Hirzel is a former municipality in the district of Horgen in the canton of

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

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 ...

. On 1 January 2018 the former municipality of Hirzel merged into the municipality of Horgen.

History

Hirzel is first mentioned in 1269 as ''Hirsol''.

Geography

Hirzel spans an area of . Of this area, 68.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 18.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 9.3% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (3.3%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). housing and buildings made up 7.2% of the total area, while transportation infrastructure made up the rest (2.2%). Of the total unproductive area, water (streams and lakes) made up 1.1% of the area. 4% of the total municipal area was undergoing some type of construction. The municipality includes the sections of Hirzel-Kirche, Hirzel-Spitzen and Hirzel-Höchi. In 1878 the municipality borders were surveyed and moved. As a result, several individual farm houses came to Hirzel from Wädenswil, with four more from Horgen.

Demographics

Hirzel has a population (as of ) of . , 8.2% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. the gender distribution of the population was 49.6% male and 50.4% female. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -1.9%. Most of the population () speaks German (93.8%), with English being second most common ( 1.7%) and French being third ( 0.9%). In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP, which received 39.6% of the vote. The next two most popular parties were the SPS (15.7%), the FDP (11.3%). The age distribution of the population () comprises children and teenagers (0–19 years old) who make up 27.7% of the population, adults (20–64 years old) make up 59.3% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 12.9%. The entire Swiss population is generally well-educated. In Hirzel about 84.8% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university 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 ...

''). There are 727 households in Hirzel. Hirzel has an unemployment rate of 0.7%. , there were 101 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 43 businesses involved in this sector. 105 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 22 businesses in this sector. 296 people are 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 66 businesses in this sector.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 07-Aug-2009 49.6% of the working population were employed full-time, and 50.4% were employed part-time.
accessed 4 August 2009 there were 535

Catholics 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 ...

and 1063

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

in Hirzel. In the 2000 census, religion was broken down into several smaller categories. From the , 56.7% were some type of Protestant, with 54.3% belonging 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 ...

and 2.4% belonging to other Protestant churches. 27.7% of the population were Catholic. Of the rest of the population, 0% were Muslim, 2.3% belonged to another religion (not listed), 3.5% did not give a religion, and 9.7% were atheist or agnostic. The historical population is given in the following table:

Notable People

Hans Landis, Anabaptist leader and martyr, born c. 1568. Johanna Spyri, Author of

Heidi ''Heidi'' (; ) is a work of children's fiction published between 1880 and 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as ''Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning'' () and ''Heidi: How She Used What She Learned'' ( ...

Jack Gunthard, Athlete

Transportation

The Zimmerberg bus line (''Zimmerbergbus''), provided by the Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg Bahn (SZU), connects the Zimmerberg region and parts of the

Sihl valley Sihl Valley ( German: ''Sihltal'') is a river valley and belongs to the Zimmerberg-Sihltal region located in the Horgen (district), district of Horgen in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland. Commonly ''Sihltal'' is used as the name of the Lower Sihl ...

References

External links

*
Johanna Spyri museum
* {{Authority control Former municipalities of the canton of Zürich