Breitenbach (High Alemannic: Bräitebach) is a municipality in the district of Thierstein in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. There are two train stations near Breitenbach, the main being in Laufen and the other in Zwingen. As with most of Switzerland, there are Postauto buses which take people to surrounding cities and to and from the train station. Schweizerdeutsch (Swiss-German) in Breitenbach closely resembles that of Baseldeutsch (Basel-German).
History
Breitenbach is first mentioned in 1152 as Breitenbach.
Geography
Breitenbach has an area, , of . Of this area, or 46.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 34.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 19.4% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.3% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.1% is unproductive land.
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 2.4% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 11.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.4%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.3%. Out of the forested land, 32.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.5% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 26.6% is used for growing crops and 17.4% is pastures, while 2.2% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
The municipality is the capital of the Thierstein district and the Dorneck-Thierstein district. It is located on the Passwang Pass road at the entrance to the Gilgenbergerland area. It consists of the village of Breitenbach and the former parish center of Rohr.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per pale Or a Reed Vert with two leaves and Gules a Fess wavy Argent.
Demographics
Breitenbach has a population () of . , 23.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 11.1%. It has changed at a rate of 9.7% due to migration and at a rate of 2% due to births and deaths.
Most of the population () speaks German (2,694 or 82.6%), with Italian being second most common (138 or 4.2%) and Portuguese being third (90 or 2.8%). There are 24 people who speak French and 6 people who speak Romansh.
, the gender distribution of the population was 49.6% male and 50.4% female. The population was made up of 1,268 Swiss men (36.3% of the population) and 462 (13.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,369 Swiss women (39.2%) and 391 (11.2%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 932 or about 28.6% were born in Breitenbach and lived there in 2000. There were 580 or 17.8% who were born in the same canton, while 912 or 28.0% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 739 or 22.7% were born outside of Switzerland.
In there were 16 live births to Swiss citizens and 13 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 27 deaths of Swiss citizens and 2 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 11 while the foreign population increased by 11. There was 1 Swiss man and 1 Swiss woman who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there were 2 non-Swiss men and 5 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 15 and the non-Swiss population increased by 2 people. This represents a population growth rate of 0.5%.
The age distribution, , in Breitenbach is; 255 children or 7.8% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 554 teenagers or 17.0% are between 7 and 19. Of the adult population, 179 people or 5.5% of the population are between 20 and 24 years old. 984 people or 30.2% are between 25 and 44, and 793 people or 24.3% are between 45 and 64. The senior population distribution is 350 people or 10.7% of the population are between 65 and 79 years old and there are 145 people or 4.4% who are over 80.
, there were 1,296 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,645 married individuals, 186 widows or widowers and 133 individuals who are divorced.