Olten
Encyclopedia
Olten is a town in the canton
of Solothurn in Switzerland
and capital of the district of the same name
.
Olten's railway station
is within 30 minutes of Zurich
, Bern, Basel
, and Lucerne
by train, and is a rail hub of Switzerland.
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 6.0% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 15.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 11.6%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 4.2% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 3.1%. Out of the forested land, 40.7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.1% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 6.2% is used for growing crops and 5.9% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
The old city of the capital of the Olten district is located in a bend of the river between the Aare and Dünnern rivers. In the 19th Century housing estates were built in the valley on both sides of the Aare river between slopes of the Jura Mountains
to the north and the Born, Säli und Engelberg mountains to the south.
The municipalities of Hauenstein-Ifenthal
, Trimbach, Wisen
and Olten are considering a merger at a date in the future into the new municipality of with an, , undetermined name.
of the municipal coat of arms
is Argent three Fir Trees Vert trunked Gules issuant from a Mount of 3 Coupeaux of the second.
Most of the population speaks German
(13,855 or 82.7%), with Italian
being second most common (844 or 5.0%) and Albanian
being third (356 or 2.1%). There are 167 people who speak French
and 22 people who speak Romansh.
, the gender distribution of the population was 49.5% male and 50.5% female. The population was made up of 18,728 Swiss men (36.5% of the population) and 6,688 (13.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 20,186 Swiss women (39.3%) and 5,772 (11.2%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 4,596 or about 27.4% were born in Olten and lived there in 2000. There were 2,920 or 17.4% who were born in the same canton, while 4,585 or 27.4% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 3,904 or 23.3% were born outside of Switzerland.
In there were 93 live births to Swiss citizens and 73 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 184 deaths of Swiss citizens and 18 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 91 while the foreign population increased by 55. There were 6 Swiss women who immigrated back to Switzerland. At the same time, there were 82 non-Swiss men and 65 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was a decrease of 101 and the non-Swiss population increased by 37 people. This represents a population growth rate of -0.4%.
The age distribution, , in Olten is; 1,011 children or 6.0% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 2,083 teenagers or 12.4% are between 7 and 19. Of the adult population, 956 people or 5.7% of the population are between 20 and 24 years old. 5,271 people or 31.5% are between 25 and 44, and 3,818 people or 22.8% are between 45 and 64. The senior population distribution is 2,497 people or 14.9% of the population are between 65 and 79 years old and there are 1,121 people or 6.7% who are over 80.
s of|2000}}, there were 6,700 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 7,504 married individuals, 1,356 widows or widowers and 1,197 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.54 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 22% 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 8,069 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2. persons per household. There were 3,535 households that consist of only one person and 325 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 8,221 households that answered this question, 43.0% were households made up of just one person and there were 59 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 2,246 married couples without children, 1,683 married couples with children There were 396 single parents with a child or children. There were 150 households that were made up of unrelated people and 152 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 1,439 single family homes (or 49.2% of the total) out of a total of 2,922 inhabited buildings. There were 933 multi-family buildings (31.9%), along with 304 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (10.4%) and 246 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (8.4%). Of the single family homes 379 were built before 1919, while 73 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (702) were built between 1919 and 1945.
there were 9,217 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 3,158. There were 677 single room apartments and 1,669 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 7,928 apartments (86.0% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 820 apartments (8.9%) were seasonally occupied and 469 apartments (5.1%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 1 new units per 1000 residents.
the average price to rent an average apartment in Olten was 1063.57 Swiss franc
s (CHF) per month (US$850, £480, €680 approx. exchange rate from 2003). The average rate for a one room apartment was 592.19 CHF (US$470, £270, €380), a two room apartment was about 787.80 CHF (US$630, £350, €500), a three room apartment was about 937.35 CHF (US$750, £420, €600) and a six or more room apartment cost an average of 1694.74 CHF (US$1360, £760, €1080). The average apartment price in Olten was 95.3% of the national average of 1116 CHF. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.85%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
vicus
as well as medieval and early modern
developments, Train Station, the prehistoric and roman era hilltop settlement of Dickenbännli, the covered wooden bridge over the Aare river and the Naturmuseum are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance
. The entire town of Olten is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
.
(Olten Group), a group of writers that included Max Frisch
and Friedrich Dürrenmatt
, was founded, as was the Swiss Alpine Club
in 1863.
the most popular party was the SP
which received 25.31% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP
(21.42%), the FDP
(18.61%) and the CVP
(15.8%). In the federal election, a total of 5,515 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 50.9%.
the total number of full-time equivalent
jobs was 13,275. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 14, of which 8 were in agriculture and 6 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 2,700 of which 1,465 or (54.3%) were in manufacturing and 976 (36.1%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 10,561. In the tertiary sector; 1,486 or 14.1% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 1,882 or 17.8% were in the movement and storage of goods, 577 or 5.5% were in a hotel or restaurant, 977 or 9.3% were in the information industry, 1,204 or 11.4% were the insurance or financial industry, 1,058 or 10.0% were technical professionals or scientists, 785 or 7.4% were in education and 1,356 or 12.8% were in health care.
, there were 11,508 workers who commuted into the municipality and 4,156 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 2.8 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. Of the working population, 28.4% used public transportation to get to work, and 37.6% used a private car.
The headquarters of SBB Cargo International
is in Olten.
. Of the rest of the population, there were 299 members of an Orthodox church
(or about 1.78% of the population), there were 390 individuals (or about 2.33% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church
, and there were 333 individuals (or about 1.99% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 13 individuals (or about 0.08% of the population) who were Jewish
, and 1,363 (or about 8.13% of the population) who were Islam
ic. There were 82 individuals who were Buddhist
, 178 individuals who were Hindu
and 18 individuals who belonged to another church. 2,408 (or about 14.37% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 608 individuals (or about 3.63% of the population) did not answer the question.
In Olten about 6,103 or (36.4%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 2,254 or (13.5%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule
). Of the 2,254 who completed tertiary schooling, 60.3% were Swiss men, 23.2% were Swiss women, 10.3% were non-Swiss men and 6.2% were non-Swiss women.
During the 2010-2011 school year there were a total of 1,549 students in the Olten school system. The education system
in the Canton of Solothurn allows young children to attend two years of non-obligatory Kindergarten
. During that school year, there were 254 children in kindergarten. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of primary school, with some of the children attending smaller, specialized classes. In the municipality there were 767 students in primary school and 74 students in the special, smaller classes. The secondary school
program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling, followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. 454 lower secondary students attend school in Olten.
, there were 1,526 students in Olten who came from another municipality, while 183 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
Olten is home to 2 libraries. These libraries are; the Stadtbibliothek Olten and the Library of the Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz. There were a combined total of 30,014 books or other media in the libraries, and in the same year a total of 25,132 items were loaned out.
Category:Cities in Switzerland
Category:Municipalities of the canton of Solothurn
Category:Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Solothurn
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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....
and capital of the district of the same name
Olten (district)
Olten District is one of the ten districts of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland, situated around the city of Olten. Together with the Gösgen District, it forms the electoral district of Olten-Gösgen...
.
Olten's railway station
Olten railway station
Olten station is a major hub railway station in the canton of Solothurn, Switzerland, at the junction of lines to Zürich, Bern, Basel, Lucerne and Biel...
is within 30 minutes of Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
, Bern, Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
, and Lucerne
Lucerne
Lucerne is a city in north-central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of that country. Lucerne is the capital of the Canton of Lucerne and the capital of the district of the same name. With a population of about 76,200 people, Lucerne is the most populous city in Central Switzerland, and...
by train, and is a rail hub of Switzerland.
History
Despite the presence of numerous archaeological evidences of early habitation, Olten is first documented in 1201 as Oltun. It became important in the 13th century because of its bridge over the Aar River. This geographical fact has determined much of its history. Mgr.Bruno Bernard Heim was born in Olten.Geography
Olten has an area, , of 11.49 square kilometres (4.4 sq mi). Of this area, 1.46 km² (0.563709151545101 sq mi) or 12.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 4.81 km² (1.9 sq mi) or 41.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 4.65 km² (1.8 sq mi) or 40.5% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.53 km² (0.204634144054044 sq mi) or 4.6% is either rivers or lakes and 0.06 km² (14.8 acre) or 0.5% is unproductive land.Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 6.0% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 15.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 11.6%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 4.2% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 3.1%. Out of the forested land, 40.7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.1% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 6.2% is used for growing crops and 5.9% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
The old city of the capital of the Olten district is located in a bend of the river between the Aare and Dünnern rivers. In the 19th Century housing estates were built in the valley on both sides of the Aare river between slopes of the Jura Mountains
Jura mountains
The Jura Mountains are a small mountain range located north of the Alps, separating the Rhine and Rhone rivers and forming part of the watershed of each...
to the north and the Born, Säli und Engelberg mountains to the south.
The municipalities of Hauenstein-Ifenthal
Hauenstein-Ifenthal
Hauenstein-Ifenthal is a municipality in the district of Gösgen in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.-History:Ifenthal is first mentioned in 1189 as Ifental. Hauenstein was mentioned in 1260 as Horwen.-Geography:...
, Trimbach, Wisen
Wisen
Wisen is a municipality in the district of Gösgen in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.-Geography:Wisen has an area, , of . Of this area, or 54.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 40.2% is forested...
and Olten are considering a merger at a date in the future into the new municipality of with an, , undetermined name.
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 Argent three Fir Trees Vert trunked Gules issuant from a Mount of 3 Coupeaux of the second.
Demographics
Olten has a population of . , 27.3% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 1.2%.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....
(13,855 or 82.7%), 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 (844 or 5.0%) 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 (356 or 2.1%). There are 167 people who speak 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...
and 22 people who speak Romansh.
, the gender distribution of the population was 49.5% male and 50.5% female. The population was made up of 18,728 Swiss men (36.5% of the population) and 6,688 (13.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 20,186 Swiss women (39.3%) and 5,772 (11.2%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 4,596 or about 27.4% were born in Olten and lived there in 2000. There were 2,920 or 17.4% who were born in the same canton, while 4,585 or 27.4% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 3,904 or 23.3% were born outside of Switzerland.
In there were 93 live births to Swiss citizens and 73 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 184 deaths of Swiss citizens and 18 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 91 while the foreign population increased by 55. There were 6 Swiss women who immigrated back to Switzerland. At the same time, there were 82 non-Swiss men and 65 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was a decrease of 101 and the non-Swiss population increased by 37 people. This represents a population growth rate of -0.4%.
The age distribution, , in Olten is; 1,011 children or 6.0% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 2,083 teenagers or 12.4% are between 7 and 19. Of the adult population, 956 people or 5.7% of the population are between 20 and 24 years old. 5,271 people or 31.5% are between 25 and 44, and 3,818 people or 22.8% are between 45 and 64. The senior population distribution is 2,497 people or 14.9% of the population are between 65 and 79 years old and there are 1,121 people or 6.7% who are over 80.
s of|2000}}, there were 6,700 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 7,504 married individuals, 1,356 widows or widowers and 1,197 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.54 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 22% 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 8,069 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2. persons per household. There were 3,535 households that consist of only one person and 325 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 8,221 households that answered this question, 43.0% were households made up of just one person and there were 59 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 2,246 married couples without children, 1,683 married couples with children There were 396 single parents with a child or children. There were 150 households that were made up of unrelated people and 152 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 1,439 single family homes (or 49.2% of the total) out of a total of 2,922 inhabited buildings. There were 933 multi-family buildings (31.9%), along with 304 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (10.4%) and 246 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (8.4%). Of the single family homes 379 were built before 1919, while 73 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (702) were built between 1919 and 1945.
there were 9,217 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 3,158. There were 677 single room apartments and 1,669 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 7,928 apartments (86.0% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 820 apartments (8.9%) were seasonally occupied and 469 apartments (5.1%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 1 new units per 1000 residents.
the average price to rent an average apartment in Olten was 1063.57 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$850, £480, €680 approx. exchange rate from 2003). The average rate for a one room apartment was 592.19 CHF (US$470, £270, €380), a two room apartment was about 787.80 CHF (US$630, £350, €500), a three room apartment was about 937.35 CHF (US$750, £420, €600) and a six or more room apartment cost an average of 1694.74 CHF (US$1360, £760, €1080). The average apartment price in Olten was 95.3% of the national average of 1116 CHF. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.85%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Heritage sites of national significance
The Old City, which includes a roman eraSwitzerland in the Roman era
The history of Switzerland in the Roman era encompasses the roughly six centuries during which the territory of modern Switzerland was a part of the Roman Republic and Empire...
vicus
Vicus
Vicus may refer to:*Vicus , plural vici, a neighborhood or local administrative unit of ancient Rome**Vicus Tuscus in Rome**Vicus Jugarius, leading into the Roman Forum** Gensis in Moesia Superior...
as well as medieval and early modern
Early Modern Switzerland
The early modern history of the Old Swiss Confederacy , lasting from formal independence in 1648 to the French invasion of 1798 came to be referred as Ancien Régime retrospectively, in post-Napoleonic Switzerland.The early modern period was characterized by an increasingly...
developments, Train Station, the prehistoric and roman era hilltop settlement of Dickenbännli, the covered wooden bridge over the Aare river and the Naturmuseum are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance
Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance
The Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance is a register of some 8,300 items of cultural property in Switzerland...
. The entire town of Olten is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
The Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage.-Sites of national importance:-Types:...
.
Culture
Every year, on August 1, a large firework show occurs from boats floating down the river. It is also home to a wooden foot bridge, one of the towns landmarks. In Olten's railway station restaurant, the Gruppe OltenGruppe Olten
The Gruppe Olten was a club of Swiss writers who convened at Olten's "Bahnhofbuffet" located in the canton of Solothurn in the Swiss plateau...
(Olten Group), a group of writers that included Max Frisch
Max Frisch
Max Rudolf Frisch was a Swiss playwright and novelist, regarded as highly representative of German-language literature after World War II. In his creative works Frisch paid particular attention to issues relating to problems of human identity, individuality, responsibility, morality and political...
and Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Friedrich Dürrenmatt was a Swiss author and dramatist. He was a proponent of epic theatre whose plays reflected the recent experiences of World War II. The politically active author's work included avant-garde dramas, philosophically deep crime novels, and often macabre satire...
, was founded, as was the Swiss Alpine Club
Swiss Alpine Club
The Swiss Alpine Club is the largest mountaineering club in Switzerland. It was founded in 1863 in Olten and it is now composed of 111 sections with 110,000 members...
in 1863.
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 25.31% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were 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...
(21.42%), 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....
(18.61%) 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...
(15.8%). In the federal election, a total of 5,515 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 50.9%.
Economy
, Olten had an unemployment rate of 4.4%. , there were 19 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 7 businesses involved in this sector. 2,825 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 147 businesses in this sector. 13,000 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 1,067 businesses in this sector. There were 8,299 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.8% 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 13,275. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 14, of which 8 were in agriculture and 6 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 2,700 of which 1,465 or (54.3%) were in manufacturing and 976 (36.1%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 10,561. In the tertiary sector; 1,486 or 14.1% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 1,882 or 17.8% were in the movement and storage of goods, 577 or 5.5% were in a hotel or restaurant, 977 or 9.3% were in the information industry, 1,204 or 11.4% were the insurance or financial industry, 1,058 or 10.0% were technical professionals or scientists, 785 or 7.4% were in education and 1,356 or 12.8% were in health care.
, there were 11,508 workers who commuted into the municipality and 4,156 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 2.8 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. Of the working population, 28.4% used public transportation to get to work, and 37.6% used a private car.
The headquarters of SBB Cargo International
SBB Cargo International
SBB Cargo International is a rail transport business founded as a joint venture between SBB Cargo and Hupac The headquarters will be at Olten. handling international rail freight in Europe...
is in Olten.
Religion
From the , 6,803 or 40.6% were Roman Catholic, while 4,262 or 25.4% 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 299 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 1.78% of the population), there were 390 individuals (or about 2.33% 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 333 individuals (or about 1.99% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 13 individuals (or about 0.08% of the population) who were Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, and 1,363 (or about 8.13% 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. There were 82 individuals who were Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, 178 individuals who were Hindu
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
and 18 individuals who belonged to another church. 2,408 (or about 14.37% 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 608 individuals (or about 3.63% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
university of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland is located in Olten.In Olten about 6,103 or (36.4%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 2,254 or (13.5%) 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 2,254 who completed tertiary schooling, 60.3% were Swiss men, 23.2% were Swiss women, 10.3% were non-Swiss men and 6.2% were non-Swiss women.
During the 2010-2011 school year there were a total of 1,549 students in the Olten school system. The education system
Education in Switzerland
The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system mainly to the cantons...
in the Canton of Solothurn allows young children to attend two years of non-obligatory Kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
. During that school year, there were 254 children in kindergarten. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of primary school, with some of the children attending smaller, specialized classes. In the municipality there were 767 students in primary school and 74 students in the special, smaller classes. The secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling, followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. 454 lower secondary students attend school in Olten.
, there were 1,526 students in Olten who came from another municipality, while 183 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
Olten is home to 2 libraries. These libraries are; the Stadtbibliothek Olten and the Library of the Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz. There were a combined total of 30,014 books or other media in the libraries, and in the same year a total of 25,132 items were loaned out.
External links
Category:Cities in Switzerland
Category:Municipalities of the canton of Solothurn
Category:Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Solothurn
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