Hedmark

Hedmark fylke
County
Coat of arms
Hedmark within Norway
Country	Norway
County	Hedmark
Region	Østlandet
County ID	NO-04
Administrative centre	Hamar
Government
• Governor	Sigbjørn Johnsen   Arbeiderpartiet   (1997-2009–present)
• County mayor	Arnfinn Nergård   Senterpartiet   (2007–present)
Area
• Total	27,397 km2 (10,578 sq mi)
• Land	26,082 km2 (10,070 sq mi)
Area rank	#3 in Norway, 8.57% of Norway's land area
Population (2014)
• Total	194.236
• Rank	11 (4.11% of country)
• Density	7/km2 (20/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	0.5 %
Demonym(s)	Hedmarking
Time zone	CET (UTC+01)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+02)
Official language form	Neutral
Income (per capita)	132,200 NOK
GDP (per capita)	204,205 NOK (2001)
GDP national rank	11 (2.52% of country)
Website	www.hedmark.org
Data from Statistics Norway

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1951	173,167	—
1961	177,324	+2.4%
1971	179,204	+1.1%
1981	187,223	+4.5%
1991	187,314	+0.0%
2001	187,999	+0.4%
2011	191,622	+1.9%
2021?	204,065	+6.5%
2031?	216,105	+5.9%
Source: Statistics Norway.

Religion in Hedmark
religion			percent
Christianity			89.10%
Islam			0.75%
Buddhism			0.18%
Other			9.97%

Hedmark [ˈheːdˈmɑrk]  ( listen) is a county in Norway, bordering Sør-Trøndelag to the north, Oppland to the west and Akershus to the south. The county administration is in Hamar.

Hedmark makes up the northeastern part of Østlandet, the southeastern part of the country. It has a long border with Sweden, Dalarna County and Värmland County. The largest lakes are Femunden and Mjøsa, the largest lake in Norway. Parts of Glomma, Norway's longest river, flow through Hedmark. Geographically, Hedmark is traditionally divided into: Hedemarken, east of Mjøsa, Østerdalen, north of Elverum, and Glåmdalen, south of Elverum. Hedmark and Oppland are the only Norwegian counties with no coastline. Hedmark also hosted some events of the 1994 Winter Olympic Games.

Hamar, Kongsvinger, Elverum and Tynset are cities in the county. Hedmark is one of the less urbanized areas in Norway; about half of the inhabitants live on rural land. The population is mainly concentrated in the rich agricultural district adjoining Mjøsa to the southeast. The county's extensive forests supply much of Norway's timber; at one time, logs were floated down Glomma to the coast but are now transported by truck and train.

The Hedmark municipality of Engerdal has the distinction of marking the current southernmost border in Norway of Sápmi, the traditional region of the Sami people.

The county is divided into three traditional districts. These are Hedmarken, Østerdalen and Solør (with Odalen and Vinger).

Hedmark was originally a part of the large Akershus amt, but in 1757 Oplandenes amt was separated from it. Some years later, in 1781, this was divided into Kristians amt (now Oppland) and Hedemarkens amt. Until 1919, the county was called Hedemarkens amt.

Etymology

The Old Norse form of the name was Heiðmǫrk. The first element is heiðnir, the name of an old Germanic tribe and is related to the word heið, which means moorland. The last element is mǫrk 'woodland, borderland, march'. (See also Telemark and Finnmark.)

Coat of arms

The coat of arms is from modern times (1987). It shows three barkespader (adzes used to remove bark from timber logs).

Politics

Every four years the inhabitants of Hedmark elect 33 representatives to Hedmark Fylkesting, the Hedmark County Assembly. After the elections of September 2007 the majority of the seats of the assembly were held by a three-party coalition consisting of the Labour Party (14 seats), the Centre Party (5 seats) and the Socialist Left Party (2 seats). Eight parties are represented in the assembly, the remaining 5 being the Progress Party (4 seats), the Conservative Party (4), the Liberal Party (2), the Christian Democratic Party (1) and the Pensioners Party (1). The assembly is headed by the county mayor (Norwegian: Fylkesordfører). As of the 2007 elections the county mayor is Arnfinn Nergård. He represents the Centre Party. In 2003 a parliamentary system was established, which means that the county assembly elects a political administration or council to hold executive power. This county council reflects the majority of the county assembly and includes the three parties holding the majority of the assembly seats, i.e., the Labour Party, the Center Party and the Socialist Left Party. The council is led by Siv Tørudbakken, a member of the Labour Party.

Municipalities

Municipalities of Hedmark

Rank	Name	Inhabitants	Area km²
1	Ringsaker	32,524	1,125
2	Hamar	28,344	339
3	Elverum	19,838	1,221
4	Stange	19,104	642
5	Kongsvinger	17,377	965
6	Sør-Odal	7,791	487
7	Åsnes	7,607	1,015
8	Løten	7,272	363
9	Trysil	6,763	2,957
10	Eidskog	6,327	604
11	Tynset	5,490	1,831
12	Nord-Odal	5,118	476
13	Grue	5,078	787
14	Åmot	4,285	1,306
15	Våler	3,870	685
16	Stor-Elvdal	2,679	2,144
17	Alvdal	2,441	927
18	Os	2,033	1,013
19	Rendalen	1,998	3,073
20	Tolga	1,671	1,101
21	Folldal	1,669	1,266
22	Engerdal	1,434	1,921
Total	Hedmark	190,709	27,388

External links

• Official homepage
• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
• Hedmark travel guide from Wikivoyage