Eptingen
Encyclopedia
Eptingen is a municipality
Municipalities of Switzerland
Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...

 in the district of Waldenburg
Waldenburg (district)
Waldenburg District is one of the five districts of the largely German-speaking canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. The district lies to the south of Basel-Country, bordering the canton of Solothurn. Its capital is the town of Waldenburg. It has a population of . In average 150 persons live in...

 in the canton
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...

 of Basel-Country
Basel-Country
Basel-Landschaft , is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland. The capital is Liestal...

 in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

.

Geography

Eptingen has an area, , of 11.19 square kilometres (4.3 sq mi). Of this area, 5.29 km² (2 sq mi) or 47.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 5.33 km² (2.1 sq mi) or 47.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.58 km² (0.22393925198367 sq mi) or 5.2% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.01 km² (2.5 acre) or 0.1% is either rivers or lakes and 0.03 km² (7.4 acre) or 0.3% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.2%. Out of the forested land, 46.0% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 7.9% is used for growing crops and 34.5% is pastures, while 2.1% is used for orchards or vine crops and 2.9% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

The municipality is located in the Waldenburg district, at the foot of Belchen mountain in the Diegter valley.

Coat of arms

The blazon
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 the appropriate image...

 of the municipal coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

 is Or, an Eagle displayed fesswise Sable beaked and membered Gules.

Demographics

Eptingen has a population of . , 4.5% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of -4.9%.

Most of the population speaks German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 (551 or 97.3%), with Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...

 being second most common (6 or 1.1%) and Albanian
Albanian language
Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...

 being third (4 or 0.7%). There is 1 person who speaks French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

.

, the gender distribution of the population was 53.7% male and 46.3% female. The population was made up of 491 Swiss citizens (93.2% of the population), and 36 non-Swiss residents (6.8%) Of the population in the municipality 234 or about 41.3% were born in Eptingen and lived there in 2000. There were 139 or 24.6% who were born in the same canton, while 134 or 23.7% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 56 or 9.9% were born outside of Switzerland.

In there were 3 live births to Swiss citizens and were 5 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 2 while the foreign population remained the same. There was 1 Swiss man who immigrated back to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was a decrease of 16 and the non-Swiss population decreased by 4 people. This represents a population growth rate of -3.7%.

The age distribution, , in Eptingen is; 31 children or 5.9% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 66 teenagers or 12.5% are between 7 and 19. Of the adult population, 66 people or 12.5% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 73 people or 13.9% are between 30 and 39, 82 people or 15.6% are between 40 and 49, and 114 people or 21.6% are between 50 and 64. The senior population distribution is 73 people or 13.9% of the population are between 65 and 79 years old and there are 22 people or 4.2% who are over 80.

, there were 236 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 260 married individuals, 41 widows or widowers and 29 individuals who are divorced.

the average number of residents per living room was 0.57 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.56 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43.1 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 58.1% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...

 or a rent-to-own agreement).

, there were 225 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.5 persons per household. There were 70 households that consist of only one person and 21 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 231 households that answered this question, 30.3% were households made up of just one person and 1 were adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 59 married couples without children, 82 married couples with children There were 11 single parents with a child or children. There were 2 households that were made up unrelated people and 6 households that were made some sort of institution or another collective housing.

there were 82 single family homes (or 51.3% of the total) out of a total of 160 inhabited buildings. There were 21 multi-family buildings (13.1%), along with 47 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (29.4%) and 10 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (6.3%). Of the single family homes 27 were built before 1919, while 8 were built between 1990 and 2000.

there were 233 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 76. There were 1 single room apartments and 97 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 217 apartments (93.1% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 13 apartments (5.6%) were seasonally occupied and 3 apartments (1.3%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 1.9 new units per 1000 residents. the average price to rent a three room apartment was about 933.00 CHF (US$750, £420, €600) and a four room apartment cost an average of 1185.00 CHF (US$950, £530, €760). The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.4%.

The historical population is given in the following chart:

Politics

In the 2007 federal election
Swiss federal election, 2007
Elections to the Swiss Federal Assembly, the federal parliament of Switzerland, were held on Sunday, 21 October 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, and 25 November 2007...

 the most popular party was the SVP
Swiss People's Party
The Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...

 which received 50% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (17.19%), the Green Party
Green Party of Switzerland
The Green Party of Switzerland is the fifth-largest party in the National Council of Switzerland, and the largest party that is not represented on the Federal Council.-History:...

 (13.69%) and the FDP
FDP.The Liberals
FDP.The Liberals is a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It is the joint-largest party in the Federal Council, third-largest party in the National Council, and second-largest in the Council of States....

 (10.34%). In the federal election, a total of 201 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
Voter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...

 was 48.3%.

Economy

, Eptingen had an unemployment rate of 2.2%. , there were 76 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 28 businesses involved in this sector. 40 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 10 businesses in this sector. 174 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 16 businesses in this sector. There were 292 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 37.7% of the workforce.

the total number of full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent , is a unit to measure employed persons or students in a way that makes them comparable although they may work or study a different number of hours per week. FTE is often used to measure a worker's involvement in a project, or to track cost reductions in an organization...

 jobs was 230. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 47, of which 46 were in agriculture and 1 was in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 38 of which 31 or (81.6%) were in manufacturing and 6 (15.8%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 145. In the tertiary sector; 46 or 31.7% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 63 or 43.4% were in the movement and storage of goods, 24 or 16.6% were in a hotel or restaurant, 4 or 2.8% were technical professionals or scientists, 2 or 1.4% were in education.

, there were 190 workers who commuted into the municipality and 175 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.1 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 8.9% of the workforce coming into Eptingen are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 13.4% used public transportation to get to work, and 51.7% used a private car.

It is known for its mineral water brand Eptinger.

Religion

From the , 89 or 15.7% were Roman Catholic, while 376 or 66.4% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
Swiss Reformed Church
The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...

. Of the rest of the population, there were 4 members of an Orthodox church
Orthodox Christianity
The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...

 (or about 0.71% of the population), and there were 3 individuals (or about 0.53% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 36 (or about 6.36% of the population) who were Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic. 52 (or about 9.19% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....

 or atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...

, and 6 individuals (or about 1.06% of the population) did not answer the question.

Weather

Eptingen has an average of 147.1 days of rain or snow per year and on average receives 1148 mm (45.2 in) of precipitation
Precipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...

. The wettest month is June during which time Eptingen receives an average of 120 mm (4.7 in) of rain or snow. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 13.2 days. The month with the most days of precipitation is May, with an average of 14.5, but with only 109 mm (4.3 in) of rain or snow. The driest month of the year is October with an average of 76 mm (3 in) of precipitation over 9.5 days.

Education

In Eptingen about 214 or (37.8%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 57 or (10.1%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule
Fachhochschule
A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...

). Of the 57 who completed tertiary schooling, 64.9% were Swiss men, 29.8% were Swiss women.

, there were 2 students in Eptingen who came from another municipality, while 57 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

External links

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