Affoltern am Albis

Affoltern am Albis (abbreviated as Affoltern a.A.; Swiss German: Affoltere) is a town and a municipality in the district of Affoltern in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland.

The official language of Affoltern is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.

History
Affoltern is first mentioned in 1190 as Afiltre.

Geography
Affoltern has an area of . Of this area, 45.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 28.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 25% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.5%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

The municipality is located west of the Albis hills in the moraine landscape around the Reuss. It was created in the 19th Century through the merger of Ober- and Unteraffoltern, Zwillikon and Loo-Fehrenbach.

Demographics
Affoltern has a population (as of ) of . , 25.5% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 9.8%. Most of the population () speaks German (82.5%), with Italian being second most common ( 5.0%) and Serbo-Croatian being third ( 3.7%).

In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 37.5% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS (17.3%), the FDP (11.4%) and the CSP (11.3%).

The age distribution of the population () is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 25.2% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 62.4% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 12.3%. In Affoltern about 71% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).

Affoltern has an unemployment rate of 2.8%. , there were 85 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 33 businesses involved in this sector. 1238 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 126 businesses in this sector. 3533 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 441 businesses in this sector.
The historical population is given in the following table:

Transport 
Affoltern am Albis railway station is a stop and a terminal station of the Zürich S-Bahn on the lines S5 and S14 respectively. Its train station is a 28-minute ride from Zürich Hauptbahnhof.

Notable people 
 Esther Fischer-Homberger (1940–2019), psychiatrist and medical historian
 Idy Hegnauer (1909 - 2006 in Affoltern) a Swiss nurse and peace activist
 Ernst Nievergelt (1910 in Affoltern – 1999) was a racing cyclist, competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics
 René Strehler (born 1934 in Affoltern) a Swiss former professional racing cyclist
 Giuseppe Reichmuth (born 1944 in Affoltern) a Swiss painter and artist

References

External links

 

Category:Cities in Switzerland
Category:Municipalities of the canton of Zürich