Mark

Housing

Housing in Mark is mixed – detached houses, tenant owned flats and rented flats. The biggest housing company for flats is the municipal one, Marks Bostads AB (MBAB), with a stock of around 3 100 flats. If you want to know more about MBAB, join its housing list or see what flats are vacant, visit MBAB's website. You can also find private landlords on our website.

Language groups in the locality

About 15 per cent of the municipality's inhabitants come from a background in a different country. In addition to the Nordic languages Finnish, Danish and Norwegian, big minority languages include English, German, Spanish, Serbian, Croatian, Arabic and Somali.

Associations and organisations

Mark municipality has a vibrant civil society in which many people are involved. The municipality has around 400 registered associations. You can find them all in the municipality's company register. Churches are active and very involved with helping people who are new to Sweden. The Red Cross and Erikshjälpen are other significant charities with similar activities.

What is available in the immediate area

Mark municipality has many small communities. The biggest of these, and the municipality's central community, is Kinna. There is a local employment agency, a citizens' office and a social welfare office here. Kinna and many of the municipality's other communities also have services in the form of shops, schools, libraries and elder care.

Childcare

Preschool is for children between the ages of 1 and 5. We have 34 preschools in the municipality and a good pupil-to-teacher ratio in small groups of children. All the preschools are listed on the municipality's website. Open preschool activities are held in Skene. There are parents' groups in various parts of the municipality. Some of these are open to Arabic and Somali speakers.

Compulsory schools and upper secondary schools

There are 19 comprehensive schools in Mark, of which seven offer year 7-9. Marks gymnasieskola is in Skene and has about 900 pupils on a number of different programmes. Mark is also one of two places in the country with a national upper secondary school with sports specialisation in basketball.

Marks gymnasieskola offers new arrivals language introduction courses in which teaching focuses on Swedish as a second language, maths and natural and social studies. These courses aim to prepare the pupil for further studies in the school's vocational introduction programmes and municipal adult education.

Education opportunities

In addition to secondary and upper secondary education, Mark offers free adult education at Marks gymnasieskola. There are also courses in Swedish for immigrants. Several vocational training programmes are available through a collaboration with the Borås region. Application for these programmes is through Boråsregionens Vuxenutbildning. Higher education is available within commuting distance, in Gothenburg and Borås.

Health and medical care

Region Västra Götaland is responsible for health and medical care. Skene lasarett (general hospital) in Skene is a branch of Södra Älvsborg hospital. The hospital is currently being converted into a local hospital with surgery and orthopaedic activities. The hospital also includes a medical care centre.

Today there are also medical care centres in the communities of Kinna, Fritsla, Sätila, Skene, Horred and Öxabäck, but with the "choice in medical care" (vårdvalet) system, changes happen all the time.

The municipality is responsible for elder care and functional disability care. Information about our sheltered accommodation is available on our website.

Interpreter assistance

If necessary, we will arrange an interpreter for your contacts with the municipality.

Public transport

Västtrafik runs all public transport services in Mark municipality. The main line is the railway from Borås to Varberg, which links all the communities from Fritsla via Kinna and down to Horred. Bus connections along national route 156 are frequent, and getting from Kinna and Skene via Sätila and Hyssna to Gothenburh and Landvetter Airport is quick.

Work and entrepreneurship

There are around 4 000 businesses in Mark municipality. All of them are listed in our company register. The textile industry is significant in the municipality, as are care and nursing services as well as various engineering industries. In addition to the municipality (with about 3 000 employees), the biggest employers are Nordic Care and Frösvik (care), Stora Enso (engineering industry) and Ludvig Svensson (textile).