Ebnat-Kappel 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 ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of

Toggenburg Toggenburg is a region of Switzerland. It corresponds to the upper valley of the river Thur and that of its main tributary, the Necker. Since 1 January 2003, Toggenburg has been a constituency (''Wahlkreis'') of the canton of St. Gallen ( ...

in the canton of

St. Gallen , neighboring_municipalities = Eggersriet, Gaiserwald, Gossau, Herisau (AR), Mörschwil, Speicher (AR), Stein (AR), Teufen (AR), Untereggen, Wittenbach , twintowns = Liberec (Czech Republic) , website ...

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

Kappel is first mentioned in 1218 as ''Capelle''. Until 1762 Ebnat was known as ''Ober-Wattwil''.

Geography

Ebnat-Kappel has an area, , of . Of this area, 49% is used for agricultural purposes, while 42.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 5.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (2.9%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes). The municipality is located in the Toggenburg ''Wahlkreis'' in the Thur river valley. It was formed in 1965 through the merger of Ebnat and Kappel.Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 23 September 2009 It consists of the

linear village Linearity is the property of a mathematical relationship (''function'') that can be graphically represented as a straight line. Linearity is closely related to '' proportionality''. Examples in physics include rectilinear motion, the linear r ...

s of Ebnat and Kappel and scattered settlements.

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 ''Per bend sinister Or a Semi Unicorn couped rampant langued Gules and Azure a Chapel Argent roofed Gules.''

Demographics

Ebnat-Kappel has a population (as of ) of . , about 14.8% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, (), 59 are from Germany, 127 are from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, 322 are from ex-

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, 16 are from

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, 184 are from

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, and 97 are from another country.Der Kanton St. Gallen und seine Menschen in Zahlen - Ausgabe 2009
accessed 30 December 2009 Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -1.6%. Most of the population () speaks German (89.9%), with Turkish being second most common ( 2.5%) and Italian being third ( 1.8%).
accessed 12-January-2010 Of the Swiss national languages (), 4,502 speak German, 12 people speak French, 92 people speak Italian, and 9 people speak Romansh. The age distribution, , in Ebnat-Kappel is; 584 children or 11.7% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 756 teenagers or 15.1% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 579 people or 11.6% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 637 people or 12.7% are between 30 and 39, 697 people or 13.9% are between 40 and 49, and 607 people or 12.1% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 453 people or 9.0% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 413 people or 8.2% are between 70 and 79, there are 246 people or 4.9% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 35 people or 0.7% who are between 90 and 99.Canton St. Gallen Statistics-Hauptergebnisse der Volkszählung 2000: Regionen- und Gemeindevergleich-Personen
accessed 30 December 2009 there were 609 persons (or 12.2% of the population) who were living alone in a private dwelling. There were 1,139 (or 22.7%) persons who were part of a couple (married or otherwise committed) without children, and 2,718 (or 54.3%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 238 (or 4.8%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 26 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 20 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 20 who lived household made up of unrelated persons, and 237 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing. In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 40.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (14.8%), the SP (14.7%) and the CVP (12.6%). The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Ebnat-Kappel about 64.3% 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 ...

''). Out of the total population in Ebnat-Kappel, , the highest education level completed by 1,297 people (25.9% of the population) was

Primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

, while 1,729 (34.5%) have completed

Secondary Secondary may refer to: Science and nature * Secondary emission, of particles ** Secondary electrons, electrons generated as ionization products * The secondary winding, or the electrical or electronic circuit connected to the secondary winding i ...

, 373 (7.4%) have attended a

Tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

school, and 227 (4.5%) are not in school. The remainder did not answer this question. The historical population is given in the following table:

Sights

The village of Ebnat-Kappel and the ''Trempel'' are designated as part of the

Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites The Federal Inventory of Heritage Sites (ISOS) is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage. Sites of national importance Types The types are based on t ...

Economy

, Ebnat-Kappel had an unemployment rate of 1.49%. , there were 207 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 99 businesses involved in this sector. 822 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 63 businesses in this sector. 772 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 136 businesses in this sector. the average unemployment rate was 3.3%. There were 290 businesses in the municipality of which 53 were involved in the secondary sector of the economy while 142 were involved in the third. there were 1,374 residents who worked in the municipality, while 1,081 residents worked outside Ebnat-Kappel and 672 people commuted into the municipality for work.St Gallen Canton statistics-Commuters
accessed 31 December 2009

Religion

From the , 1,393 or 27.8% 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 lette ...

, while 2,471 or 49.4% belonged 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 ...

. Of the rest of the population, there is 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic faith, there are 45 individuals (or about 0.90% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 209 individuals (or about 4.17% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There are 452 (or about 9.03% of the population) who are

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

ic. There are 23 individuals (or about 0.46% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 253 (or about 5.05% of the population) belong to no church, are

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, and 160 individuals (or about 3.20% of the population) did not answer the question.

Weather

Ebnat-Kappel has an average of 151.1 days of rain or snow per year and on average receives of

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

. The wettest month is July during which time Ebnat-Kappel receives an average of of rain or snow. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 14.3 days. The driest month of the year is February with an average of of precipitation over 10.9 days.

References

External links

Official website
* {{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of St. Gallen Toggenburg