Obergerlafingen

Obergerlafingen
Country Switzerland Canton Solothurn District Wasseramt 47°10′N 7°35′E / 47.167°N 7.583°E / 47.167; 7.583Coordinates: 47°10′N 7°35′E / 47.167°N 7.583°E / 47.167; 7.583
Population	1,113 (Dec 2010)[1]
- Density	732 /km2 (1,896 /sq mi)
Area	1.52 km2 (0.59 sq mi)[2]
Elevation	462 m (1,516 ft)
Postal code	4564
SFOS number	2528
Surrounded by	Gerlafingen, Koppigen (BE), Kriegstetten, Recherswil, Utzenstorf (BE), Zielebach (BE)
Website	www.obergerlafingen.ch SFSO statistics
Obergerlafingen
Map of Obergerlafingen

Obergerlafingen is a municipality in the district of Wasseramt in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.

History

Obergerlafingen is first mentioned in 1278 as Oburgeroluingen.^[3]

Geography

Obergerlafingen has an area, as of 2009^[update], of 1.52 square kilometers (0.59 sq mi). Of this area, 0.73 km² (0.28 sq mi) or 48.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.3 km² (0.12 sq mi) or 19.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.49 km² (0.19 sq mi) or 32.2% is settled (buildings or roads).^[4]

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 3.3% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 21.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 5.9%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 2.0%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 35.5% is used for growing crops and 10.5% is pastures, while 2.0% is used for orchards or vine crops.^[4]

The municipality is located in the Wasseramt district, between the Emme and Oesch rivers. It consists of the linear village of Obergerlafingen.

Coat of arms

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules three Mullets Argent in pale.^[5]

Demographics

Obergerlafingen has a population (as of December 2010^[update]) of 1,113.^[1] As of 2008^[update], 7.3% of the population are resident foreign nationals.^[6] Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of -1.4%. It has changed at a rate of 2.7% due to migration and at a rate of -1.8% due to births and deaths.^[7]

Most of the population (as of 2000^[update]) speaks German (1,017 or 97.1%), with Italian being second most common (13 or 1.2%) and French being third (8 or 0.8%).^[8]

As of 2008^[update], the gender distribution of the population was 50.1% male and 49.9% female. The population was made up of 495 Swiss men (45.4% of the population) and 51 (4.7%) non-Swiss men. There were 510 Swiss women (46.8%) and 34 (3.1%) non-Swiss women.^[9] Of the population in the municipality 278 or about 26.6% were born in Obergerlafingen and lived there in 2000. There were 347 or 33.1% who were born in the same canton, while 311 or 29.7% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 71 or 6.8% were born outside of Switzerland.^[8]

In 2008^[update] there were 5 live births to Swiss citizens and were 12 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 7 while the foreign population remained the same. There was 1 Swiss woman who immigrated back to Switzerland. At the same time, there were 3 non-Swiss men and 1 non-Swiss woman 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 23 and the non-Swiss population increased by 1 people. This represents a population growth rate of -2.0%.^[6]

The age distribution, as of 2000^[update], in Obergerlafingen is; 57 children or 5.4% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 159 teenagers or 15.2% are between 7 and 19. Of the adult population, 55 people or 5.3% of the population are between 20 and 24 years old. 302 people or 28.8% are between 25 and 44, and 310 people or 29.6% are between 45 and 64. The senior population distribution is 117 people or 11.2% of the population are between 65 and 79 years old and there are 47 people or 4.5% who are over 80.^[10]

As of 2000^[update], there were 378 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 567 married individuals, 52 widows or widowers and 50 individuals who are divorced.^[8]

As of 2000^[update] the average number of residents per living room was 0.52 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.56 per room.^[7] In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics.^[11] About 69.9% 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).^[12]

As of 2000^[update], there were 441 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household.^[7] There were 99 households that consist of only one person and 25 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 447 households that answered this question, 22.1% were households made up of just one person and there were 5 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 178 married couples without children, 130 married couples with children There were 20 single parents with a child or children. There were 9 households that were made up of unrelated people and 6 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.^[8]

In 2000^[update] there were 276 single family homes (or 76.0% of the total) out of a total of 363 inhabited buildings. There were 50 multi-family buildings (13.8%), along with 19 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (5.2%) and 18 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (5.0%). Of the single family homes 16 were built before 1919, while 41 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (64) were built between 1971 and 1980.^[13]

In 2000^[update] there were 474 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 149. There were 8 single room apartments and 216 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 435 apartments (91.8% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 27 apartments (5.7%) were seasonally occupied and 12 apartments (2.5%) were empty.^[13] As of 2009^[update], the construction rate of new housing units was 0.9 new units per 1000 residents.^[7] The vacancy rate for the municipality, in 2010^[update], was 0.41%.^[7]

The historical population is given in the following chart:^[3][14]

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 33.36% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (24.97%), the FDP (20.03%) and the CVP (11.23%). In the federal election, a total of 392 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 46.4%.^[15]

Economy

As of 2010^[update], Obergerlafingen had an unemployment rate of 2.6%. As of 2008^[update], there were 5 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 3 businesses involved in this sector. 202 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 21 businesses in this sector. 134 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 36 businesses in this sector.^[7] There were 581 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.9% of the workforce.

In 2008^[update] the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 272. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 4, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 158 of which 130 or (82.3%) were in manufacturing and 28 (17.7%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 110. In the tertiary sector; 46 or 41.8% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 5 or 4.5% were in the movement and storage of goods, 6 or 5.5% were in a hotel or restaurant, 8 or 7.3% were in the information industry, 16 or 14.5% were technical professionals or scientists, 4 or 3.6% were in education and 1 was in health care.^[16]

In 2000^[update], there were 158 workers who commuted into the municipality and 469 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 3.0 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.^[17] Of the working population, 8.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 65.1% used a private car.^[7]

Religion

From the 2000 census^[update], 297 or 28.4% were Roman Catholic, while 520 or 49.7% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 6 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.57% of the population), there were 5 individuals (or about 0.48% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 11 individuals (or about 1.05% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were There was 1 person who was Buddhist and 1 individual who belonged to another church. 187 (or about 17.86% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 19 individuals (or about 1.81% of the population) did not answer the question.^[8]

Education

In Obergerlafingen about 512 or (48.9%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 98 or (9.4%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 98 who completed tertiary schooling, 80.6% were Swiss men, 14.3% were Swiss women.^[8]

As of 2000^[update], there were 2 students in Obergerlafingen who came from another municipality, while 66 residents attended schools outside the municipality.^[17]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Canton Solothurn Statistical Office, MS Excel document – Bevölkerungsbestand nach Gemeinden 31.12.2010 (German) accessed 29 March 2011
2. ^ Arealstatistik Standard - Gemeindedaten nach 4 Hauptbereichen
3. ^ ^{a b} Obergerlafingen in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
4. ^ ^{a b} Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics 2009 data (German) accessed 25 March 2010
5. ^ Flags of the World.com accessed 15-April-2011
6. ^ ^{a b} Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Superweb database - Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008 (German) accessed 19 June 2010
7. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 15-April-2011
8. ^ ^{a b c d e f} STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000 (German) accessed 2 February 2011
9. ^ Canton of Solothurn Statistics - Wohnbevölkerung der Gemeinden nach Nationalität und Geschlecht (German) accessed 11 March 2011
10. ^ Canton of Solothurn Statistics - Wohnbevölkerung nach Gemeinden, Nationalität, Altersgruppen und Zivilstand, Total (Männer + Frauen) (German) accessed 11 March 2011
11. ^ Eurostat. "Housing (SA1)" (pdf). Urban Audit Glossary. 2007. p. 18. http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/en/index/international/22/lexi.Document.116365.pdf. Retrieved 12 February 2010. 
12. ^ Urban Audit Glossary pg 17
13. ^ ^{a b} Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen (German) accessed 28 January 2011
14. ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Bevölkerungsentwicklung nach Region, 1850-2000 (German) accessed 29 January 2011
15. ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office, Nationalratswahlen 2007: Stärke der Parteien und Wahlbeteiligung, nach Gemeinden/Bezirk/Canton (German) accessed 28 May 2010
16. ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Betriebszählung: Arbeitsstätten nach Gemeinde und NOGA 2008 (Abschnitte), Sektoren 1-3 (German) accessed 28 January 2011
17. ^ ^{a b} Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb (German) accessed 24 June 2010

External links

• Official website (German)