Gunzgen is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the district of

Olten Olten (; High Alemannic: ''Oute'') is a town in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland and capital of the district of the same name. Olten grew into a town during the Middle Ages at the location of a bridge over the Aare. After a period of de ...

in the

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an It ...

Solothurn Solothurn ( ; ; ; ; ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the north-west of Switzerland on the banks of the Aare and on the foot of the Weissenstein Jura mountains. The town is ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

History

Gunzgen is first mentioned in 1226 as ''Gunzichon''. In 1320 it was mentioned as ''Gunzkon''.

Geography

Gunzgen has an area, , of . Of this area, or 46.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 24.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 27.4% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.8% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.3% is unproductive land.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 6.3% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 7.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 7.6%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 5.3% of the area Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 32.2% is used for growing crops and 11.7% is pastures, while 2.3% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 0.3% is in lakes and 0.5% is in rivers and streams. The municipality is located in the Olten district, in the ''Mittelgäu'' along the Dünnern river. The municipal borders changed during the Dünnern River Correction in 1933–43. It consists of the

linear village In mathematics, the term ''linear'' is used in two distinct senses for two different properties: * linearity of a '' function'' (or '' mapping''); * linearity of a ''polynomial''. An example of a linear function is the function defined by f(x)= ...

of Gunzgen and the settlement of Allmend which is separated from the main village by the A1 and A2 motorways.

Coat of arms

The

blazon 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 an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

of the municipal

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

is ''Per fess Argent an Oak issuant leaved and acorned Vert and Azure a Mill Wheel Or.''

Demographics

Gunzgen has a population () of . , 9.6% of the population are resident foreign nationals.Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Superweb database – Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008
accessed 19 June 2010 Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 13.8%.
accessed 7 April 2011 Most of the population () speaks

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

(1,366 or 95.7%), with

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

being second most common (14 or 1.0%) and

being third (14 or 1.0%). There are 4 people who speak

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

and 2 people who speak Romansh. , the gender distribution of the population was 50.3% male and 49.7% female. The population was made up of 718 Swiss men (44.4% of the population) and 96 (5.9%) non-Swiss men. There were 716 Swiss women (44.3%) and 88 (5.4%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 408 or about 28.6% were born in Gunzgen and lived there in 2000. There were 456 or 31.9% who were born in the same canton, while 393 or 27.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 125 or 8.8% were born outside of Switzerland. In there were 13 live births to Swiss citizens and 1 birth to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 9 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 4 while the foreign population increased by 1. There was 1 Swiss man who immigrated back to Switzerland and 1 Swiss woman who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there were 3 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 an increase of 13 and the non-Swiss population increased by 1 people. This represents a

population growth rate Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 8.2 billion in 2025. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 70 million annu ...

of 0.9%. The age distribution, , in Gunzgen is; 121 children or 8.5% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 241 teenagers or 16.9% are between 7 and 19. Of the adult population, 67 people or 4.7% of the population are between 20 and 24 years old. 516 people or 36.1% are between 25 and 44, and 341 people or 23.9% are between 45 and 64. The senior population distribution is 130 people or 9.1% of the population are between 65 and 79 years old and there are 12 people or 0.8% who are over 80. , there were 580 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 714 married individuals, 59 widows or widowers and 75 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 – 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 586 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. There were 166 households that consist of only one person and 41 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 595 households that answered this question, 27.9% were households made up of just one person and there were 4 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 198 married couples without children, 195 married couples with children There were 18 single parents with a child or children. There were 5 households that were made up of unrelated people and 9 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing. there were 250 single-family homes (or 69.8% of the total) out of a total of 358 inhabited buildings. There were 62 multi-family buildings (17.3%), along with 28 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (7.8%) and 18 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (5.0%). Of the single-family homes 18 were built before 1919, while 61 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single-family homes (55) were built between 1981 and 1990.Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB – Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 – Gebäude und Wohnungen
accessed 28 January 2011 there were 634 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 196. There were 15 single-room apartments and 247 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 576 apartments (90.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 26 apartments (4.1%) were seasonally occupied and 32 apartments (5.0%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.7 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0%. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:1080 height:210 PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:1500 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:300 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:60 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1739 from:start till:197 text:"197" bar:1798 from:start till:317 text:"317" bar:1850 from:start till:514 text:"514" bar:1860 from:start till:423 text:"423" bar:1870 from:start till:411 text:"411" bar:1880 from:start till:366 text:"366" bar:1888 from:start till:395 text:"395" bar:1900 from:start till:418 text:"418" bar:1910 from:start till:445 text:"445" bar:1920 from:start till:552 text:"552" bar:1930 from:start till:522 text:"522" bar:1941 from:start till:532 text:"532" bar:1950 from:start till:582 text:"582" bar:1960 from:start till:654 text:"654" bar:1970 from:start till:786 text:"786" bar:1980 from:start till:844 text:"844" bar:1990 from:start till:1072 text:"1,072" bar:2000 from:start till:1428 text:"1,428"

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 46.45% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (24.42%), the FDP (12.43%) and the SP (12.09%). In the federal election, a total of 575 votes were cast, and the

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...

was 49.8%.

Economy

, Gunzgen had an unemployment rate of 3%. , there were 29 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 11 businesses involved in this sector. 207 people were employed in the

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructi ...

and there were 20 businesses in this sector. 537 people were employed in the

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the ...

, with 49 businesses in this sector. There were 826 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 42.7% of the workforce. the total number of

full-time equivalent Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit of measurement that indicates the workload of an employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often use ...

jobs was 693. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 20, of which 17 were in agriculture and 3 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 197 of which 98 or (49.7%) were in manufacturing, 14 or (7.1%) were in mining and 81 (41.1%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 476. In the tertiary sector; 47 or 9.9% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 303 or 63.7% were in the movement and storage of goods, 67 or 14.1% were in a hotel or restaurant, 13 or 2.7% were in the information industry, 2 or 0.4% were the insurance or financial industry, 3 or 0.6% were technical professionals or scientists, 21 or 4.4% were in education. , there were 384 workers who commuted into the municipality and 640 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.7 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 10.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 68.3% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 759 or 53.2% were

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, while 344 or 24.1% belonged to the

Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The P ...

. Of the rest of the population, there were 11 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.77% of the population), there were 9 individuals (or about 0.63% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 17 individuals (or about 1.19% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 44 (or about 3.08% of the population) who were

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic. There was 1 person who was

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

and 1 individual who belonged to another church. 207 (or about 14.50% of the population) belonged to no church, are

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, and 35 individuals (or about 2.45% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Gunzgen about 618 or (43.3%) of the population have completed non-mandatory

upper secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

, and 140 or (9.8%) have completed additional higher education (either

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

or a ''

Fachhochschule A (; plural ), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a Hochschule, German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts, such as engineering, te ...

''). Of the 140 who completed tertiary schooling, 72.9% were Swiss men, 20.0% were Swiss women, 5.0% were non-Swiss men. During the 2010–2011 school year there were a total of 138 students in the Gunzgen school system. The

education system The educational system generally refers to the structure of all institutions and the opportunities for obtaining education within a country. It includes all pre-school institutions, starting from family education, and/or early childhood education ...

in the Canton of Solothurn allows young children to attend two years of non-obligatory

Kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

. During that school year, there were 25 children in kindergarten. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

, with some of the children attending smaller, specialized classes. In the municipality there were 104 students in primary school and 9 students in the special, smaller classes. The

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

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 Gunzgen attend their school in a neighboring municipality.Canton of Solothurn – School statistics
accessed 13 March 2011 , there were 46 students in Gunzgen who came from another municipality, while 102 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

References

External links

Official website
* {{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Solothurn