Goldingen
Encyclopedia
Goldingen 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 Wahlkreis (constituency) of See-Gaster
See-Gaster (Wahlkreis)
See-Gaster is a constituency in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. The Wahlkreis has been established on June 10, 2001 with an area of .It was formed from See District and Gaster District.-Demographics:...

 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 St. Gallen in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

.

History

The name Goldingen was applied to two different hamlets in the municipality. The current hamlet of Goldingen is first mentioned in 1800 and before that time was known as Thal. The hamlet of Vordersagen was first mentioned in 1266 as Goldelingin and until about 1700 was known as Goldingen. Additionally the hamlet of Hintersagen was known until about 1800 as Hintergoldingen.

Geography

Goldingen has an area, , of 22.1 km² (8.5 sq mi). Of this area, 50.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 45.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.7% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.5%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes).

The municipality is located in the See-Gaster Wahlkreis in the hill country. It consists of the hamlets
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

 of Goldingen, Echeltschwil, Hubertingen, Wolfertingen, Eglingen, Vordersagen, Hintersagen, Gibel and Oberholz.

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 Or on a Mount Vert a Linden Tree of the same trunked proper.

Demographics

Goldingen has a population of 1,098, of which about 5.0% are foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, , 8 are from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, 2 are from Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, 8 are from ex-Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...

, 1 person is from Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, and 10 are from another country. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 1.2%. Most of the population speaks German (97.9%), with Portuguese being second most common ( 0.7%) and English being third ( 0.6%). Of the Swiss national languages , 1,023 speak 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....

, 1 person speaks, 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...

, and 1 person speaks Romansh.

The age distribution, , in Goldingen is; 152 children or 14.5% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 160 teenagers or 15.3% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 116 people or 11.1% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 157 people or 15.0% are between 30 and 39, 152 people or 14.5% are between 40 and 49, and 122 people or 11.7% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 91 people or 8.7% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 59 people or 5.6% are between 70 and 79, there are 30 people or 2.9% who are between 80 and 89,and there are 6 people or 0.6% who are between 90 and 99.

there were 103 persons (or 9.9% of the population) who were living alone in a private dwelling. There were 183 (or 17.5%) persons who were part of a couple (married or otherwise committed) without children, and 677 (or 64.8%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 40 (or 3.8%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 11 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 4 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 15 who lived household made up of unrelated persons,and 12 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing.

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 45.8% 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...

 (28.5%), the FDP
Free Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Free Democratic Party was a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It was one of the major parties in Switzerland until its merger with the smaller classical liberal Liberal Party, to form FDP.The Liberals on 1 January 2009....

 (11.2%) and the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (4.8%).

The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Goldingen about 62.9% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule
Fachhochschule
A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...

). Out of the total population in Goldingen, , the highest education level completed by 277 people (26.5% of the population) was Primary, while 351 (33.6%) have completed a Secondary, 76 (7.3%) have attended a Tertiary school, and 46 (4.4%) are not in school. The remainder did not answer this question.

The historical population is given in the following table:
year population
1673 ca. 500
1831 1,166
1850 1,053
1900 885
1950 1,072
1980 870
2000 1,045

Heritage sites of national significance

The Fründsberg
Fründsberg Castle
Fründsberg Castle is a castle in the municipality of Goldingen of the Canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.-References:...

, a no longer visible castle ruin, 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...

.

Economy

, Goldingen had an unemployment rate of 0.87%. , there were 173 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 67 businesses involved in this sector. 136 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 16 businesses in this sector. 87 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 22 businesses in this sector.

the average unemployment rate was 2.6%. There were 107 businesses in the municipality of which 16 were involved in the secondary sector of the economy while 29 were involved in the third.

there were 233 residents who worked in the municipality, while 335 residents worked outside Goldingen and 52 people commuted into the municipality for work.

Religion

From the , 774 or 74.1% are Roman Catholic, while 159 or 15.2% 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 is 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic
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...

 faith, there are 2 individuals (or about 0.19% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 5 individuals (or about 0.48% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There are 5 (or about 0.48% of the population) who are Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic. There are 4 individuals (or about 0.38% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 65 (or about 6.22% of the population) belong to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....

 or atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...

, and 30 individuals (or about 2.87% of the population) did not answer the question.
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