Etziken 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
Wasseramt
Wasseramt District is one of the ten districts of the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Solothurn (canton), Solothurn in Switzerland, situated to the south of the canton. Together with the Bucheggberg (district), Bucheggberg District, it forms th ...
in the
canton of
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 ...
in
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
Etziken is first mentioned in 1252 as ''Ezzinchon''. In 1342 it was mentioned as ''Ertzenkon''.
[
]
Geography
Etziken has an area, , of . Of this area, or 53.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 32.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 13.3% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.3% 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, housing and buildings made up 8.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.8%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 41.1% is used for growing crops and 11.8% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.[
The municipality is located in the Wasseramt district, on the ]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 ...
-Herzogenbuchsee
Herzogenbuchsee is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Oberaargau (administrative district), Oberaargau administrative district in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Bern (canton), Bern in Switzerland.
The population is 7055 (2 ...
in the hills created from a terminal moraine
A terminal moraine, also called an end moraine, is a type of moraine that forms at the terminal (edge) of a glacier, marking its maximum advance. At this point, debris that has accumulated by plucking and abrasion, has been pushed by the front e ...
. 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 Etziken.
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 ''Gules a Water Tower Argent issuant from a Mount of 3 Coupeaux Vert.''
Demographics
Etziken has a population () of . , 5.1% 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 -7.1%. It has changed at a rate of -6.7% due to migration and at a rate of -0.6% due to births and deaths.
accessed 13-April-2011German
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 ...
(755 or 96.4%), with French being second most common (6 or 0.8%) and 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 third (5 or 0.6%).[
, the gender distribution of the population was 49.3% male and 50.7% female. The population was made up of 347 Swiss men (45.8% of the population) and 26 (3.4%) non-Swiss men. There were 365 Swiss women (48.2%) and 19 (2.5%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 275 or about 35.1% were born in Etziken and lived there in 2000. There were 257 or 32.8% who were born in the same canton, while 189 or 24.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 41 or 5.2% were born outside of Switzerland.][
In there were 4 live births to Swiss citizens and 1 birth to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 8 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 4 while the foreign population increased by 1. There was 1 Swiss man who emigrated from Switzerland and 1 Swiss woman who immigrated back to Switzerland. At the same time, there was 1 non-Swiss man and 3 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 6 and the non-Swiss population increased by 9 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 0.4%.[
The age distribution, , in Etziken is; 59 children or 7.5% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 135 teenagers or 17.2% are between 7 and 19. Of the adult population, 36 people or 4.6% of the population are between 20 and 24 years old. 235 people or 30.0% are between 25 and 44, and 196 people or 25.0% are between 45 and 64. The senior population distribution is 85 people or 10.9% of the population are between 65 and 79 years old and there are 37 people or 4.7% who are over 80.
, there were 310 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 399 married individuals, 48 widows or widowers and 26 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 310 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.5 persons per household.[ There were 81 households that consist of only one person and 16 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 315 households that answered this question, 25.7% 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 93 married couples without children, 115 married couples with children There were 13 single parents with a child or children. There were 4 households that were made up of unrelated people and 5 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.][
there were 154 single family homes (or 67.5% of the total) out of a total of 228 inhabited buildings. There were 30 multi-family buildings (13.2%), along with 35 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (15.4%) and 9 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (3.9%). Of the single family homes 22 were built before 1919, while 31 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (31) 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 332 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 5 rooms of which there were 91. There were 2 single room apartments and 154 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 302 apartments (91.0% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 21 apartments (6.3%) were seasonally occupied and 9 apartments (2.7%) were empty.[ , the construction rate of new housing units was 0 new units per 1000 residents.][ The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 3.89%.][
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
Politics
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 30.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (26.03%), the FDP (18.9%) and the SP (15.54%). In the federal election, a total of 324 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 52.3%.
Economy
, Etziken had an unemployment rate of 2.7%. , there were 38 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 14 businesses involved in this sector. 391 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 18 businesses in this sector. 66 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 19 businesses in this sector.[ There were 421 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.7% 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 438. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 22, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 369 of which 356 or (96.5%) were in manufacturing and 10 (2.7%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 47. In the tertiary sector; 14 or 29.8% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 5 or 10.6% were in the movement and storage of goods, 3 or 6.4% were in a hotel or restaurant, 3 or 6.4% were the insurance or financial industry, 8 or 17.0% were technical professionals or scientists, 3 or 6.4% were in education and 6 or 12.8% were in health care.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Betriebszählung: Arbeitsstätten nach Gemeinde und NOGA 2008 (Abschnitte), Sektoren 1-3
accessed 28 January 2011
, there were 256 workers who commuted into the municipality and 297 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.2 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 10.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 61.5% used a private car.[
]
Religion
From the , 397 or 50.7% 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 274 or 35.0% 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 was 1 member of an Orthodox church who belonged, there were 5 individuals (or about 0.64% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 15 individuals (or about 1.92% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 2 (or about 0.26% 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 were 2 individuals who were 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 3 individuals who were Hindu
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
. 71 (or about 9.07% 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 ...
or 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 13 individuals (or about 1.66% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Etziken about 319 or (40.7%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 85 or (10.9%) 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 85 who completed tertiary schooling, 75.3% were Swiss men, 20.0% were Swiss women.[
, there were 12 students in Etziken who came from another municipality, while 47 residents attended schools outside the municipality.][
]
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Municipalities of the canton of Solothurn