Illnau-Effretikon 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 ...

in the district of Pfäffikon in the canton of

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. It includes the villages of Illnau, Effretikon, Ottikon and Bisikon. On 1 January 2016 Kyburg and Illnau-Effretikon merged to form the municipality of Illnau-Effretikon.

History

Illnau-Effretikon is first mentioned in 745 as ''Illenavvia'' and ''Erpfratinchova''. At first the name of the

was Illnau as that town used to be the political and economic center of the municipality. However, when the

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

connection was built from Zurich to Winterthur in 1855, only the much smaller Effretikon was in a position to receive a railway station. Subsequently, the economic boom caused by the railway made Effretikon grow disproportionately until it had outgrown Illnau by the beginning of the 20th century. The name of the municipality was finally changed to Illnau-Effretikon in 1973. On 1 January 2016 the former

of Kyburg and Illnau-Effretikon merged to form the municipality of Illnau-Effretikon.

Geography

Before the 2016 merger, Illnau-Effretikon had an area of . Of this area, 52.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 29.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 17.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (1.3%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). housing and buildings made up 10.8% of the total area, while transportation infrastructure made up the rest (6.4%). Of the total unproductive area, water (streams and lakes) made up 0.4% of the area. 12.5% of the total municipal area was undergoing some type of construction. The municipality is located in the mid-Kempt valley. It consists of the villages of Illnau, Effretikon (including Rikon), Ottikon and Bisikon as well as 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 Agasul, Bietenholz, portions of Billikon, First, Horben, Kemleten, Luckhausen, portions of Mesikon and Oberkempttal.

Demographics

Illnau-Effretikon has a population (as of ) of . , 20.9% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. the gender distribution of the population was 49% male and 51% female. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 6.4%. Most of the population () speaks German (84.9%), with Italian being second most common ( 4.3%) and Albanian being third ( 2.1%). In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 38% of the vote. The next two most popular parties were the

SPS SPS may refer to: Law and government * Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures of the WTO * NATO Science for Peace and Security * Single Payment Scheme, an EU agricultural subsidy * The Standard Procurement System, fo ...

(17.7%) and the FDP (10.8%). The age distribution of the population () is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 20.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 66.7% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.2%. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Illnau-Effretikon about 75.6% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a ''

Fachhochschule A ''Fachhochschule'' (; plural ''Fachhochschulen''), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts ...

''). There are 6702 households in Illnau-Effretikon. Illnau-Effretikon has an unemployment rate of 3.24%. , there were 293 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 73 businesses involved in this sector. 1610 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 construction. ...

and there are 156 businesses in this sector. 3148 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 488 businesses in this sector.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 11-Aug-2009 50% of the working population were employed full-time, and 50% were employed part-time.
accessed 4 August 2009 there were 4085

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and 6167

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

in Illnau-Effretikon. In the 2000 census, religion was broken down into several smaller categories. From the , 48.4% were some type of Protestant, with 45.1% belonging to the

Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), (EKS); french: Église évangélique réformée de Suisse (EERS); it, Chiesa evangelica riformata in Svizzera (CERiS); rm, Baselgia evangelica refurmada da la Svizra (BRRS) formerly named Federation o ...

and 3.3% belonging to other Protestant churches. 28.4% of the population were Catholic. Of the rest of the population, 5.8% were Muslim, 8.4% belonged to another religion (not listed), 2.8% did not give a religion, and 11.2% were atheist or agnostic. The historical population is given in the following table:

Transportation

The municipality of Illnau-Effretikon is served by two railway stations.

Effretikon railway station Effretikon is a railway station in the Swiss canton of Zürich and municipality of Illnau-Effretikon. The station, which takes its name from the village of Effretikon, is located on the Zürich to Winterthur main line at the junction point with ...

is on the Zurich to Winterthur main line and is served by

Zürich S-Bahn The Zürich S-Bahn (german: S-Bahn Zürich) system is a network of rail lines that has been incrementally expanded to cover the ZVV area, which comprises the entire canton of Zürich and portions of neighbouring cantons (Aargau, Glarus, ...

routes S2, S3, S7, S8, S19 and S24. Illnau railway station is on the Effretikon to Hinwil line and is served by S3 and S19.

Notable people

Ludwig Zehnder Ludwig Louis Albert Zehnder (4 May 1854, in Illnau – 24 March 1949, in Oberhofen am Thunersee) was a Swiss physicist, one of the inventors of the Mach–Zehnder interferometer. Zehnder was a student of Wilhelm Röntgen, professor of physics ...

(1854 in Illnau – 1949) a Swiss physicist, the inventor of an

interferometer Interferometry is a technique which uses the ''interference'' of superimposed waves to extract information. Interferometry typically uses electromagnetic waves and is an important investigative technique in the fields of astronomy, fiber op ...

Walter Roderer Walter Roderer (3 July 1920 – 8 May 2012) was a Swiss actor and screenwriter. He played several leading film roles including the 1959 comedy '' The Model Husband''.Goble p.228 Selected filmography Actor * '' Der 10. Mai'' (1957) * '' The M ...

(1920–2012 in Illnau) a Swiss actor and screenwriter IMDb Database
retrieved 18 January 2019 * Fabian Molina (born 1990) a Swiss politician, member of the National Council, brought up in Illnau-Effretikon

References

External links

Effretikon.ch: Illnau-Effretikon website
{{Authority control Cities in Switzerland Municipalities of the canton of Zürich