Oberhelfenschwil

Geschichte

Oberhelfenschwil is a municipality in the Wahlkreis (constituency) of Toggenburg in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.HistoryOberhelfenschwil is first mentioned in 882 as Helfoltiswilare. In 1515 it was mentioned as Oberhelfenschwil.GeographyOberhelfenschwil has an area, of 12.7km2. Of this area, 61.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 33.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 4.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.5%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes).The municipality is located in the Toggenburg Wahlkreis between the Thur and Necker valleys. It consists of the village of Oberhelfenschwil and the hamlets of Wigetshof, Oberwil, Metzwil, Wasserfluh, Rennen, Winzlisau, Utenwil, Schwanden and Füberg.Coat of armsThe blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per pale Or a Tower Sable and Barry of Six Argent and Sable.DemographicsOberhelfenschwil has a population of., about 8.1% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, 14 are from Germany, 7 are from Italy, 84 are from ex-Yugoslavia, 3 are from Austria, 19 are from Turkey, and 69 are from another country. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -1.7%. Most of the population speaks German (91.6%), with Albanian being second most common ( 1.9%) and Serbo-Croatian being third ( 1.4%). Of the Swiss national languages, 1,334 speak German, 9 people speak French, 6 people speak Italian, and 2 people speak Romansh.