Wangen, Schwyz

For other places with the same name, see Wangen (disambiguation).

Wangen
Coat of arms
Wangen
Location of Wangen
Coordinates:
Country	Switzerland
Canton	Schwyz
District	March
Area
• Total	8.48 km2 (3.27 sq mi)
Elevation	424 m (1,391 ft)
Population (Dec 2014)
• Total	4,801
• Density	570/km2 (1,500/sq mi)
Postal code	8855
SFOS number	1349
Surrounded by	Galgenen, Jona (SG), Lachen, Schübelbach, Tuggen
Website	www.wangensz.ch SFSO statistics

Wangen is a municipality in March District in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. The municipality includes Wangen itself, together with the hamlet of Nuolen.

Geography

Lake Zurich and the hamlet of Nuolen in Wangen, SZ

Wangen has an area, as of 2006, of 8.5 km² (3.3 sq mi). Of this area, 64.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 10.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 21.3% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (3.6%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). The Buechberg hill is located on the area of the municipality.

History

Count Fridrich von Toggenburg, Herr zu Brettengow und Tafas donated to his own and the salvation of his ancestor who were buried and he also expects to be buried, the church, rights and lands (Kirchwidem and Kirchensatz) in Wangen in der March to the Rüti Abbey, sealed by Fridrich and the knights Herman von Landenberg, Johans von Bonstetten from Ustra and Herman von der Hochenlandenberg on 21 January 1407.

Demographics

Wangen has a population (as of 31 December 2014) of 4,801. As of 2007, 13.9% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 4.1%. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (92.0%), with Albanian being second most common ( 2.0%) and Italian being third ( 1.7%).

As of 2000 the gender distribution of the population was 50.1% male and 49.9% female. The age distribution, as of 2008, in Wangen is; 1,247 people or 27.5% of the population is between 0 and 19. 1,399 people or 30.8% are 20 to 39, and 1,400 people or 30.8% are 40 to 64. The senior population distribution is 310 people or 6.8% are 65 to 74. There are 143 people or 3.1% who are 70 to 79 and 41 people or 0.90% of the population who are over 80.

As of 2000 there are 1,753 households, of which 453 households (or about 25.8%) contain only a single individual. 128 or about 7.3% are large households, with at least five members.

In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 50.3% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS (17.7%), the FDP (15.5%) and the CVP (12.6%).

In Wangen about 68.9% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).

Wangen has an unemployment rate of 1.21%. As of 2005, there were 158 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 56 businesses involved in this sector. 387 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 70 businesses in this sector. 645 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 138 businesses in this sector.

From the 2000 census, 3,166 or 69.7% are Roman Catholic, while 744 or 16.4% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there are less than 5 individuals who belong to the Christian Catholic faith, there are 88 individuals (or about 1.94% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are less than 5 individuals who belong to another Christian church. There are 174 (or about 3.83% of the population) who are Islamic. There are 19 individuals (or about 0.42% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 209 (or about 4.60% of the population) belong to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 133 individuals (or about 2.93% of the population) did not answer the question.

The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1950	2,284
1960	2,550
1970	2,952
1980	2,847
1985	3,054
1990	3,387
2000	4,558
2005	4,655
2007	4,509