Eschenbach 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 Hochdorf in the canton of

Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...

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 ...

History

Eschenbach is first mentioned in 924 as ''Eskinpah'' or as ''Essinpahc''.

Coat of arms

The

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. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The vis ...

of the municipal

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

is ''Or, a Castle Sable ensigned with a cross of four flesh-hooks of the same''.Flags of the World.com
accessed 20-January-2010

Geography

Eschenbach is located on the glacier carved plains between the

Reuss River The Reuss (Swiss German: ''Rüüss'') is a river in Switzerland. With a length of and a drainage basin of , it is the fourth largest river in Switzerland (after the Rhine, Aare and Rhône). The upper Reuss forms the main valley of the canton o ...

and the Seetal valley. The municipality has an area of . Of this area, 74.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 14.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 10.5% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.8%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). , 14.48% of the total land area was forested. Of the agricultural land, 71.04% is used for farming or pastures, while 3.11% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the settled areas, 4.4% is covered with buildings, 0.76% is industrial, 2.27% is classed as special developments, 0.53% is parks or greenbelts and 2.58% is transportation infrastructure. Of the unproductive areas, 0.15% is unproductive flowing water (rivers) and 0.68% is other unproductive land.

Demographics

Eschenbach has a population (as of ) of . , 8.2% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 19.4%. Most of the population () speaks German (94.9%), with Albanian being second most common ( 1.5%) and Italian being third ( 0.8%). In the 2007 election the most popular party was the CVP which received 40.3% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (25.6%), the FDP (22.5%) and 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 ...

(5.1%). The age distribution in Eschenbach is; 851 people or 24.7% of the population is 0–19 years old. 915 people or 26.6% are 20–39 years old, and 1,227 people or 35.7% are 40–64 years old. The senior population distribution is 322 people or 9.4% are 65–79 years old, 104 or 3% are 80–89 years old and 20 people or 0.6% of the population are 90+ years old.LUSTAT Lucerne Cantonal Statistics
accessed 12 August 2009 The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Eschenbach about 77% 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 1,070 households, of which 274 households (or about 25.6%) contain only a single individual. 132 or about 12.3% are large households, with at least five members. there were 509 inhabited buildings in the municipality, of which 392 were built only as housing, and 117 were

mixed use Mixed-use is a kind of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning type that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions are to some ...

buildings. There were 266 single family homes, 62 double family homes, and 64 multi-family homes in the municipality. Most homes were either two (205) or three (121) story structures. There were only 33 single story buildings and 33 four or more story buildings. Eschenbach has an unemployment rate of 1.36%. , there were 183 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 58 businesses involved in this sector. 408 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 40 businesses in this sector. 581 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 96 businesses in this sector.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 18-Aug-2009 54.5% of the population of the municipality were employed in some capacity. At the same time, females made up 43.3% of the workforce. the religious membership of Eschenbach was; 2,389 (80.5%) were Roman Catholic, and 255 (8.6%) were Protestant, with an additional 31 (1.05%) that were of some other Christian faith. There are 81 individuals (2.73% of the population) who are Muslim. Of the rest; there were 3 (0.1%) individuals who belong to another religion, 106 (3.57%) who do not belong to any organized religion, 101 (3.41%) who did not answer the question. The historical population is given in the following table:

References

External links

* {{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Lucerne