Dittingen
Encyclopedia
Dittingen 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 Laufen
Laufen (district)
Laufen District or Laufental District is one of the five districts of the largely German-speaking canton of Basel-Country, Switzerland. Its capital is the town of Laufen....

 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 Basel-Country
Basel-Country
Basel-Landschaft , is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland. The capital is Liestal...

 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

Dittingen has an area, , of 6.75 square kilometres (2.6 sq mi). Of this area, 1.99 km² (0.768343295599145 sq mi) or 29.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 4.2 km² (1.6 sq mi) or 62.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.49 km² (0.189190057710342 sq mi) or 7.3% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.03 km² (7.4 acre) or 0.4% is either rivers or lakes and 0.03 km² (7.4 acre) or 0.4% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.0%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.2% of the area Out of the forested land, 59.6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 10.2% is used for growing crops and 12.7% is pastures, while 2.4% is used for orchards or vine crops and 4.1% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

The municipality is located in the Laufen district, in a side valley off the Birs
Birs
The Birs is a 73-km long river in Switzerland that flows through the Jura region and ends as a tributary to the Rhine between Basel and Birsfelden.- Picture gallery :...

 river valley.

Coat of arms

The blazon
Blazon
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, a Saint passant robed Sable, haloed and carrying a bag and a staff, and wearing sandals Or, on a Base Vert between two trees of the same trunked Gules.

Demographics

Dittingen has a population of . , 9.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 1.6%.

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....

 (634 or 92.4%), with 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 second most common (15 or 2.2%) and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 being third (14 or 2.0%). There are 7 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 1 person who speaks Romansh.

, the gender distribution of the population was 48.1% male and 51.9% female. The population was made up of 641 Swiss citizens (89.3% of the population), and 77 non-Swiss residents (10.7%) Of the population in the municipality 270 or about 39.4% were born in Dittingen and lived there in 2000. There were 173 or 25.2% who were born in the same canton, while 158 or 23.0% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 71 or 10.3% were born outside of Switzerland.

In there were 5 live births to Swiss citizens and 1 birth to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 4 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 1 while the foreign population increased by 1. There were 2 Swiss men and 2 Swiss women who immigrated back to Switzerland. At the same time, there was 1 non-Swiss woman 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 5 and the non-Swiss population remained the same. This represents a population growth rate of -0.7%.

The age distribution, , in Dittingen is; 39 children or 5.4% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 103 teenagers or 14.3% are between 7 and 19. Of the adult population, 65 people or 9.1% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 101 people or 14.1% are between 30 and 39, 126 people or 17.5% are between 40 and 49, and 135 people or 18.8% are between 50 and 64. The senior population distribution is 120 people or 16.7% of the population are between 65 and 79 years old and there are 29 people or 4.0% who are over 80.

, there were 265 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 344 married individuals, 49 widows or widowers and 28 individuals who are divorced.

the average number of residents per living room was 0.51 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 61.9% 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 298 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household. There were 87 households that consist of only one person and 17 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 301 households that answered this question, 28.9% were households made up of just one person and 5 were adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 107 married couples without children, 81 married couples with children There were 16 single parents with a child or children. There were 2 households that were made up unrelated people and 3 households that were made some sort of institution or another collective housing.

there were 149 single family homes (or 69.6% of the total) out of a total of 214 inhabited buildings. There were 30 multi-family buildings (14.0%), along with 28 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (13.1%) and 7 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (3.3%). Of the single family homes 22 were built before 1919, while 25 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (32) were built between 1961 and 1970.

there were 313 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 86. There were 7 single room apartments and 121 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 286 apartments (91.4% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 20 apartments (6.4%) were seasonally occupied and 7 apartments (2.2%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 10 new units per 1000 residents. the average price to rent a two room apartment was about 857.00 CHF (US$690, £390, €550), a three room apartment was about 1093.00 CHF (US$870, £490, €700) and a four room apartment cost an average of 1148.00 CHF (US$920, £520, €730). The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0%.

The historical population is given in the following chart:

Politics

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 25.22% 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...

 (24.72%), the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (18.51%) and the Green Party
Green Party of Switzerland
The Green Party of Switzerland is the fifth-largest party in the National Council of Switzerland, and the largest party that is not represented on the Federal Council.-History:...

 (16.05%). In the federal election, a total of 269 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 51.2%.

Economy

, Dittingen had an unemployment rate of 1.14%. , there were 34 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 12 businesses involved in this sector. 28 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 8 businesses in this sector. 155 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 24 businesses in this sector. There were 363 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 42.1% of the workforce.

the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 166. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 16, of which 13 were in agriculture and 3 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 37, of which 34 or (91.9%) were in manufacturing and 3 (8.1%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 113. In the tertiary sector; 68 or 60.2% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 11 or 9.7% were in the movement and storage of goods, 13 or 11.5% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 or 0.9% were in the information industry, 11 or 9.7% were technical professionals or scientists, 5 or 4.4% were in education.

, there were 154 workers who commuted into the municipality and 266 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.7 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 5.8% of the workforce coming into Dittingen are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 17.9% used public transportation to get to work, and 52.3% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 527 or 76.8% were Roman Catholic, while 73 or 10.6% 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 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 0.73% of the population), there were 2 individuals (or about 0.29% 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 4 individuals (or about 0.58% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 12 (or about 1.75% 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 was 1 individual 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...

 and 1 individual who belonged to another church. 54 (or about 7.87% 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 7 individuals (or about 1.02% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Dittingen about 305 or (44.5%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 65 or (9.5%) 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 65 who completed tertiary schooling, 75.4% were Swiss men, 20.0% were Swiss women. , there was 1 student in Dittingen who came from another municipality, while 43 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK