Gams is a municipality in the Wahlkreis (constituency) of Werdenberg in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.
The municipality is located in the Werdenberg Wahlkreis, at the foot of the Alpstein sub-range of the Appenzell Alps and on the edge of the Rhine valley. It sits at the eastern entrance into the Toggenburg as well as the footpath over the Saxerlücke to Appenzell and St. Gallen. Additionally, it was on the most important trade route between Chur-Sargans-Lake Constance and was the starting point of the pilgrimage routes to Einsiedeln and Rankweil. It consists of the village of Gams with its surrounding settlements and the village of Gasenzen.
The age distribution, , in Gams is; 413 children or 14.4% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 480 teenagers or 16.7% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 316 people or 11.0% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 443 people or 15.5% are between 30 and 39, 450 people or 15.7% are between 40 and 49, and 300 people or 10.5% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 217 people or 7.6% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 163 people or 5.7% are between 70 and 79, there are 80 people or 2.8% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 5 people or 0.2% who are between 90 and 99. Canton St. Gallen Statistics-Hauptergebnisse der Volkszählung 2000: Regionen- und Gemeindevergleich-Personen accessed 30 December 2009
there were 262 persons (or 9.1% of the population) who were living alone in a private dwelling. There were 475 (or 16.6%) persons who were part of a couple (married or otherwise committed) without children, and 1,815 (or 63.3%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 121 (or 4.2%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 29 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 18 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 14 who lived household made up of unrelated persons, and 133 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing.
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 35.1% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (28.8%), the FDP (13.5%) and the SP (12.3%).
The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Gams about 68.6% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Out of the total population in Gams, , the highest education level completed by 621 people (21.7% of the population) was Primary, while 974 (34.0%) have completed Secondary, 273 (9.5%) have attended a Tertiary school, and 88 (3.1%) are not in school. The remainder did not answer this question.
The historical population is given in the following table:
1800 1,043 1850 1,783 1900 2,156 1950 2,025 1970 2,219 2000 2,867
Economy
the average unemployment rate was 2.6%.[http://www.statistik.sg.ch/home/themen/b03/arblos.html St Gallen Canton statistics-Unemployment] accessed 30 December 2009 There were 208 businesses in the municipality of which 39 were involved in the secondary sector of the economy while 88 were involved in the third.[http://www.statistik.sg.ch/home/themen/b03/BZ/TabellenBZ08.html St Gallen Canton statistics-Businesses] accessed 31 December 2009
there were 571 residents who worked in the municipality, while 834 residents worked outside Gams and 323 people commuted into the municipality for work.[http://www.statistik.sg.ch/home/themen/b03/erwerb.html St Gallen Canton statistics-Commuters] accessed 31 December 2009
Religion
External links
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