Zuzgen (Swiss German: ) is a municipality in the Rheinfelden District of canton Aargau in Switzerland. It is located in the West of the Fricktal region, around three kilometers southwest of the border with Germany, and has a border with Canton Basel-Landschaft.
Geography
thumb|left|Moehlintal near Zuzgen
The village lies in the mid-reaches of the Möhlin valley (Möhlintal) through which flows the Möhlinbach in a northwesterly direction towards the Rhine. The flat valley floor alongside the Möhlinbach is, on average, close to 200 meters wide and is bordered on both sides by the hills of the Tabel Jura (Tafeljura) which have very steep lower slopes leading to flat upper plateau's that are intensively farmed.
In the North the almost circular Chriesiberg (558m) is found and in the East lies the Lohnberg (581 m) with a hamlet of the same name. This flat plateau is around one kilometer wide and stretches for over four kilometers to the southwest (known as the Wabrig plateau above Hellikon and the Hersberg above Wegenstetten). The two-kilometer-long Reckental stretches to the south of the village. To the west lies a further plateau where the hamlet of Erfleten is found.
Zuzgen has an area, , of . Of this area, or 59.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 34.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 5.4% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.1% is either rivers or lakes.
Of the built-up area, housing and buildings made up 3.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.7%. Out of the forested land, 33.0% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 29.4% is used for growing crops and 26.5% is pastures, while 3.3% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. or "Over blue, three green hills with five green trees under a yellow six pointed start". The flag with five trees was officially adopted in 1872, although no colours were documented. The green-blue combination was introduced in 1945. The heraldry is an inappropriate choice because the colours neutralise each other and the flag cannot be seen when flown form a distance. A proposed revision to add a gold shield and red start was rejected in 2002.
Demographics
Zuzgen has a population () of . , 9.5% of the population are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 10.5%. Most of the population () speaks German (97.8%), with Albanian being second most common (1.1%) and Italian being third (0.4%).
The age distribution, , in Zuzgen is; 109 children or 12.9% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 104 teenagers or 12.3% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 65 people or 7.7% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 102 people or 12.0% are between 30 and 39, 171 people or 20.2% are between 40 and 49, and 137 people or 16.2% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 85 people or 10.0% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 45 people or 5.3% are between 70 and 79, there are 26 people or 3.1% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 4 people or 0.5% who are 90 and older.
, there were 18 homes with 1 or 2 persons in the household, 115 homes with 3 or 4 persons in the household, and 136 homes with 5 or more persons in the household. There were a total of 1 empty apartments for a 0.3% vacancy rate.
The historical population is given in the following table:
Economy
, Zuzgen had an unemployment rate of 1.57%. , there were 98 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 30 businesses involved in this sector. 27 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 6 businesses in this sector. 74 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 21 businesses in this sector. Of the working population, 17.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 53.6% used a private car. and 1.2% of the population was Muslim while 0.5% followed other beliefs.
Education
In Zuzgen about 78.9% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a ).