St. Margrethen (, , ) is a municipality in the Wahlkreis (constituency) of Rheintal in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It is located on the Swiss–Austrian border.

Geography

thumb|left|upright|Aerial view by [[Walter Mittelholzer (between 1918 and 1937)]]

St. Margrethen has an area, , of . Of this area, 28.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 31.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 34.8% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (5.4%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes). It was situated on a road along the southern coast of Lake Constance and left side of the Alpine Rhine Valley.

Coat of arms

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Argent a Grape Azure slipped palewise and leaved Vert.

Demographics

St. Margrethen has a population (as of ) of . , about 43.2% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, (), 83 are from Germany, 280 are from Italy, 1,028 are from ex-Yugoslavia, 235 are from Austria, 170 are from Turkey, and 197 are from another country. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 0.5%. Most of the population () speaks German (81.2%), with Serbo-Croatian being second most common (5.7%) and Albanian being third (4.0%). Of the Swiss national languages (), 4,289 speak German, 12 people speak French, 175 people speak Italian, and 12 people speak Romansh.

there were 754 persons (or 14.3% of the population) who were living alone in a private dwelling. There were 1,141 (or 21.6%) persons who were part of a couple (married or otherwise committed) without children, and 2,872 (or 54.3%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 326 (or 6.2%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 32 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 14 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 37 who lived household made up of unrelated persons, and 109 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing. There were 352 businesses in the municipality of which 73 were involved in the secondary sector of the economy while 263 were involved in the third. there were 1,365 residents who worked in the municipality, while 1,346 residents worked outside St. Margrethen and 2,161 people commuted into the municipality for work.

In 2019, the Stadler Rheintal AG opened next to St. Margrethen railway station.

Transport

At St. Margrethen, the A1 motorway becomes the A13 motorway. Currently only a normal road links St. Margrethen with Höchst, Austria, which crosses the Alter Rhein. As a result, the town is at times clogged up with traffic before the customs posts. A motorway connector has long been projected, to link the pathways to Zurich and Munich.

railway station is on the junction of the Chur–Rorschach railway line and St. Margrethen–Lauterach line to Austria (and towards Germany). The station is served by regional trains of St. Gallen S-Bahn and Vorarlberg S-Bahn, which are also part of the Bodensee S-Bahn. Long-distance trains (EuroCity, InterRegio) also call at the station, linking it, among others, with (Austria), , , München Hauptbahnhof (Germany) and .

The nearest airport is St. Gallen-Altenrhein Airport.

Religion

thumb|upright|Catholic church St. Margrethen

From the , 2,138 or 40.5% are Roman Catholic, while 1,406 or 26.6% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there are 4 individuals (or about 0.08% of the population) who belong to the Christian Catholic faith, there are 190 individuals (or about 3.60% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 74 individuals (or about 1.40% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There is 1 individual who is Jewish, and 881 (or about 16.67% of the population) who are Islamic. There are 75 individuals (or about 1.42% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 332 (or about 6.28% of the population) belong to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 184 individuals (or about 3.48% of the population) did not answer the question. Additionally, the (), a number of castles in a region along the Rhine river, is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites. The is shared between Berg, Goldach, Mörschwil, Rheineck, Rorschacherberg, St. Margrethen, Steinach, Thal and Tübach.

People

  • Roland Zöffel, born 17 August 1938, cyclist.
  • Sepp Zellweger, born 19 September 1963, gymnast.

See also

References

  • Official website
  • Spa St. Margrethen