Canton of Zurich
The canton of Zurich (German: Kanton Zürich [ˈtsyːrɪç] ; Romansh: Chantun Turitg; French: Canton de Zurich; Italian: Canton Zurigo) is a Swiss canton in the northeastern part of the country. With a population of 1,553,423 (as of 31 December 2020), it is the most populous canton in the country.[3] Zurich is the de facto capital of the canton, but is not specifically mentioned in the constitution.[1] The official language is German. The local Swiss German dialect, called Züritüütsch, is commonly spoken.
Canton of Zurich
Kanton Zürich (German)
Regierungsrat (7)
Cantonal Council (180)
1,728.95 km2 (667.55 sq mi)
1,553,423
900/km2 (2,300/sq mi)
CHF 149.004 billion (2020)
CHF 96,359 (2020)
CH-ZH
1,292 m (4,239 ft): Schnebelhorn
1351
0.989 (2021)[5]
very high · 1st of 7 regions
The canton had the highest Human Development Index score (0.989) out of over 1,700 subnational regions in 2021, coming close to a perfect score of 1. It is also a global financial center and the fourth richest canton in Switzerland behind Basel-Stadt, Zug and Geneva by GDP per capita.
Coat of arms[edit]
The blazon of the coat of arms is Per bend azure and argent.[13]
Government[edit]
Legislative power[edit]
The Cantonal Council (Kantonsrat) has 180 members elected every four years.
Executive power[edit]
The canton is governed by a seven-member council (Regierungsrat). On 24 March 2019, the following were elected for four years:
Demographics[edit]
Zürich has a population (as of December 2020) of 1,553,423.[3] As of 2010, 23.7% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 12.7%. Migration accounted for 10.3%, while births and deaths accounted for 2.6%.[12]
Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (1,040,168 or 83.4%) as their first language, Italian is the second most common (49,750 or 4.0%) and Serbo-Croatian is the third (21,334 or 1.7%). There are 17,685 people who speak French and 2,606 people who speak Romansh.[24]
Of the population in the canton, 314,394 or about 25.2% were born in Zürich and lived there in 2000. There were 291,631 or 23.4% who were born in the same canton, while 284,461 or 22.8% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 310,532 or 24.9% were born outside of Switzerland.[24]
As of 2000, children and teenagers (0–17 years old) make up 20.5% of the population, while adults (18–64 years old) make up 64.4% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 15%.[12] As of 2000, there were 531,094 people who were single and never married in the canton. There were 566,636 married individuals, 66,012 widows or widowers and 84,164 individuals who are divorced.[24]
As of 2000, there were 567,573 private households in the canton, and an average of 2.1 persons per household.[12] There were 223,869 households that consist of only one person and 27,935 households with five or more people. As of 2009, the construction rate of new housing units was 5.3 new units per 1000 residents.[12] As of 2003 the average price to rent an average apartment in the city of Zürich was 1288.84 Swiss francs (CHF) per month (US$1030, £580, €820 approx. exchange rate from 2003). The average rate for a one-room apartment was 733.01 CHF (US$590, £330, €470), a two-room apartment was about 1009.94 CHF (US$810, £450, €650), a three-room apartment was about 1192.66 CHF (US$950, £540, €760) and a six or more room apartment cost an average of 2550.35 CHF (US$2040, £1150, €1630). The average apartment price in the city of Zürich was 115.5% of the national average of 1116 CHF.[25]
The vacancy rate for the canton, in 2010, was 0.63%.[12]
Religion[edit]
In 1519, Huldrych Zwingli became the pastor of the Grossmünster in Zürich, and soon thereafter Zürich became a reformed or Protestant canton. Even though Zwingli died in battle in 1531, the canton remained a stronghold of the Swiss Reformed Church over the following centuries. While a plurality of the population is Protestant (43%), 31% of the population was Roman Catholic in 2004,[27] a legacy of considerable immigration from Southern Europe.
From the 2000 census, 497,986 or 39.9% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 380,440 or 30.5% were Roman Catholic. Of the rest of the population, there were 29,592 members of an Orthodox church (or about 2.37% of the population), there were 1,435 individuals (or about 0.11% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 70,897 individuals (or about 5.68% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 6,461 individuals (or about 0.52% of the population) who were Jewish, and 66,520 (or about 5.33% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 5,878 individuals who were Buddhist, 6,024 individuals who were Hindu and 1,456 individuals who belonged to another church. 165,324 (or about 13.25% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 50,090 individuals (or about 4.01% of the population) did not answer the question.[24]
Economy[edit]
Most of the land is cultivated, but the canton of Zürich is not considered as an agricultural area. The lands to the north and east are more agricultural, but in every part of the canton manufacturing predominates. The canton of Zürich is noted for machinery. Silk and cotton weaving were important in the past, but have now ceased to be of importance. There is a large paper industry. Small and middle sized companies are important contributors to the economy of the canton of Zürich. The city of Zürich is a major banking centre, and insurance is also of importance.
In 2014, about 1.2% of the workers in Zürich work in the primary sector (the total for all of Switzerland is 3.3%). In 2014 the secondary sector employed 145,744 or about 14.7% of the total, which is much lower than 21.8% for the entire country. Of those in the secondary sector, over a quarter of the workers worked in construction trades and 9.5% worked in general construction. Additionally, almost 9% of the workers manufactured electronics. The tertiary sector employed 836,410 or about 84.1% of the total, which is much higher than 74.9% nationwide. This number has increased by about 180,000 since 2010 while the population in the canton has only increased by 73,000 over the same time period.[28] Of those in the tertiary sector, the fourth largest sub-sector (in 2008) was financial services with 6.2% of the tertiary total.[29][30]
As of 2010, Zürich had an unemployment rate of 3.9%. As of 2008, there were 12,507 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 4,227 businesses involved in this sector. 143,231 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 11,383 businesses in this sector. 655,848 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 58,796 businesses in this sector.[12]
In 2008 the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 678,306. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 8,120, of which 7,771 were in agriculture, 320 were in forestry or lumber production and 29 were in fishing or fisheries. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 133,723 of which 81,212 or (60.7%) were in manufacturing, 774 or (0.6%) were in mining and 47,014 (35.2%) were in construction.
The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 536,463. In the tertiary sector; 105,226 or 19.6% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 38,005 or 7.1% were in the movement and storage of goods, 33,417 or 6.2% were in a hotel or restaurant, 35,571 or 6.6% were in the information industry, 81,163 or 15.1% were the insurance or financial industry, 65,139 or 12.1% were technical professionals or scientists, 36,792 or 6.9% were in education and 63,800 or 11.9% were in health care.[31]
Of the working population, 37.4% used public transportation to get to work, and 41.8% used a private car.[12]
The cantonal, local and church tax rates in the canton is generally slightly lower than the average rate for the entire country.[32]
Education[edit]
In Zürich about 493,209 or (39.5%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 212,154 or (17.0%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 212,154 who completed tertiary schooling, 55.8% were Swiss men, 25.5% were Swiss women, 11.6% were non-Swiss men and 7.1% were non-Swiss women.[24]
(in German)
