Rieden, Switzerland

Rieden
Country Switzerland
Canton St. Gallen
District See-Gaster
Population 697 (Dec 2010)[1]
- Density 61 /km2 (158 /sq mi)
Area  11.44 km2 (4.42 sq mi)[2]
Elevation 715 m (2,346 ft)
Postal code 8739
SFOS number 3314
Mayor Martin Bosshard
Surrounded by Ebnat-Kappel, Gommiswald, Kaltbrunn
Website www.rieden.ch
SFSO statistics
Rieden

Rieden is a municipality in the Wahlkreis (constituency) of See-Gaster in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

Contents

History

Rieden is first mentioned in 1045 as Rieta.[3]

Geography

Rieden has an area, as of 2006, of 11.5 km2 (4.4 sq mi). Of this area, 39.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 56.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.7%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes).[4]

The municipality is located in the See-Gaster Wahlkreis on a terrace above and east of the Linth valley. It consists of the Haufendorf village (an irregular, unplanned and quite closely packed village, built around a central square) of Rieden and scattered, individual farm houses.

The municipalities of Rieden, Ernetschwil, and Gommiswald are considering a merger for 1 January 2013 into a new municipality with an as of 2009 undetermined name.[5]

Coat of arms

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Argent, St. Magnus stantant clad as monk and cloaked Sable haloed Gules holding in dexter a Staff topped with a Cross Sable.[6]

Demographics

Rieden has a population (as of 31 December 2010) of 697.[1] As of 2007, about 5.8% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, (as of 2000), 15 are from Germany, 2 are from Italy, 5 are from ex-Yugoslavia, 2 are from Austria, and 5 are from another country.[7] Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 4.7%. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (98.2%), with Romanian being second most common ( 0.4%) and French being third ( 0.3%).[4] Of the Swiss national languages (as of 2000), 694 speak German, 2 people speak French, 2 people speak Italian,[8]

The age distribution, as of 2000, in Rieden is; 108 children or 15.3% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 90 teenagers or 12.7% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 64 people or 9.1% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 119 people or 16.8% are between 30 and 39, 87 people or 12.3% are between 40 and 49, and 75 people or 10.6% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 88 people or 12.4% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 50 people or 7.1% are between 70 and 79, there are 25 people or 3.5% who are between 80 and 89,and there is 1 person who is between 90 and 99.[8]

In 2000 there were 45 persons (or 6.4% of the population) who were living alone in a private dwelling. There were 168 (or 23.8%) persons who were part of a couple (married or otherwise committed) without children, and 430 (or 60.8%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 16 (or 2.3%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 2 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 2 who lived household made up of unrelated persons,and 44 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing.[8]

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 43.4% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (27.1%), the SP (10.2%) and the Green Party (8.2%).[4]

In Rieden about 72% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).[4] Out of the total population in Rieden, as of 2000, the highest education level completed by 154 people (21.8% of the population) was Primary, while 248 (35.1%) have completed their secondary education, 89 (12.6%) have attended a Tertiary school, and 27 (3.8%) are not in school. The remainder did not answer this question.[8]

The historical population is given in the following table:[3]

year population
1802 350
1831 551
1850 428
1900 414
1960 361
1990 561

Economy

As of 2007, Rieden had an unemployment rate of 1.31%. As of 2005, there were 44 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 16 businesses involved in this sector. 13 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 6 businesses in this sector. 63 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 17 businesses in this sector.[4]

As of October 2009 the average unemployment rate was 2.0%.[9] There were 41 businesses in the municipality of which 7 were involved in the secondary sector of the economy while 20 were involved in the third.[10]

As of 2000 there were 100 residents who worked in the municipality, while 245 residents worked outside Rieden and 30 people commuted into the municipality for work.[11]

Religion

From the 2000 census, 462 or 65.3% are Roman Catholic, while 134 or 19.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there are 5 individuals (or about 0.71% of the population) who belong to the Christian Catholic faith, there are 6 individuals (or about 0.85% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 6 individuals (or about 0.85% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There are 2 (or about 0.28% of the population) who are Islamic. There are 5 individuals (or about 0.71% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 57 (or about 8.06% of the population) belong to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 30 individuals (or about 4.24% of the population) did not answer the question.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b Swiss Federal Statistics Office – STAT-TAB Ständige und Nichtständige Wohnbevölkerung nach Region, Geschlecht, Nationalität und Alter (German) accessed 10 December 2011
  2. ^ Arealstatistik Standard - Gemeindedaten nach 4 Hauptbereichen
  3. ^ a b Rieden in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
  4. ^ a b c d e Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 08-January-2010
  5. ^ Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (German) accessed 23 September 2009
  6. ^ Flags of the World.com accessed 08-January-2010
  7. ^ Der Kanton St. Gallen und seine Menschen in Zahlen - Ausgabe 2009 (German) accessed 30 December 2009
  8. ^ a b c d e Canton St. Gallen Statistics-Hauptergebnisse der Volkszählung 2000: Regionen- und Gemeindevergleich-Personen (German) accessed 30 December 2009
  9. ^ St Gallen Canton statistics-Unemployment (German) accessed 30 December 2009
  10. ^ St Gallen Canton statistics-Businesses (German) accessed 31 December 2009
  11. ^ St Gallen Canton statistics-Communters (German) accessed 31 December 2009

External links