Emmen () is a village and municipality in the district of Hochdorf in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland. The municipality Emmen consists of the village Emmen, the town Emmenbrücke, and several hamlets.

History

Emmen is first mentioned in 840 as Emau in a document of King Lothair I of Bavaria.

  • SVP: 10
  • Die Mitte: 9
  • FDP: 8
  • SP: 7
  • Grüne: 3
  • FeE (Women engaged in Emmen): 2
  • GLP: 1

The current president of the Einwohnerrat is Simon Oehen, SP.

Gemeinderat (executive)

The five-member Gemeinderat is the executive body. Each of them heads a directorate. In the legislative period 2024–2028, it consists of:

  • Ramona Gut-Rogger FDP, Gemeindepräsidentin; Directorate of Security and Sport
  • Christian Blunschi Die Mitte, Directorate of Finance and Human Resources
  • Brahim Aakti SP, Directorate of School and Culture
  • Andreas Roos Die Mitte, Directorate for Construction and Environment
  • Beat Niederberger FDP, Directorate of Social Affairs and Society

Elections

Cantonal Council elections

In the 2019 Cantonal Council elections in the Canton of Lucerne, the voter percentages in Emmen were: FDP 23.5%, SVP 22.0%, CVP 19.6%, SP 16.7%, GPS 13.4%, glp 5.1%.

Swiss federal elections

In the 2023 Swiss federal elections, the voter percentages in Emmen were: SVP 28.7%, SP 15.8%, Mitte 21.0%, FDP 17.3%, GPS 7.6%, glp 6.7%, EVP 0.8% and 2.2% for other smaller parties.

Geography

thumb|Aerial view (1963)

Emmen has an area of . Of this area, 46.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 18.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 33.3% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (1.9%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). Emmen has since returned to the previous system of naturalization committees.

Population by nationality

Emmen has a population () of 27,205, of which 30.7% are foreign nationals. Over the last decade, the population has grown at a rate of 2.7%. Most of the population () speaks German (81.6%), with Serbo-Croatian being second most common (5.0%) and Italian being third (3.9%).

{| class=wikitable

|-

!colspan="3" | Population by nationality (2000 census)

|- bgcolor="#E3E3E3"

!Nationality

!Residents

!<small> with dual citizens</small>

|-

|Switzerland || align="center"|18,171 || align="center"|19,456

|-

|Serbia-Montenegro || align="center"|2,332 || align="center"|2,408

|-

|Italy || align="center"|1,299 || align="center"|1,811

|-

|Croatia || align="center"|678 || align="center"|741

|-

|Bosnia-Herzegowina || align="center"|711 || align="center"| 727

|-

|Spain || align="center"|500 || align="center"| 564

|-

|Portugal || align="center"|449 || align="center"| 461

|-

|Sri Lanka || align="center"|286 || align="center"| 334

|-

|Macedonia || align="center"|320 || align="center"| 326

|-

|Germany || align="center"|212 || align="center"| 295

|-

|Turkey || align="center"|152 || align="center"| 169

|-

|Austria || align="center"|89 || align="center"| 123

|}

Industry

The main industries are steel production, milk processing and arms manufacture. The biggest employers in these areas are Swiss Steel, Emmi AG and Ruag respectively. There is the so-called 'golden triangle' of the sewage plant, the air force base and the waste incinerating plant. <!--Emmen is unofficially divided in the Emmenbronx (lower Emmen), Emmenhills (upper Erlen) and Emmen-Country (the country-side just before the hills).--> Because of the Emmen Air Force Base and the Emmen Anti Aircraft Unit, many of the inhabitants are directly or indirectly employed by the Air Force.

Emmen has an unemployment rate of 3.62%. , there were 257 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 58 businesses involved in this sector. 5260 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 213 businesses in this sector. 8139 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 693 businesses in this sector. , 51.6% of the population of the municipality were employed in some capacity. At the same time, females made up 42.8% of the workforce.

The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Emmen about 61.4% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).

, there are 11,165 households, of which 3,720 households (or about 33.3%) contain only a single individual. 801 or about 7.2% are large households, with at least five members.

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! year

! population

|-

| 1456

| c. 150

|-

| around 1695

| c. 550

|-

| 1798

| 1,330

|-

| 1850

| 1,764

|-

| 1900

| 3,162

|-

| 1950

| 11,065

|-

| 1970

| 22,040

|-

| 2000

| 26,885

|-

| 2010

| 28,031

|-

| 2020

| 31,039

|-

|}

Transportation

The municipality is thoroughly served by Lucerne's urban transit system VBL, which is part of the fare network passepartout. Two railway lines (S1, RE, S9, S99) lead through the municipality and serves four railway stations: , , , and . All stops in the municipality are situated within passepartout's innermost zone No. 10, the same as Lucerne.

The military airbase Emmen Air Base is part of the municipality.

Sport

Emmen has two football clubs, the FC Emmenbrücke and the SC Emmen.

Notable people

  • Mario Bühler (born 1992) a football defender playing for FC Vaduz
  • Kurt Koch (born 1950) cardinal and President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. He was the bishop of Basel from 1996 until 2010.
  • Raphael Koch (born 1990) a footballer, currently plays as a defender for FC Solothurn
  • Xaver Kurmann (born 1948) a retired Swiss amateur cyclist
  • Loredana Zefi (born 1995) rapper

References

  • Official Website
  • BBC report on the Emmen citizenship tests