Freienstein-Teufen 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 Bülach

Bülach (district)

Bülach District is one of 12 districts of the Canton of Zürich in Switzerland, with some 117,000 inhabitants the third largest in the canton. Its administrative capital is Bülach, the largest municipality is Kloten, the location of Zurich Airport...

 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 Zürich 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....

.

History

Freienstein-Teufen is first mentioned in 890 as Tiuffen. In 1254 it was mentioned as Frigenstein.

Geography

Freienstein-Teufen has an area of 8.3 km² (3.2 sq mi). Of this area, 39.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 49.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 9.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (1.8%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

Situated in the lower Tösstal, bordering on the Rhine, it comprises the villages of Freienstein and Teufen. In 1958, the two villages merged into a single municipality.

Demographics

Freienstein-Teufen has a population (as of ) of . , 11.4% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 7.3%. Most of the population speaks German (90.9%), with Italian being second most common ( 2.2%) and Albanian being third ( 1.6%).

In the 2007 election 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 38.4% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CSP

Christian Social Party (Switzerland)

The Christian Social Party is a political party in Switzerland. The CSP is more social democratic than the CVP. With the moderate Christian left as its background, the CSP commits itself to social democratic and environmentalist political solutions...

 (17.3%), the SPS

Social Democratic Party of Switzerland

The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (14.8%) and 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:...

 (10.5%).

The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 28.2% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 63% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 8.8%. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Freienstein-Teufen about 80.8% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule

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...

).

Freienstein-Teufen has an unemployment rate of 1.61%. , there were 84 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 27 businesses involved in this sector. 104 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 17 businesses in this sector. 225 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 39 businesses in this sector.

The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1634	c. 436
1771	679
1836	788
1850	835
1900	1,301
1950	1,120
1970	1,219
2000	2,127

Gallery

File:TeufenInteriorViewOfTheOldCastle.jpg|Interior view of the Castle
File:TeufenOldAndNewCastles.jpg|The Castles
File:TeufenEntranceToTheOldCastle.jpg|Entrance to the Castle's farm
File:TeufenDetailOfTheCastle.jpg|Detail in the Castle's farm

External links

• Official website