Erschwil
Encyclopedia
Erschwil is a municipality
in the district of Thierstein
in the canton
of Solothurn in Switzerland
.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings make up 3.0% and transportation infrastructure makes up 3.0%. Out of the forested land, 54.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.0% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 2.2% is used for growing crops and 30.1% is pastures, while 1.7% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
The municipality is located in the Thierstein district. It is an elongated village on both sides of the Lüssel river.
of the municipality coat of arms
is Or a Pick and a Smith's Hammer Sable in Saltire.
Most of the population speak German
(894 or 96.0%), with French
being the second most common (12 or 1.3%) and Serbo-Croatian
being third (7 or 0.8%).
, the gender distribution of the population was 49.3% male and 50.7% female. The population was made up of 422 Swiss men (45.9% of the population) and 31 (3.4%) non-Swiss men. There were 434 Swiss women (47.2%) and 32 (3.5%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 469 or about 50.4% were born in Erschwil and lived there in 2000. There were 188 or 20.2% who were born in the same canton, while 191 or 20.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 52 or 5.6% were born outside of Switzerland.
In there were 8 live births to Swiss citizens and 1 birth to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 15 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 7 while the foreign population increased by 1. There were 3 Swiss men and 2 Swiss women who immigrated back to Switzerland. At the same time, there were 4 non-Swiss men and 2 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was a decrease of 3 and the non-Swiss population increased by 8 people. This represents a population growth rate of 0.5%.
The age distribution, , in Erschwil is; 80 children or 8.6% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 166 teenagers or 17.8% are between 7 and 19. Of the adult population, 39 people or 4.2% of the population are between 20 and 24 years old. 279 people or 30.0% are between 25 and 44, and 191 people or 20.5% are between 45 and 64. The senior population distribution is 132 people or 14.2% of the population are between 65 and 79 years old and there are 44 people or 4.7% who are over 80.
, there were 379 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 484 married individuals, 44 widows or widowers and 24 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.58 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.56 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43.1 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 75.7% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage
or a rent-to-own agreement).
, there were 341 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.7 persons per household. There were 52 households that consist of only one person and 28 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 345 households that answered this question, 15.1% were households made up of just one person and there were 8 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 120 married couples without children, 138 married couples with children There were 16 single parents with a child or children. There were 7 households that were made up of unrelated people and 4 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 244 single family homes (or 81.3% of the total) out of a total of 300 inhabited buildings. There were 27 multi-family buildings (9.0%), along with 21 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (7.0%) and 8 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (2.7%). Of the single family homes 31 were built before 1919, while 41 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (53) were built between 1981 and 1990.
there were 352 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 5 rooms of which there were 115. There were 4 single room apartments and 184 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 334 apartments (94.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 10 apartments (2.8%) were seasonally occupied and 8 apartments (2.3%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 1.1 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.81%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
the most popular party was the FDP
which received 39.41% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP
(24.23%), the SVP
(23.41%) and the SP
(6.36%). In the federal election, a total of 391 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 56.4%.
the total number of full-time equivalent
jobs was 276. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 18, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 212 of which 50 or (23.6%) were in manufacturing and 162 (76.4%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 46. In the tertiary sector; 15 or 32.6% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 5 or 10.9% were in the movement and storage of goods, 6 or 13.0% were in a hotel or restaurant, 7 or 15.2% were technical professionals or scientists, 5 or 10.9% were in education.
, there were 158 workers who commuted into the municipality and 327 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.1 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 3.2% of the workforce coming into Erschwil are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 21.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 57.5% used a private car.
. Of the rest of the population, there were 4 members of an Orthodox church
(or about 0.43% of the population), there was 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic Church
, and there were 3 individuals (or about 0.32% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish
, and 16 (or about 1.72% of the population) who were Islam
ic. 55 (or about 5.91% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 25 individuals (or about 2.69% of the population) did not answer the question.
). Of the 62 who completed tertiary schooling, 69.4% were Swiss men, 29.0% were Swiss women.
During the 2010-2011 school year there were a total of 82 students in the Erschwil school system. The education system
in the Canton of Solothurn allows young children to attend two years of non-obligatory Kindergarten
. During that school year, there were 23 children in kindergarten. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of primary school, with some of the children attending smaller, specialized classes. In the municipality there were 59 students in primary school. The secondary school
program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling, followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. All the lower secondary students from Erschwil attend their school in a neighboring municipality.
, there were 2 students in Erschwil who came from another municipality, while 48 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
Municipalities of Switzerland
Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...
in the district of Thierstein
Thierstein (district)
Thierstein District is one of the ten districts of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland, situated to the north of the canton. Together with the Dorneck District, it forms the Amtei of Dorneck-Thierstein...
in the canton
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
of Solothurn in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
Geography
Erschwil has an area, , of 7.43 square kilometres (2.9 sq mi). Of this area, 2.58 km² (0.99614356916874 sq mi) or 34.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 4.3 km² (1.7 sq mi) or 57.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.53 km² (0.204634144054044 sq mi) or 7.1% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.02 km² (4.9 acre) or 0.3% is either rivers or lakes and 0.02 km² (4.9 acre) or 0.3% is unproductive land.Of the built up area, housing and buildings make up 3.0% and transportation infrastructure makes up 3.0%. Out of the forested land, 54.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.0% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 2.2% is used for growing crops and 30.1% is pastures, while 1.7% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
The municipality is located in the Thierstein district. It is an elongated village on both sides of the Lüssel river.
Coat of arms
The blazonBlazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...
of the municipality coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
is Or a Pick and a Smith's Hammer Sable in Saltire.
Demographics
Erschwil has a population of . , 5.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of -1.9%. It has changed at a rate of -1.2% due to migration and at a rate of -0.2% due to births and deaths.Most of the population speak German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
(894 or 96.0%), with French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
being the second most common (12 or 1.3%) and Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...
being third (7 or 0.8%).
, the gender distribution of the population was 49.3% male and 50.7% female. The population was made up of 422 Swiss men (45.9% of the population) and 31 (3.4%) non-Swiss men. There were 434 Swiss women (47.2%) and 32 (3.5%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 469 or about 50.4% were born in Erschwil and lived there in 2000. There were 188 or 20.2% who were born in the same canton, while 191 or 20.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 52 or 5.6% were born outside of Switzerland.
In there were 8 live births to Swiss citizens and 1 birth to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 15 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 7 while the foreign population increased by 1. There were 3 Swiss men and 2 Swiss women who immigrated back to Switzerland. At the same time, there were 4 non-Swiss men and 2 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was a decrease of 3 and the non-Swiss population increased by 8 people. This represents a population growth rate of 0.5%.
The age distribution, , in Erschwil is; 80 children or 8.6% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 166 teenagers or 17.8% are between 7 and 19. Of the adult population, 39 people or 4.2% of the population are between 20 and 24 years old. 279 people or 30.0% are between 25 and 44, and 191 people or 20.5% are between 45 and 64. The senior population distribution is 132 people or 14.2% of the population are between 65 and 79 years old and there are 44 people or 4.7% who are over 80.
, there were 379 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 484 married individuals, 44 widows or widowers and 24 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.58 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.56 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43.1 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 75.7% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...
or a rent-to-own agreement).
, there were 341 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.7 persons per household. There were 52 households that consist of only one person and 28 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 345 households that answered this question, 15.1% were households made up of just one person and there were 8 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 120 married couples without children, 138 married couples with children There were 16 single parents with a child or children. There were 7 households that were made up of unrelated people and 4 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 244 single family homes (or 81.3% of the total) out of a total of 300 inhabited buildings. There were 27 multi-family buildings (9.0%), along with 21 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (7.0%) and 8 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (2.7%). Of the single family homes 31 were built before 1919, while 41 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (53) were built between 1981 and 1990.
there were 352 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 5 rooms of which there were 115. There were 4 single room apartments and 184 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 334 apartments (94.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 10 apartments (2.8%) were seasonally occupied and 8 apartments (2.3%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 1.1 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.81%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Politics
In the 2007 federal electionSwiss federal election, 2007
Elections to the Swiss Federal Assembly, the federal parliament of Switzerland, were held on Sunday, 21 October 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, and 25 November 2007...
the most popular party was the FDP
FDP.The Liberals
FDP.The Liberals is a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It is the joint-largest party in the Federal Council, third-largest party in the National Council, and second-largest in the Council of States....
which received 39.41% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP
Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland
The Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland is a Christian democratic political party in Switzerland. It is the fourth-largest party in the National Council, with 31 seats, and the largest in the Council of States, with 15 seats. It has one seat, that of Doris Leuthard, on the Swiss...
(24.23%), the SVP
Swiss People's Party
The Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...
(23.41%) and the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
(6.36%). In the federal election, a total of 391 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
Voter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...
was 56.4%.
Economy
, Erschwil had an unemployment rate of 2.5%. , there were 33 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 12 businesses involved in this sector. 224 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 19 businesses in this sector. 67 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 24 businesses in this sector. There were 449 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 41.2% of the workforce.the total number of full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent , is a unit to measure employed persons or students in a way that makes them comparable although they may work or study a different number of hours per week. FTE is often used to measure a worker's involvement in a project, or to track cost reductions in an organization...
jobs was 276. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 18, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 212 of which 50 or (23.6%) were in manufacturing and 162 (76.4%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 46. In the tertiary sector; 15 or 32.6% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 5 or 10.9% were in the movement and storage of goods, 6 or 13.0% were in a hotel or restaurant, 7 or 15.2% were technical professionals or scientists, 5 or 10.9% were in education.
, there were 158 workers who commuted into the municipality and 327 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.1 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 3.2% of the workforce coming into Erschwil are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 21.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 57.5% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 723 or 77.7% were Roman Catholic, while 103 or 11.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed ChurchSwiss Reformed Church
The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 4 members of an Orthodox church
Orthodox Christianity
The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...
(or about 0.43% of the population), there was 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic Church
Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland
The Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland is the Swiss member church of the Union of Utrecht, also known as Old Catholic Church, originally founded by the jansenists, with a later influx of discontented Catholics following their disappointment with the First Vatican Council. It has 14,000...
, and there were 3 individuals (or about 0.32% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, and 16 (or about 1.72% of the population) who were Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic. 55 (or about 5.91% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....
or atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
, and 25 individuals (or about 2.69% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
In Erschwil about 348 or (37.4%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 62 or (6.7%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a FachhochschuleFachhochschule
A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...
). Of the 62 who completed tertiary schooling, 69.4% were Swiss men, 29.0% were Swiss women.
During the 2010-2011 school year there were a total of 82 students in the Erschwil school system. The education system
Education in Switzerland
The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system mainly to the cantons...
in the Canton of Solothurn allows young children to attend two years of non-obligatory Kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
. During that school year, there were 23 children in kindergarten. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of primary school, with some of the children attending smaller, specialized classes. In the municipality there were 59 students in primary school. The secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling, followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. All the lower secondary students from Erschwil attend their school in a neighboring municipality.
, there were 2 students in Erschwil who came from another municipality, while 48 residents attended schools outside the municipality.