Altendorf is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

March District March District is a district in Canton of Schwyz, Switzerland. The coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an esc ...

in the

canton of Schwyz The canton of Schwyz (german: Kanton Schwyz rm, Chantun Sviz; french: Canton de Schwytz; it, Canton Svitto) is a canton in central Switzerland between the Alps in the south, Lake Lucerne to the west and Lake Zürich in the north, centred on ...

in Switzerland.

History

Altendorf is first mentioned in 972 as ''Rahprehteswilare''. In 1932, construction started on the '' Etzelwerk'', a

hydro-electric power station Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

to generate power for the Swiss Federal Railways. By 1937, the power station was complete and in operation. The plant continues in use today, and takes its water supply from the

Sihlsee reservoir __NOTOC__ The Sihlsee (in English sometimes called ''Lake Sihl'') is an artificial lake in the Swiss canton of Schwyz, near the town of Einsiedeln. The lake was created by damming the river Sihl and flooding a section of the upper Sihl Valley. T ...

that lies to the south-west.

Geography

Altendorf has an area, , of . Of this area, 52.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 37.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 9.4% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.4%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). The municipality is located on the ''Obersee'' section of

Lake Zurich __NOTOC__ Lake Zurich (Swiss German/ Alemannic: ''Zürisee''; German: ''Zürichsee''; rm, Lai da Turitg) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zürich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or ''Zürichsee'' can be used to ...

. It is along the rail line Pfäffikon- Lachen and on the A3 motorway. It consists of the village of Altendorf and the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...

of Seestatt along the lake and the hamlets of Muschelberg, Mittlisberg, Schlipf and Vorderberg in the pre-alpine hills as well as a suburb of Lachen, the hamlet of Steinegg.

Demographics

Altendorf has a population (as of ) of . , 16.8% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 32.4%. Most of the population () speaks German (91.1%), with Italian being second most common ( 1.4%) and Albanian being third ( 1.3%).Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 02-Sep-2009 the gender distribution of the population was 51.1% male and 48.9% female. The age distribution, , in Altendorf is; 1,196 people or 25.8% of the population is between 0 and 19. 1,372 people or 29.6% are 20 to 39, and 1,597 people or 34.4% are 40 to 64. The senior population distribution is 286 people or 6.2% are 65 to 74. There are 141 people or 3.0% who are 70 to 79 and 46 people or 0.99% of the population who are over 80. There is one person in Altendorf who is over 100 years old.Canton Schwyz Statistics
accessed 27 August 2009 there are 1,786 households, of which 471 households (or about 26.4%) contain only a single individual. 147 or about 8.2% are large households, with at least five members. In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 47.1% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (17.8%), the FDP (16.7%) and the SPS (13.9%). In Altendorf about 71.9% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either University or a '' Fachhochschule''). Altendorf has an unemployment rate of 1.76%. , there were 227 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 83 businesses involved in this sector. 857 people are employed in the

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructi ...

and there are 105 businesses in this sector. 1,238 people are employed in the

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...

, with 211 businesses in this sector. From the , 3,108 or 67.0% are

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

, while 810 or 17.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there are less than 5 individuals who belong to the Christian Catholic faith, there are 87 individuals (or about 1.88% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 6 individuals (or about 0.13% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There are less than 5 individuals who are

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, and 159 (or about 3.43% of the population) who are Islamic. There are 32 individuals (or about 0.69% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 294 (or about 6.34% of the population) belong to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 138 individuals (or about 2.98% of the population) did not answer the question. The historical population is given in the following table:

Transportation

Altendorf railway station is a stop on the Zurich S-Bahn service S2, between Zurich and

Ziegelbrücke Ziegelbrücke is a village in Switzerland. Ziegelbrücke is shared by the municipalities of Niederurnen in the canton of Glarus and Schänis in the canton of St. Gallen. Geography and political situation The village of Ziegelbrücke is divided ...

References

Notes

External links

* {{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Schwyz Populated places on Lake Zurich