Sørreisa Municipality Sørreisa kommune Ráisavuona suohkan (Northern Sami)
Municipality
Sørreisen herred  (historic name)
Flag Coat of arms
Troms within Norway
Sørreisa within Troms
Coordinates: 69°05′31″N 18°11′37″E / 69.09194°N 18.19361°E / 69.09194; 18.19361
Country	Norway
County	Troms
District	Midt-Troms
Established	1 Sept 1886
• Preceded by	Tranøy Municipality
Administrative centre	Sørreisa
Government
• Mayor (2015)	Jan-Eirik Nordahl (Ap)
Area
• Total	362.98 km2 (140.15 sq mi)
• Land	346.74 km2 (133.88 sq mi)
• Water	16.23 km2 (6.27 sq mi)  4.5%
• Rank	#248 in Norway
Population  (2023)
• Total	3,428
• Rank	#217 in Norway
• Density	9.9/km2 (26/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	+0.6%
Demonym	Sørreisværing[1]
Official language [2]
• Norwegian form	Neutral
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-5526[3]
Website	Official website
Data from Statistics Norway

Sørreisa (Northern Sami: Ráisavuona suohkan) is a municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sørreisa. Other villages include Grunnreisa, Skøelva, and Smørsgård.

The 363-square-kilometre (140 sq mi) municipality is the 248th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Sørreisa is the 218th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 3,428. The municipality's population density is 9.9 inhabitants per square kilometre (26/sq mi) and its population has increased by 0.6% over the previous 10-year period.^[4][5]

General information

The municipality of Sørreisen was established on 1 September 1886 when the large Tranøy Municipality was divided into three: Tranøy (population: 1,239) in the west, Dyrøy (population: 1,281) in the south, and Sørreisen (population: 1,361) in the east. Later, the spelling was changed to Sørreisa. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the part of Sørreisa across the Reisafjorden on the island of Senja (population: 129) was transferred to Lenvik Municipality.^[6]

On 1 January 2020, the municipality became part of the newly formed Troms og Finnmark county. Previously, it had been part of the old Troms county.^[7] On 1 January 2024, the Troms og Finnmark county was divided and the municipality once again became part of Troms county.^[8]

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the local Reisafjorden (Old Norse: Reisa). The fjord was named after the river Reisaelva which flows into the fjord. The river name is derived from the verb rísa which means "to raise" (referring to flooding). The prefix sør (meaning "southern") was added to the name to distinguish the municipality from the nearby Nordreisa Municipality to the north.^[9] Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Sørreisen. On 6 January 1908, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Sørreisa.^[10]

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 7 September 1984. The official blazon is "Gules, three six-pointed mullets Or" (Norwegian: I rødt 3 seksoddete gull stjerner, to over en). This means the arms have a red field (background) and the charge is three six-pointed stars. Each star has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The arms were designed by Ottar Jarl Myrvang. The design was inspired by the oldest seal preserved from Sørreisa. The seal belonged to the local politician Jacob Hansen Kinapel who was a policeman in Sørreisa from 1715 to 1748. His heptagonal 18th century seal shows his initials IHSK around three stars, an eight-pointed star in the centre over two six-pointed stars.^[11][12][13]

Churches

The Church of Norway has one parish (sokn) within the municipality of Sørreisa. It is part of the Indre Troms prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland.

Geography

Sørreisa is located on the western coast of Norway, along the Reisafjorden, just east of the large island of Senja. The 363-square-kilometre (140 sq mi) municipality is mostly populated along the shoreline. The municipality of Dyrøy lies to the west, Salangen and Bardu to the south, Målselv to the east, and Lenvik to the north.

Climate

Sørreisa has continental subarctic climate. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Dfc". The Norwegian Meteorological Institute has been operating a weather station in Sørreisa for many years.^[14][15]

Government

All municipalities in Norway are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.^[18] The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Nord-Troms og Senja District Court and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Sørreisa is made up of 19 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.