Bolken
Encyclopedia
Bolken 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 6.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 5.7%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 55.2% is used for growing crops and 8.5% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is in lakes.
The municipality is located in the Wasseramt district, on the moraine
landscape left behind by the Rhone glacier. It lies on the border with the Canton of Bern and consists of the haufendorf village (an irregular, unplanned and quite closely packed village, built around a central square) of Bolken and the Inkwilersee
(Inkwiler lake).
of the municipal coat of arms
is Gules a Ploughshare Argent between two Mullets of Five of the last in chief.
Most of the population speaks German
(465 or 95.1%), with French
being second most common (9 or 1.8%) and Albanian
being third (6 or 1.2%).
, the gender distribution of the population was 51.6% male and 48.4% female. The population was made up of 264 Swiss men (49.0% of the population) and 14 (2.6%) non-Swiss men. There were 253 Swiss women (46.9%) and 8 (1.5%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 139 or about 28.4% were born in Bolken and lived there in 2000. There were 138 or 28.2% who were born in the same canton, while 163 or 33.3% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 34 or 7.0% were born outside of Switzerland.
In there were 4 live births to Swiss citizens and were 3 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 1 while the foreign population remained the same. There . At the same time, there was 1 non-Swiss man and 3 non-Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland to another country. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 4 and the non-Swiss population decreased by 10 people. This represents a population growth rate of -1.1%.
The age distribution, , in Bolken is; 52 children or 10.6% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 92 teenagers or 18.8% are between 7 and 19. Of the adult population, 21 people or 4.3% of the population are between 20 and 24 years old. 180 people or 36.8% are between 25 and 44, and 102 people or 20.9% are between 45 and 64. The senior population distribution is 38 people or 7.8% of the population are between 65 and 79 years old and there are 4 people or 0.8% who are over 80.
, there were 200 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 246 married individuals, 18 widows or widowers and 25 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 75.4% 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 183 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.7 persons per household. There were 47 households that consist of only one person and 14 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 184 households that answered this question, 25.5% were households made up of just one person. Of the rest of the households, there are 44 married couples without children, 84 married couples with children There were 8 single parents with a child or children.
there were 114 single family homes (or 76.5% of the total) out of a total of 149 inhabited buildings. There were 14 multi-family buildings (9.4%), along with 17 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (11.4%) and 4 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (2.7%). Of the single family homes 7 were built before 1919, while 39 were built between 1990 and 2000.
there were 187 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 5 rooms of which there were 59. There were 3 single room apartments and 97 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 179 apartments (95.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 4 apartments (2.1%) were seasonally occupied and 4 apartments (2.1%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 5.6 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.93%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
(or stilt house) settlements that are part of the Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps
UNESCO
World Heritage Site. The Inkwilersee, a paleolithic
, neolithic
and Bronze Age
lake shore settlement, is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance
.
the most popular party was the CVP
which received 22.52% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP
(21.85%), the FDP
(21.27%) and the SP
(20.93%). In the federal election, a total of 173 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 46.5%.
the total number of full-time equivalent
jobs was 25. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 10, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 6 of which 1 was in manufacturing and 5 (83.3%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 9. In the tertiary sector; 3 or 33.3% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was in the information industry, 5 or 55.6% were in education.
, there were 13 workers who commuted into the municipality and 234 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 18.0 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 16.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 65.8% used a private car.
. Of the rest of the population, there were 3 individuals (or about 0.61% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church
, and there were 12 individuals (or about 2.45% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 5 (or about 1.02% of the population) who were Islam
ic. There were 3 individuals who belonged to another church. 73 (or about 14.93% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 11 individuals (or about 2.25% of the population) did not answer the question.
). Of the 71 who completed tertiary schooling, 80.3% were Swiss men, 14.1% were Swiss women.
, there were 35 students from Bolken who 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
Bolken has an area, , of 2.12 square kilometre (0.818536576216174 sq mi). Of this area, 1.37 km² (0.528959957271773 sq mi) or 64.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.46 km² (0.177606992952566 sq mi) or 21.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.26 km² (0.100386561234059 sq mi) or 12.3% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.04 km² (9.9 acre) or 1.9% is either rivers or lakes.Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 6.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 5.7%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 55.2% is used for growing crops and 8.5% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is in lakes.
The municipality is located in the Wasseramt district, on the moraine
Moraine
A moraine is any glacially formed accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris which can occur in currently glaciated and formerly glaciated regions, such as those areas acted upon by a past glacial maximum. This debris may have been plucked off a valley floor as a glacier advanced or it may have...
landscape left behind by the Rhone glacier. It lies on the border with the Canton of Bern and consists of the haufendorf village (an irregular, unplanned and quite closely packed village, built around a central square) of Bolken and the Inkwilersee
Inkwilersee
Inkwilersee is a small lake on the border of the municipalities of Inkwil, Canton of Berne, and Bolken, Canton of Solothurn, Switzerland. Its surface area is 0.1016 km².-External links:* short introduction...
(Inkwiler lake).
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 Ploughshare Argent between two Mullets of Five of the last in chief.
Demographics
Bolken has a population of . , 4.5% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 12%. It has changed at a rate of 3.7% due to migration and at a rate of 7.7% 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....
(465 or 95.1%), with 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 second most common (9 or 1.8%) 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 (6 or 1.2%).
, the gender distribution of the population was 51.6% male and 48.4% female. The population was made up of 264 Swiss men (49.0% of the population) and 14 (2.6%) non-Swiss men. There were 253 Swiss women (46.9%) and 8 (1.5%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 139 or about 28.4% were born in Bolken and lived there in 2000. There were 138 or 28.2% who were born in the same canton, while 163 or 33.3% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 34 or 7.0% were born outside of Switzerland.
In there were 4 live births to Swiss citizens and were 3 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 1 while the foreign population remained the same. There . At the same time, there was 1 non-Swiss man and 3 non-Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland to another country. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 4 and the non-Swiss population decreased by 10 people. This represents a population growth rate of -1.1%.
The age distribution, , in Bolken is; 52 children or 10.6% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 92 teenagers or 18.8% are between 7 and 19. Of the adult population, 21 people or 4.3% of the population are between 20 and 24 years old. 180 people or 36.8% are between 25 and 44, and 102 people or 20.9% are between 45 and 64. The senior population distribution is 38 people or 7.8% of the population are between 65 and 79 years old and there are 4 people or 0.8% who are over 80.
, there were 200 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 246 married individuals, 18 widows or widowers and 25 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 75.4% 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 183 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.7 persons per household. There were 47 households that consist of only one person and 14 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 184 households that answered this question, 25.5% were households made up of just one person. Of the rest of the households, there are 44 married couples without children, 84 married couples with children There were 8 single parents with a child or children.
there were 114 single family homes (or 76.5% of the total) out of a total of 149 inhabited buildings. There were 14 multi-family buildings (9.4%), along with 17 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (11.4%) and 4 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (2.7%). Of the single family homes 7 were built before 1919, while 39 were built between 1990 and 2000.
there were 187 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 5 rooms of which there were 59. There were 3 single room apartments and 97 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 179 apartments (95.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 4 apartments (2.1%) were seasonally occupied and 4 apartments (2.1%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 5.6 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.93%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Heritage sites of national significance
It is home to one or more prehistoric pile-dwellingStilt house
Stilt houses or pile dwellings or palafitte are houses raised on piles over the surface of the soil or a body of water. Stilt houses are built primarily as a protection against flooding, but also serve to keep out vermin...
(or stilt house) settlements that are part of the Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps
Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps
Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps is a series of prehistoric pile-dwelling settlements in and around the Alps built from around 5000 to 500 B.C. on the edges of lakes, rivers or wetlands...
UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
World Heritage Site. The Inkwilersee, a paleolithic
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...
, neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
and Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
lake shore settlement, is listed as a Swiss heritage site 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...
.
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 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...
which received 22.52% 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...
(21.85%), 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....
(21.27%) and the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
(20.93%). In the federal election, a total of 173 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 46.5%.
Economy
, Bolken had an unemployment rate of 0.9%. , there were 21 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 5 businesses involved in this sector. 7 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 3 businesses in this sector. 14 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 4 businesses in this sector. There were 272 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 44.9% 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 25. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 10, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 6 of which 1 was in manufacturing and 5 (83.3%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 9. In the tertiary sector; 3 or 33.3% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was in the information industry, 5 or 55.6% were in education.
, there were 13 workers who commuted into the municipality and 234 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 18.0 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 16.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 65.8% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 147 or 30.1% were Roman Catholic, while 235 or 48.1% 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 individuals (or about 0.61% 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 12 individuals (or about 2.45% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 5 (or about 1.02% 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 3 individuals who belonged to another church. 73 (or about 14.93% 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 11 individuals (or about 2.25% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
In Bolken about 188 or (38.4%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 71 or (14.5%) 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 71 who completed tertiary schooling, 80.3% were Swiss men, 14.1% were Swiss women.
, there were 35 students from Bolken who attended schools outside the municipality.