Oekingen
Encyclopedia
Oekingen is a municipality
in the district of Wasseramt
in the canton
of Solothurn in Switzerland
.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 7.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 5.4%. Out of the forested land, 23.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.3% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 48.3% is used for growing crops and 14.2% is pastures, while 1.3% is used for orchards or vine crops.
The municipality is located in the Wasseramt district, along the Oesch river. It consists of the linear village
of Oekingen.
of the municipal coat of arms
is Gules a Horse Argent running above a Base Vert.
Most of the population speaks German
(641 or 97.4%), with Portuguese
being second most common (8 or 1.2%) and French
being third (4 or 0.6%).
, the gender distribution of the population was 49.6% male and 50.4% female. The population was made up of 332 Swiss men (45.9% of the population) and 27 (3.7%) non-Swiss men. There were 342 Swiss women (47.2%) and 23 (3.2%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 246 or about 37.4% were born in Oekingen and lived there in 2000. There were 231 or 35.1% who were born in the same canton, while 133 or 20.2% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 31 or 4.7% were born outside of Switzerland.
In there were 7 live births to Swiss citizens and were 5 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 2 while the foreign population remained the same. There was 1 Swiss woman who immigrated back to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was a decrease of 11 and the non-Swiss population increased by 9 people. This represents a population growth rate of -0.3%.
The age distribution, , in Oekingen is; 39 children or 5.9% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 137 teenagers or 20.8% are between 7 and 19. Of the adult population, 32 people or 4.9% of the population are between 20 and 24 years old. 178 people or 27.1% are between 25 and 44, and 184 people or 28.0% are between 45 and 64. The senior population distribution is 66 people or 10.0% of the population are between 65 and 79 years old and there are 22 people or 3.3% who are over 80.
, there were 255 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 348 married individuals, 37 widows or widowers and 18 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 78.1% 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).
, there were 240 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.7 persons per household. There were 40 households that consist of only one person and 31 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 244 households that answered this question, 16.4% were households made up of just one person and there were 1 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 89 married couples without children, 97 married couples with children There were 10 single parents with a child or children. There were 3 households that were made up of unrelated people and 4 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 168 single family homes (or 82.0% of the total) out of a total of 205 inhabited buildings. There were 23 multi-family buildings (11.2%), along with 13 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (6.3%) and 1 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (0.5%). Of the single family homes 7 were built before 1919, while 32 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (35) were built between 1971 and 1980.
there were 243 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 5 rooms of which there were 82. There were 3 single room apartments and 137 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 237 apartments (97.5% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 3 apartments (1.2%) were seasonally occupied and 3 apartments (1.2%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 4.2 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.05%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
the most popular party was the SP
which received 25.46% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP
(22.96%), the SVP
(22.11%) and the FDP
(17.59%). In the federal election, a total of 293 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 54.1%.
the total number of full-time equivalent
jobs was 35. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 14, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 8, all of which were in manufacturing. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 13. In the tertiary sector; 4 or 30.8% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 3 or 23.1% were in the movement and storage of goods, 3 or 23.1% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 15.4% were technical professionals or scientists, 1 was in education.
, there were 13 workers who commuted into the municipality and 305 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 23.5 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 13.9% used public transportation to get to work, and 61.1% used a private car.
. Of the rest of the population, there were 3 members of an Orthodox church
(or about 0.46% of the population), there were 6 individuals (or about 0.91% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church
, and there were 15 individuals (or about 2.28% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish
, and 83 (or about 12.61% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 17 individuals (or about 2.58% of the population) did not answer the question.
). Of the 78 who completed tertiary schooling, 71.8% were Swiss men, 21.8% were Swiss women.
, there was one student in Oekingen who came from another municipality, while 83 residents attended schools outside the 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 Wasseramt
Wasseramt (district)
Wasseramt District is one of the ten districts of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland, situated to the south of the canton. Together with the Bucheggberg District, it forms the Amtei of Wasseramt-Bucheggberg...
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 Solothurn 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
Oekingen has an area, , of 2.4 square kilometre (0.926645180622084 sq mi). Of this area, 1.53 km² (0.590736302646579 sq mi) or 63.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.6 km² (0.231661295155521 sq mi) or 25.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.32 km² (0.123552690749611 sq mi) or 13.3% is settled (buildings or roads).Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 7.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 5.4%. Out of the forested land, 23.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.3% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 48.3% is used for growing crops and 14.2% is pastures, while 1.3% is used for orchards or vine crops.
The municipality is located in the Wasseramt district, along the Oesch river. It consists of the linear village
Linear village
In geography, a linear village, or linear settlement, is a small to medium-sized settlement that is formed around a transport route, such as a road, river, or canal. Wraysbury, a village in Berkshire, is one of the longest villages in England....
of Oekingen.
Coat of arms
The blazonBlazon
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 Gules a Horse Argent running above a Base Vert.
Demographics
Oekingen has a population of . , 4.1% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 5.7%. It has changed at a rate of 2.5% due to migration and at a rate of 3.6% due to births and deaths.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....
(641 or 97.4%), with Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
being second most common (8 or 1.2%) 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 (4 or 0.6%).
, the gender distribution of the population was 49.6% male and 50.4% female. The population was made up of 332 Swiss men (45.9% of the population) and 27 (3.7%) non-Swiss men. There were 342 Swiss women (47.2%) and 23 (3.2%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 246 or about 37.4% were born in Oekingen and lived there in 2000. There were 231 or 35.1% who were born in the same canton, while 133 or 20.2% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 31 or 4.7% were born outside of Switzerland.
In there were 7 live births to Swiss citizens and were 5 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 2 while the foreign population remained the same. There was 1 Swiss woman who immigrated back to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was a decrease of 11 and the non-Swiss population increased by 9 people. This represents a population growth rate of -0.3%.
The age distribution, , in Oekingen is; 39 children or 5.9% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 137 teenagers or 20.8% are between 7 and 19. Of the adult population, 32 people or 4.9% of the population are between 20 and 24 years old. 178 people or 27.1% are between 25 and 44, and 184 people or 28.0% are between 45 and 64. The senior population distribution is 66 people or 10.0% of the population are between 65 and 79 years old and there are 22 people or 3.3% who are over 80.
, there were 255 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 348 married individuals, 37 widows or widowers and 18 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 78.1% 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 240 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.7 persons per household. There were 40 households that consist of only one person and 31 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 244 households that answered this question, 16.4% were households made up of just one person and there were 1 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 89 married couples without children, 97 married couples with children There were 10 single parents with a child or children. There were 3 households that were made up of unrelated people and 4 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 168 single family homes (or 82.0% of the total) out of a total of 205 inhabited buildings. There were 23 multi-family buildings (11.2%), along with 13 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (6.3%) and 1 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (0.5%). Of the single family homes 7 were built before 1919, while 32 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (35) were built between 1971 and 1980.
there were 243 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 5 rooms of which there were 82. There were 3 single room apartments and 137 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 237 apartments (97.5% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 3 apartments (1.2%) were seasonally occupied and 3 apartments (1.2%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 4.2 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.05%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Politics
In the 2007 federal electionSwiss 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 SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
which received 25.46% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were 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...
(22.96%), 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...
(22.11%) 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....
(17.59%). In the federal election, a total of 293 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 54.1%.
Economy
, Oekingen had an unemployment rate of 1.7%. , there were 20 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 8 businesses involved in this sector. 9 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 2 businesses in this sector. 16 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 8 businesses in this sector. There were 352 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 41.5% 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 35. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 14, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 8, all of which were in manufacturing. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 13. In the tertiary sector; 4 or 30.8% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 3 or 23.1% were in the movement and storage of goods, 3 or 23.1% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 15.4% were technical professionals or scientists, 1 was in education.
, there were 13 workers who commuted into the municipality and 305 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 23.5 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 13.9% used public transportation to get to work, and 61.1% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 266 or 40.4% were Roman Catholic, while 267 or 40.6% belonged to the Swiss Reformed ChurchSwiss 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 3 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 0.46% of the population), there were 6 individuals (or about 0.91% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church
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...
, and there were 15 individuals (or about 2.28% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, and 83 (or about 12.61% 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 17 individuals (or about 2.58% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
In Oekingen about 266 or (40.4%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 78 or (11.9%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a FachhochschuleFachhochschule
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 78 who completed tertiary schooling, 71.8% were Swiss men, 21.8% were Swiss women.
, there was one student in Oekingen who came from another municipality, while 83 residents attended schools outside the municipality.