Littau
Encyclopedia
Littau is a former 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...

, and now part of the city of 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...

, in the district of Lucerne
Lucerne (district)
Lucerne District is an Amt of the Canton of Lucerne, Switzerland. It has a population of and consists of 18 municipalities, of which the city of Lucerne is the largest and the district capital:-Mergers:...

 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 Lucerne 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....

. On 1 January 2010 the municipality of Littau merged into the municipality of 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...

.

History

Littau is first mentioned in 1178 as Litowo. On 1 January 2010, Littau has merged with the city (and municipality) of Lucerne. Art. 5 of the merger treaty states that the new municipality's name is to be "Luzern".

Geography

Littau has an area of 13.3 km² (5.1 sq mi). Of this area, 52.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 21.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 24.8% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (1.7%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). , 21.08% of the total land area was forested. Of the agricultural land, 49.17% is used for farming or pastures, while 3.16% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the settled areas, 10.47% is covered with buildings, 4.29% is industrial, 1.96% is classed as special developments, 2.33% is parks or greenbelts and 5.8% is transportation infrastructure. Of the unproductive areas, 1.66% is unproductive flowing water (rivers) and 0.08% is other unproductive land.

The former municipality is located along both sides of the Kleine Emme
Kleine Emme
The Kleine Emme is a river of the canton of Lucerne, Switzerland, a left tributary of the Reuss River extending for 58 km, draining a basin of 477 km²...

 river. It grew out of four separate sections which each had their own topography and individual history. The first section was the village of Littau, second Niederlittau and Littauerboden, third the individual farm house of the Littauerberg area and fourth Reussbühl and Ruopigen.

Demographics

Littau had a population (in 2009) of 17,224. , 36.6% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 6.1%. Most of the population speaks German (75.6%), with Italian being second most common ( 6.2%) and Serbo-Croatian being third ( 6.0%).

In the 2007 election 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 29.5% 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...

 (26.5%), 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....

 (21%) and the SPS
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (14.3%).

The age distribution in Littau was; 3,821 people or 22.6% of the population is 0–19 years old. 4,986 people or 29.5% are 20–39 years old, and 5,800 people or 34.3% are 40–64 years old. The senior population distribution is 1,786 people or 10.6% are 65–79 years old, 451 or 2.7% are 80–89 years old and 61 people or 0.4% of the population are 90+ years old.

The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Littau about 56.4% 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...

).

there are 6,636 households, of which 2,218 households (or about 33.4%) contain only a single individual. 467 or about 7.% are large households, with at least five members. there were 1,292 inhabited buildings in the municipality, of which 1,026 were built only as housing, and 266 were mixed use
Mixed-use development
Mixed-use development is the use of a building, set of buildings, or neighborhood for more than one purpose. Since the 1920s, zoning in some countries has required uses to be separated. However, when jobs, housing, and commercial activities are located close together, a community's transportation...

 buildings. There were 435 single family homes, 91 double family homes, and 500 multi-family homes in the municipality. Most homes were either two (310) or three (293) story structures. There were only 31 single story buildings and 392 four or more story buildings.

Littau had an unemployment rate of 3.76%. , there were 162 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 48 businesses involved in this sector. 2189 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 167 businesses in this sector. 3532 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 400 businesses in this sector. 53.9% of the population of the municipality were employed in some capacity. At the same time, females made up 44% of the workforce.

the religious membership of Littau was; 10,154 (63.7%) were Roman Catholic, and 1,643 (10.3%) were Protestant, with an additional 966 (6.06%) that were of some other Christian faith. There are 8 individuals (0.05% of the population) who are Jewish. There are 1,270 individuals (7.97% of the population) who are Muslim. Of the rest; there were 226 (1.42%) individuals who belong to another religion, 866 (5.44%) who do not belong to any organized religion, 796 (5.%) who did not answer the question.

The historical population is given in the following table:
year population
around 1695 c. 500
1798 668
1816 1,066
1850 1,314
1900 3,699
1950 5,644
1960 8,715
1970 13,495
2000 15,929

Points of interests

The world's tallest pylon of prefabricated concrete ( pylon 301 of powerline Innertkirchen-Littau-Mettlen). The pylon, built in 1990 has a height of 59.5 metres (195.2 ft).
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