Oberegg District is a
district
A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...
in the
canton of
Appenzell Innerrhoden
Canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden ( ; ; ; ), in English sometimes Appenzell Inner-Rhodes, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts. The seat of the government and parliament is Appenzell. It is ...
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 ...
. It comprises three small
exclave
An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...
s of the canton (the smallest of which is a
single monastery), a few kilometers northeast of the rest of Appenzell Innerrhoden.
History
Oberegg is first mentioned in 1470 as a village. Around the time that the church was built (finished in 1655) Oberegg had grown to encompass the region surrounding the village.
The municipality was formally established in 1872 when Hirschberg and Oberegg joined.
Hirschberg was first mentioned in the 11th century as ''Hirsberg''. Hirschberg was divided during the division of
Appenzell
Appenzell () was a cantons of Switzerland, canton in the northeast of Switzerland, and entirely surrounded by the canton of St. Gallen, in existence from 1403 to 1597.
Appenzell became independent of the Abbey of Saint Gall in 1403 and entered ...
in the wake of the
Reformation
The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...
. Some communities were left in the old faith, others turned themselves to the new faith. When the canton of Appenzell was divided in 1597 into a Catholic and a Protestant part of the canton, the Catholic majority of Hirschberg wanted to stay with
Innerrhoden, while the Protestant minority wanted to go to
Ausserrhoden. In the division of Appenzell (known as the ', literally ''Land division letter or treaty''), the land owned by the Protestants was separated from Hirschberg and given to the Protestant Ausserrhoden, where it became the municipality of
Reute
Reute () is a municipality in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland.
History
Reute was created due to the division of Appenzell in the wake of the Reformation. Some communities were left in the old faith, others turned themselves ...
. Catholic Hirschberg would later become part of the Innerrhoden municipality of Oberegg.
Geography
Oberegg has an area, , of . Of this area, 51.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 42.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 5.5% is settled (buildings or roads) and 0.1% is unproductive land.
The district is the outermost portion of the half-canton toward the
Rhine
The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
valley (). It consists of the village of Oberegg 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 Büriswilen, Kapf, Eschenmoos, Sankt Anton and numerous individual farm houses.
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 ''Impaled per chevron Sable a Mullet Or and Vert a Cross couped pattee Argent and of the last a Deer Gules trippant on a Mount of 3 Coupeaux Vert.''
The coat of arms is a divided vertically to show the coat of arms of ''Hirschenberg'' (right hand side) and ''Oberegg'' (left hand side). On the left hand side there is a silver cross on a green background at the bottom. At the top, the background is black with a golden star. On the right hand side, the bottom of the coat of arms shows three mounts in green. At the top there is a red deer strutting on a silver background.
Demographics
Oberegg has a population () of . , 8.3% 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 3.5%. It has changed at a rate of 8.2% due to migration and at a rate of 0.5% due to births and deaths.
accessed 17-April-2011
Most of the population () speaks
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 ...
(1,738 or 96.8%), with
Albanian
Albanian may refer to:
*Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular:
**Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans
**Albanian language
**Albanian culture
**Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...
being second most common (13 or 0.7%) and
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 ...
being third (8 or 0.4%). There are 3 people who speak
French
French may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France
** French people, a nation and ethnic group
** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices
Arts and media
* The French (band), ...
and 2 people who speak
Romansh.
Of the population in the district 933 or about 51.9% were born in Oberegg and lived there in 2000. There were 31 or 1.7% who were born in the same canton, while 659 or 36.7% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 154 or 8.6% were born outside of Switzerland.
In there were 15 live births to Swiss citizens and 2 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 22 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 7 while the foreign population increased by 2. There were 6 non-Swiss men and 2 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 22 and the non-Swiss population increased by 5 people. This represents a
population growth rate
Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 8.2 billion in 2025. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 70 million annu ...
of 1.4%.
, there were 764 people who were single and never married in the district. There were 870 married individuals, 83 widows or widowers and 79 individuals who are divorced.
[STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000](_blank)
accessed 2 February 2011
the average number of residents per living room was 0.55 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.59 per room.
In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 67.6% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a
mortgage
A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law (legal system), civil law jurisdictions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners t ...
or a
rent-to-own
Rent-to-own, also known as rental purchase or rent-to-buy, is a type of legally documented transaction under which tangible property, such as furniture, consumer electronics, motor vehicles, home appliances, engagement rings, and real property, ...
agreement).
, there were 680 private households in the district, and an average of 2.6 persons per household.
There were 173 households that consist of only one person and 82 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 689 households that answered this question, 25.1% were households made up of just one person and there were 15 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 201 married couples without children, 252 married couples with children There were 28 single parents with a child or children. There were 11 households that were made up of unrelated people and 9 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 425 single family homes (or 61.4% of the total) out of a total of 692 inhabited buildings. There were 46 multi-family buildings (6.6%), along with 178 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (25.7%) and 43 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (6.2%). Of the single family homes 234 were built before 1919, while 34 were built between 1990 and 2000.
[Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen](_blank)
accessed 28 January 2011
there were 852 apartments in the district. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 234. There were 11 single room apartments and 394 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 660 apartments (77.5% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 130 apartments (15.3%) were seasonally occupied and 62 apartments (7.3%) were empty.
, the construction rate of new housing units was 0.5 new units per 1000 residents.
The vacancy rate for the district, , was 1.35%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Politics
In the
2007 federal election the
CVP received 90.13% of the vote. In the federal election, a total of 334 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 is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...
was 24.9%.
Economy
, Oberegg had an unemployment rate of 0.8%. , there were 127 people employed in the
primary economic sector and about 61 businesses involved in this sector. 309 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 37 businesses in this sector. 200 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 ...
, with 58 businesses in this sector.
There were 876 residents of the district who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 39.5% of the workforce.
the total number of
full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit of measurement 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 use ...
jobs was 523. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 81, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 287 of which 212 or (73.9%) were in manufacturing and 75 (26.1%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 155. In the tertiary sector; 42 or 27.1% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 19 or 12.3% were in the movement and storage of goods, 24 or 15.5% were in a hotel or restaurant, 4 or 2.6% were in the information industry, 6 or 3.9% were the insurance or financial industry, 11 or 7.1% were technical professionals or scientists, 26 or 16.8% were in education and 10 or 6.5% were in health care.
Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Betriebszählung: Arbeitsstätten nach Gemeinde und NOGA 2008 (Abschnitte), Sektoren 1-3
accessed 28 January 2011
, there were 236 workers who commuted into the district and 516 workers who commuted away. The district is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.2 workers leaving the district for every one entering. About 16.9% of the workforce coming into Oberegg are coming from outside Switzerland, while 1.0% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb](_blank)
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 9% used public transportation to get to work, and 54.8% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 1,269 or 70.7% were 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 348 or 19.4% 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 were 4 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.22% of the population), there was 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 32 individuals (or about 1.78% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 34 (or about 1.89% of the population) who were 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. 86 (or about 4.79% of the population) belonged 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 ...
or 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 22 individuals (or about 1.22% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Oberegg about 637 or (35.5%) of the population have completed 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 ...
, and 158 or (8.8%) have completed additional higher education (either university
A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
or a '). Of the 158 who completed tertiary schooling, 66.5% were Swiss men, 19.0% were Swiss women, 10.1% were non-Swiss men and 4.4% were non-Swiss women.
References
External links
*
Appenzell Tourism
*
{{Authority control
Districts of Appenzell Innerrhoden
Enclaves and exclaves