Au () is a

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

in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Rheintal in the canton of St. Gallen in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

History

Au is first mentioned in 1316 as ''Diken Auwe''.

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 an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

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 last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

is ''Azure a Crescent Or in bend issuant behind a Cliff Argent.''

Geography

Au has an area, , of . Of this area, 42% is used for agricultural purposes, while 4.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 47.8% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (5.9%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes). The municipality was part of the Unterrheintal district until the creation of the Rheintal ''Wahlkreis''. It is located in a narrow pass between Heldsberg and the Rhein river. It consists of the village of Au and the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

of Haslach, Hard and Monstein as well as a portion of the village of Heerbrugg.

Demographics

Au has a population (as of ) of . , about 33.3% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, (), 192 are from

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, 398 are from

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, 580 are from ex-

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, 334 are from

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, 121 are from

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, and 307 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 grown at a rate of 5.7%. Most of the population () speaks German (87.0%), with Italian being second most common (3.0%) and Albanian being third (2.5%).
accessed 31-December-2009 Of the Swiss national languages (), 5,577 speak

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, 21 people speak French, 190 people speak

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

, and 7 people speak Romansh. The age distribution, , in Au is: 750 children or 11.7% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 792 teenagers or 12.4% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 829 people or 12.9% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 1,066 people or 16.6% are between 30 and 39, 928 people or 14.5% are between 40 and 49, and 769 people or 12.0% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 656 people or 10.2% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 398 people or 6.2% are between 70 and 79, there are 193 people or 3.0% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 28 people or 0.4% who are between 90 and 99.Canton St. Gallen Statistics-Hauptergebnisse der Volkszählung 2000: Regionen- und Gemeindevergleich-Personen
accessed 30 December 2009 there were 879 persons (or 13.7% of the population) who were living alone in a private dwelling. There were 1,458 (or 22.7%) persons who were part of a couple (married or otherwise committed) without children, and 3,475 (or 54.2%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 400 (or 6.2%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 31 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 16 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 33 who lived household made up of unrelated persons, and 117 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 39.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (24.9%), the FDP (12.9%) and the SP (10.8%). The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Au about 69% 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 (; plural ), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a Hochschule, German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts, such as engineering, te ...

''). Out of the total population in Au, , the highest education level completed by 1,459 people (22.8% 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 Work ...

, while 2,500 (39.0%) have completed Secondary, 683 (10.7%) have attended a

Tertiary Tertiary (from Latin, meaning 'third' or 'of the third degree/order..') may refer to: * Tertiary period, an obsolete geologic period spanning from 66 to 2.6 million years ago * Tertiary (chemistry), a term describing bonding patterns in organic ch ...

school, and 243 (3.8%) are not in school. The remainder did not answer this question. The historical population is given in the following table: : without Heerbrugg population was 3,370

Economy

, Au had an unemployment rate of 2.84%. , there were 39 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 15 businesses involved in this sector. 2,228 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 93 businesses in this sector. 2,013 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 ...

, with 288 businesses in this sector. the average unemployment rate was 5.6%. There were 424 businesses in the municipality of which 103 were involved in the secondary sector of the economy while 307 were involved in the third. there were 1,254 residents who worked in the municipality, while 2,127 residents worked outside Au and 3,720 people commuted into the municipality for work.

Religion

From the , 3,589 or 56.0% are

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, while 1,406 or 21.9% belonged to the

Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The P ...

. Of the rest of the population, there is 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic faith, there are 113 individuals (or about 1.76% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 121 individuals (or about 1.89% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There is 1 individual who is

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, and 529 (or about 8.25% of the population) who are

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic. There are 38 individuals (or about 0.59% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 411 (or about 6.41% of the population) belong to no church, are

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...

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 200 individuals (or about 3.12% of the population) did not answer the question.

Sights

The shared, urbanized village of Balgach/Herrbrugg, which is shared between Au (SG),

Balgach Balgach is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Rheintal in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. History Balgach is first mentioned about 890-91 as ''Palgaa''. Coat of arms The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is ''Pe ...

and Berneck, is 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 ...

.ISOS site
accessed 8 December 2009

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of St. Gallen