Halten 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 Wasseramt in the canton of

Solothurn Solothurn ( , ; french: Soleure ; it, Soletta ; rm, ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the north-west of Switzerland on the banks of the Aare and on the foot of the Weissens ...

in Switzerland.

History

Halten is first mentioned in 1201 as ''Haltun''. In 1274 it was mentioned as ''Halton''.

Geography

Halten has an area, , of . Of this area, or 61.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 21.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 18.6% is settled (buildings or roads).Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 13.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.4%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.1%. Out of the forested land, 20.2% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.1% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 47.5% is used for growing crops and 12.6% is pastures, while 1.1% is used for orchards or vine crops. The municipality is located in the Wasseramt district.

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 vi ...

of the municipal

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 escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

is ''Per pale bendy sinister Gules and Argent and Sable a Tower roofed Argent.''

Demographics

Halten has a population () of . , 5.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Superweb database - Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008
accessed 19 June 2010 Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 4.4%. It has changed at a rate of 1.8% due to migration and at a rate of 2.1% due to births and deaths.
accessed 13-April-2011 Most of the population () speaks

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

(766 or 96.8%), with French being second most common (10 or 1.3%) and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

being third (3 or 0.4%). , the gender distribution of the population was 49.3% male and 50.7% female. The population was made up of 379 Swiss men (45.8% of the population) and 29 (3.5%) non-Swiss men. There were 400 Swiss women (48.4%) and 19 (2.3%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 204 or about 25.8% were born in Halten and lived there in 2000. There were 307 or 38.8% who were born in the same canton, while 199 or 25.2% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 57 or 7.2% were born outside of Switzerland. In there were 6 live births to Swiss citizens and were 5 deaths of Swiss citizens and 1 non-Swiss citizen death. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 1 while the foreign population decreased by 1. There were 2 Swiss men who emigrated from Switzerland and 1 Swiss woman who immigrated back to Switzerland. At the same time, there were 2 non-Swiss men and 1 non-Swiss woman who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was a decrease of 2 and the non-Swiss population increased by 9 people. This represents a

population growth rate Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 83 million annually, or 1.1% per year. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to ...

of 0.9%. The age distribution, , in Halten is; 54 children or 6.8% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 146 teenagers or 18.5% are between 7 and 19. Of the adult population, 42 people or 5.3% of the population are between 20 and 24 years old. 243 people or 30.7% are between 25 and 44, and 221 people or 27.9% are between 45 and 64. The senior population distribution is 67 people or 8.5% of the population are between 65 and 79 years old and there are 18 people or 2.3% who are over 80. , there were 311 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 425 married individuals, 30 widows or widowers and 25 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 306 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household. There were 59 households that consist of only one person and 27 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 307 households that answered this question, 19.2% were households made up of just one person and there were 3 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 112 married couples without children, 116 married couples with children There were 14 single parents with a child or children. There were 2 households that were made up of unrelated people and 1 household that was made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing. there were 178 single family homes (or 73.9% of the total) out of a total of 241 inhabited buildings. There were 37 multi-family buildings (15.4%), along with 21 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (8.7%) and 5 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (2.1%). Of the single family homes 12 were built before 1919, while 36 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (38) were built between 1971 and 1980.Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen
accessed 28 January 2011 there were 325 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 103. There were 3 single room apartments and 166 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 300 apartments (92.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 11 apartments (3.4%) were seasonally occupied and 14 apartments (4.3%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 0 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.74%. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:1080 height:210 PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:800 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:200 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:40 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1799 from:start till:137 text:"137" bar:1813 from:start till:92 text:"92" bar:1850 from:start till:198 text:"198" bar:1860 from:start till:181 text:"181" bar:1870 from:start till:252 text:"252" bar:1880 from:start till:249 text:"249" bar:1888 from:start till:294 text:"294" bar:1900 from:start till:361 text:"361" bar:1910 from:start till:395 text:"395" bar:1920 from:start till:408 text:"408" bar:1930 from:start till:436 text:"436" bar:1941 from:start till:411 text:"411" bar:1950 from:start till:476 text:"476" bar:1960 from:start till:438 text:"438" bar:1970 from:start till:583 text:"583" bar:1980 from:start till:687 text:"687" bar:1990 from:start till:724 text:"724" bar:2000 from:start till:791 text:"791"

Politics

In the

2007 federal election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not ...

the most popular party was the CVP which received 28.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (22.38%), the SP (20.9%) and the FDP (15.02%). In the federal election, a total of 333 votes were cast, and the

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Univ ...

was 51.0%.

Economy

, Halten had an unemployment rate of 1.5%. , there were 43 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 13 businesses involved in this sector. 4 people were 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 were 2 businesses in this sector. 38 people were 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 14 businesses in this sector. There were 449 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 41.4% of the workforce. the total number of

full-time equivalent Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit that indicates the workload of an employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often used to measure a ...

jobs was 55. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 24, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 4 of which 1 was in manufacturing and 3 (75.0%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 27. In the tertiary sector; 4 or 14.8% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 1 was in the movement and storage of goods, 3 or 11.1% were the insurance or financial industry, 12 or 44.4% were technical professionals or scientists, 4 or 14.8% were in education.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Betriebszählung: Arbeitsstätten nach Gemeinde und NOGA 2008 (Abschnitte), Sektoren 1-3
accessed 28 January 2011 , there were 18 workers who commuted into the municipality and 385 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 21.4 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 10.9% used public transportation to get to work, and 65.5% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 274 or 34.6% were

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 345 or 43.6% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there was 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 8 individuals (or about 1.01% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 10 (or about 1.26% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 2 individuals who were

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

and 1 individual who belonged to another church. 133 (or about 16.81% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 17 individuals (or about 2.15% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Halten about 350 or (44.2%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 108 or (13.7%) have completed additional higher education (either

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

or a '' Fachhochschule''). Of the 108 who completed tertiary schooling, 74.1% were Swiss men, 20.4% were Swiss women. , there were 54 students in Halten who came from another municipality, while 77 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

References

External links

Official website
* {{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Solothurn