975

| data2 = 15081

| label3 = 1980

| data3 = 15927

| label4 = 1985

| data4 = 16534

| label5 = 1990

| data5 = 18785

| label6 = 1995

| data6 = 20866

| label7 = 2000

| data7 = 22266

| label8 = 2005

| data8 = 24010

| label9 = 2010

| data9 = 25410

| label10 = 2015

| data10 = 26984

| label11 = 2017

| data11 = 27753

| label12 = 2019

| data12 = 28690

2022 by district

This is a demographic table based on Ekerö 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 29,062 residents, including 20,320 Swedish citizens of voting age. although the share of highly educated persons, according to Statistics Sweden's definition: persons with post-secondary education that is three years or longer, is 31.3% and slightly over the national average, 27.0%.

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 5 825, or 20.99% of the population (27 753 on 31 December 2017). On 31 December 2002 the number of residents with a foreign background was (per the same definition) 2 358, or 10.28% of the population (22 936 on 31 December 2002). On 31 December 2017 there were 27 753 residents in Ekerö, of which 3 345 people (12.05%) 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.

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"

! colspan=3| Country of birth

These are the election results from the 1973 onwards in Ekerö Municipality. In the SCB reports from 1988 to 1994 the exact decimals of the Sweden Democrats were not reported since only parties near the 4% nationwide threshold were reported on. 1985, the Christian Democrats (KD) and Centre Party (C) were allied as "The Centre" so their shared votes are reported as those of C in that election.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 95%;"

! Year

! Turnout

! V

! S

! MP

! C

! L

! KD

! M

! SD

! Other Parties

|-

| 1973

| 94.3%

| 5.2%

| 33.1%

| ..

| 24.8%

| 11.9%

| 1.0%

| 23.9%

| ..

| 0.3%

|-

| 1976

| 95.0%

| 5.3%

| 30.3%

| ..

| 24.2%

| 14.2%

| 0.6%

| 25.2%

| ..

| 0.2%

|-

| 1979

| 93.6%

| 6.2%

| 29.6%

| ..

| 17.6%

| 12.9%

| 0.6%

| 32.6%

| ..

| 0.5%

|-

| 1982

| 93.9%

| 5.1%

| 30.2%

| 3.2%

| 13.5%

| 7.2%

| 0.8%

| 39.9%

| ..

| 0.2%

|-

| 1985

| 93.2%

| 4.2%

| 29.1%

| 1.9%

| 8.5%

| 19.3%

| ..

| 36.6%

| ..

| 0.3%

|-

| 1988

| 89.5%

| 4.7%

| 26.7%

| 7.1%

| 9.1%

| 18.8%

| 1.7%

| 31.6%

| ..

| 0.2%

|-

| 1991

| 91.2%

| 2.8%

| 21.8%

| 5.3%

| 6.8%

| 13.6%

| 5.2%

| 35.4%

| ..

| 9.2%

|-

| 1994

| 90.0%

| 4.3%

| 28.4%

| 6.3%

| 7.2%

| 10.3%

| 3.5%

| 37.6%

| ..

| 2.4%

|-

| 1998

| 86.2%

| 7.2%

| 24.0%

| 5.5%

| 3.6%

| 6.0%

| 12.9%

| 38.9%

| 0.5%

| 1.5%

|-

| 2002

| 86.2%

| 5.2%

| 25.8%

| 6.4%

| 3.8%

| 20.4%

| 10.5%

| 26.1%

| 0.8%

| 1.0%

|-

| 2006

| 88.6%

| 3.3%

| 17.1%

| 6.6%

| 7.0%

| 10.3%

| 7.4%

| 44.7%

| 1.4%

| 2.2%

|-

| 2010

| 90.1%

| 3.2%

| 13.2%

| 8.2%

| 7.3%

| 9.3%

| 7.1%

| 47.1%

| 3.4%

| 1.1%

|-

| 2014

| 90.7%

| 3.2%

| 16.1%

| 8.3%

| 7.1%

| 7.3%

| 6.3%

| 38.9%

| 9.4%

| 3.6%

|-

| 2018

| 92.2%

| 4.8%

| 17.2%

| 5.7%

| 11.2%

| 7.6%

| 7.8%

| 28.1%

| 16.2%

| 1.3%

|}

Transport

Public transport

Ekerö is served by the Stockholm public transport system through SL. All bus routes have connection with the Stockholm metro at Brommaplan. More recently a ferry has started running regularly between Ekerö and Stockholm city.

Roads

The county road 261 offers connection to motorists from Brommaplan and other western suburbs of Stockholm. There is only one bridge, Nockebybron, connecting the municipality with the mainland, but there is also a car ferry taking motorists to Botkyrka Municipality south-west of Stockholm.

Sister towns

Ekerö is twinned with the following municipality:

  • Otepää, Estonia

Localities

  • Bergvik
  • Björndal
  • Brygga
  • Ekerö
  • Drottningholm
  • Jungfrusund
  • Kaggens täppa
  • Kungsberga
  • Lurudden
  • Mälby
  • Parksidan
  • Slottshagen
  • Sluts brygga
  • Solsidan
  • Stav
  • Stenhamra
  • Sundby
  • Svartsjö
  • Sånga-Sundby
  • Tureholm
  • Väsby
  • Älvnäs
  • Ölsta

Notes

References

  • Ekerö Municipality - Official site