Hefenhofen
Encyclopedia
Hefenhofen 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 Arbon
Arbon (district)
Arbon District is one of the five districts of the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland. It has a population of .Its capital is the town of Arbon.The district contains the following municipalities:...

 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 Thurgau
Thurgau
Thurgau is a northeast canton of Switzerland. The population, , is . In 2007, there were a total of 47,390 who were resident foreigners. The capital is Frauenfeld.-History:...

 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

Hefenhofen is first mentioned in 817 as Hebinhova. Hefenhofen was a fief of the Abbey of Saint Gall and until the 17th Century it was part of the Bailiwick
Bailiwick
A bailiwick is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and may also apply to a territory in which the sheriff's functions were exercised by a privately appointed bailiff under a royal or imperial writ. The word is now more generally used in a metaphorical sense, to indicate a sphere of...

 of Hagenwil. In 1600, the low court
High, middle and low justice
High, middle and low justices are notions dating from Western feudalism to indicate descending degrees of judiciary power to administer justice by the maximal punishment the holders could inflict upon their subjects and other dependents....

 of Hefenhofen was formed, which included Auenhofen, Hatswil, Moos and Tonhub. In 1644 the Lords of Bernhausen divided their lands, which included Hefenhofen. From 1644 until 1798 a number of different individuals owned the village.

Since the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

 Hefenhofen had belonged to the Reformed parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

 of Sommeri. In 1870, the political and geographic municipalities were merged into the combined municipality of Hefenhofen.

In the 19th Century the major economic activities included fruit production and weaving. Towards the end of the 19th Century, this transitioned to cattle and dairy farming. In 1900 Hefenhofen included several farms and silk embroidery industry. The only heavy industry in Hefenhofen until 1950, was the Stutz construction business founded in 1877 (in 2003 it had approximately 260 employees) and the Hatswil mill. Opened in 1975, the municipal solid waste incinerator of the Oberthurgau region, closed their doors in 1996.

Geography

Hefenhofen has an area, , of 6.05 square kilometres (2.3 sq mi). Of this area, 4.15 km² (1.6 sq mi) or 68.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 1.23 km² (0.474905655068818 sq mi) or 20.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.76 km² (0.293437640530327 sq mi) or 12.6% is settled (buildings or roads).

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 6.1% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 1.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.2%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 4.1%. Out of the forested land, 17.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.5% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 50.9% is used for growing crops, while 17.7% is used for orchards or vine crops.

The municipality is located in the Arbon district, north of Amriswil
Amriswil
Amriswil is a municipality in Arbon District in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland.-History:Amriswil is first mentioned in 799 as Amalgeriswilare. During the Middle Ages Amriswil and Brüschwil were part of a Bishop's fief. During the 15th Century, the Helmsdorf family ruled in Eppishausen...

. It consists of the village of Hefenhofen and the hamlets
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

 of Auenhofen, Hatswil, Kressibuch and other hamlets. Between 1816-1936 Niederaach belonged to Hefenhofen.

Demographics

Hefenhofen has a population of , 9.1% of the population are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 3.6%. 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....

(96.6%), with Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 being second most common ( 0.9%) and 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...

 being third ( 0.5%).

, the gender distribution of the population was 50.9% male and 49.1% female. The population was made up of 542 Swiss men (45.7% of the population), and 61 (5.1%) non-Swiss men. There were 535 Swiss women (45.1%), and 47 (4.0%) non-Swiss women. In there were 7 live births to Swiss citizens and 2 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 12 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 5 while the foreign population increased by 2. There were 9 non-Swiss men who emigrated from Switzerland to another country and 1 non-Swiss woman who emigrated from Switzerland to another country. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources) was a decrease of 20 and the non-Swiss population change was an increase of 10 people. This represents a population growth rate of -0.8%.

The age distribution, , in Hefenhofen is; 117 children or 10.1% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 202 teenagers or 17.5% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 119 people or 10.3% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 121 people or 10.5% are between 30 and 39, 225 people or 19.5% are between 40 and 49, and 180 people or 15.6% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 81 people or 7.0% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 69 people or 6.0% are between 70 and 79, there are 34 people or 2.9% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 6 people or 0.5% who are 90 and older.

the average number of residents per living room was 0.55 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 56.8% 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 413 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household. there were 190 single family homes (or 81.2% of the total) out of a total of 234 inhabited buildings. There were 22 two family buildings (9.4%), 10 three family buildings (4.3%) and 12 multi-family buildings (or 5.1%). There were 220 (or 19.9%) persons who were part of a couple without children, and 671 (or 60.6%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 54 (or 4.9%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 8 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 4 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 12 who lived in a household made up of unrelated persons, and 22 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing.

The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0%. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.3 new units per 1000 residents. there were 455 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was the 6 room apartment of which there were 118. There were 9 single room apartments and 118 apartments with six or more rooms. the average price to rent an average apartment in Hefenhofen was 1097.16 Swiss franc
Swiss franc
The franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein; it is also legal tender in the Italian exclave Campione d'Italia. Although not formally legal tender in the German exclave Büsingen , it is in wide daily use there...

s (CHF) per month (US$880, £490, €700 approx. exchange rate from 2000). The average rate for a one room apartment was 436.67 CHF (US$350, £200, €280), a two room apartment was about 670.94 CHF (US$540, £300, €430), a three room apartment was about 944.48 CHF (US$760, £430, €600) and a six or more room apartment cost an average of 1373.75 CHF (US$1100, £620, €880). The average apartment price in Hefenhofen was 98.3% of the national average of 1116 CHF.

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 43.55% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were 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:...

 (14.08%), the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (11.43%) and the CVP
Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland
The Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland is a Christian democratic political party in Switzerland. It is the fourth-largest party in the National Council, with 31 seats, and the largest in the Council of States, with 15 seats. It has one seat, that of Doris Leuthard, on the Swiss...

 (10.83%). In the federal election, a total of 323 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 39.0%.

The historical population is given in the following table:
year population
1850 795
1900 873
1930 1,060
1950 913
1980 711
2000 1,108

Economy

, Hefenhofen had an unemployment rate of 1.66%. , there were 98 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 29 businesses involved in this sector. 151 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 20 businesses in this sector. 124 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 32 businesses in this sector.

there were 796 workers who lived in the municipality. Of these, 418 or about 52.5% of the residents worked outside Hefenhofen while 317 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 695 jobs (of at least 6 hours per week) in the municipality. Of the working population, 5.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 52.7% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 382 or 34.5% were Roman Catholic, while 507 or 45.8% 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 5 Old Catholics (or about 0.45% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland
Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland
The Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland is the Swiss member church of the Union of Utrecht, also known as Old Catholic Church, originally founded by the jansenists, with a later influx of discontented Catholics following their disappointment with the First Vatican Council. It has 14,000...

  there is 1 individual who belongs to the Orthodox Church, and there are 64 individuals (or about 5.78% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There were 18 (or about 1.62% of the population) who are Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic. There are 2 individuals (or about 0.18% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 97 (or about 8.75% of the population) belong 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 32 individuals (or about 2.89% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Hefenhofen about 74.8% 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...

).
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