Gossau 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 district of

Hinwil Hinwil is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Hinwil (district), Hinwil in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zurich (canton), Zürich in Switzerland. History The village Hinwil from which the later municipality ...

in the

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an It ...

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

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 ...

. Besides the village of Gossau itself, the municipality includes the settlements of Bertschikon, Grüt, Herschmettlen and Ottikon.

History

Gossau is first mentioned in 859 as ''Cozzesouwo''.

Notable persons

* Jakob Falk (*15th or 16th century; † 5. September 1528 in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

), martyr of the Swiss

Anabaptist Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek language, Greek : 're-' and 'baptism'; , earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...

movement *

Ernst Brugger Ernst Brugger (10 March 1914, in Bellinzona – 20 June 1998) was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council The Federal Council is the federal cabinet of the Swiss Confederation. Its seven members also serve as the collec ...

(*10. März 1914; † 20. Juni 1998), politician

Geography

Gossau has an area of . Of this area, 67% is used for agricultural purposes, while 14.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 17.9% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.8%) is non-productive (streams and non-productive vegetation). housing and buildings made up 12% of the total area, while transportation infrastructure made up the rest (5.9%). Of the total unproductive area, water (i.e. streams) made up 0.4% of the area. 11.7% of the total municipal area was undergoing some type of construction. The municipality is made up of five sections; Gossau (with the church settlement of Berg), Bertschikon, Grüt, Herschmettlen and Ottikon. It stretches through the uppermost section of the

Glatt valley The Glatt Valley (German: ''Glattal'' or ''Glatttal'') is a region and a river valley in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Geography The Glatt (Rhine), Glatt is a tributary to the Rhine in the Zürcher Unterland area of the canton of Zuric ...

. The topography is littered with

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and Rock (geology), rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a gla ...

s (known as ''Drumlins'') and basin of the former Gossauer Ried (Gossauer moor).

Politics

Mayor is Jörg Kündig ( FDP, 2014).

Demographics

Gossau has a population (as of ) of . , 10.5% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. the gender distribution of the population was 49.9% male and 50.1% female. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 12.4%. Most of the population () speaks German (92.4%), with Italian being second most common ( 2.0%) and Portuguese being third ( 1.2%). In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 40.3% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CSP (14.8%), the SPS (14.4%) and the FDP (10.3%). The age distribution of the population () is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 26.5% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 62.5% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 11%. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Gossau about 82% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory

upper secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

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 ...

''). There are 3442 households in Gossau. Gossau has an unemployment rate of 1.38%. , there were 327 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 72 businesses involved in this sector. 922 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 99 businesses in this sector. 1045 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 243 businesses in this sector.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 06-Aug-2009 50% of the working population were employed full-time, and 50% were employed part-time.
accessed 4 August 2009 there were 2458

Catholics 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 ...

and 4523

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

in Gossau. In the , religion was broken down into several smaller categories. From the 2000 census, 56.4% were some type of Protestant, with 51.4% belonging 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 ...

and 4.9% belonging to other Protestant churches. 25.5% of the population were Catholic. Of the rest of the population, 0% were Muslim, 2.9% belonged to another religion (not listed), 3.2% did not give a religion, and 11.8% were atheist or agnostic. Gossau

The historical population is given in the following table:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gossau, Zurich Municipalities of the canton of Zürich