Goldingen is a former municipality in the Wahlkreis (constituency) of See-Gaster in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipalities of Goldingen and St. Gallenkappel merged into the municipality of Eschenbach.
History
The name Goldingen was applied to two different hamlets in the municipality. The current hamlet of Goldingen is first mentioned in 1800 and before that time was known as Thal. The hamlet of Vordersagen was first mentioned in 1266 as Goldelingin and until about 1700 was known as Goldingen. Additionally the hamlet of Hintersagen was known until about 1800 as Hintergoldingen.
Demographics
Goldingen had a population () of 1,124, of which about 5.0% are foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, (), 8 are from Germany, 2 are from Italy, 8 are from ex-Yugoslavia, 1 person is from Austria, and 10 are from another country. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 1.2%. Most of the population () speaks German (97.9%), with Portuguese being second most common ( 0.7%) and English being third ( 0.6%). Of the Swiss national languages (), 1,023 speak German, 1 person speaks, Italian, and 1 person speaks Romansh.
there were 103 persons (or 9.9% of the population) who were living alone in a private dwelling. There were 183 (or 17.5%) persons who were part of a couple (married or otherwise committed) without children, and 677 (or 64.8%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 40 (or 3.8%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 11 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 4 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 15 who lived household made up of unrelated persons, and 12 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! year
! population
|-
| 1673
| ca. 500
|-
| 1831
| 1,166
|-
| 1850
| 1,053
|-
| 1900
| 885
|-
| 1950
| 1,072
|-
| 1980
| 870
|-
| 2000
| 1,045
|-
|}
Heritage sites of national significance
The Fründsberg, a no longer visible castle ruin, is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.
Economy
, Goldingen had an unemployment rate of 0.87%. , there were 173 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 67 businesses involved in this sector. 136 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 16 businesses in this sector. 87 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 22 businesses in this sector. There were 107 businesses in the municipality of which 16 were involved in the secondary sector of the economy while 29 were involved in the third.
there were 233 residents who worked in the municipality, while 335 residents worked outside Goldingen and 52 people commuted into the municipality for work.
Religion
From the , 774 or 74.1% are Roman Catholic, while 159 or 15.2% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there is 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic faith, there are 2 individuals (or about 0.19% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 5 individuals (or about 0.48% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There are 5 (or about 0.48% of the population) who are Islamic. There are 4 individuals (or about 0.38% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 65 (or about 6.22% of the population) belong to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 30 individuals (or about 2.87% of the population) did not answer the question.