Lachen, Switzerland facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Lachen
Town of Lachen and Lake Zurich
Coat of arms
Lachen Location in Switzerland Show map of Switzerland Lachen Location in Canton of Schwyz Show map of Canton of Schwyz
Country	Switzerland
Canton	Schwyz
District	March
Area
• Total	2.43 km2 (0.94 sq mi)
Elevation	408 m (1,339 ft)
Population  (Dec 2020 )
• Total	9,137
• Density	3,760/km2 (9,739/sq mi)
Postal code	8853
Surrounded by	Altendorf, Galgenen, Jona (SG), Wangen
Twin towns	Schramberg (Germany)

Lachen (pronounced Lah-khen) is a town in Switzerland. It is located in the March District in the canton of Schwyz. Lachen is known for its beautiful spot right on Lake Zurich.

History of Lachen

Lachen was first written about between the years 1217 and 1222. It was called de Lachun back then. This shows that people have lived in and known about this area for a very long time!

Geography of Lachen

Lachen covers an area of about 2.4 square kilometers (0.9 square miles).

• About 26.7% of this land is used for farming.
• About 5.8% is covered by forests.
• Most of the land, 62.1%, has buildings or roads on it.
• The rest, 5.4%, is made up of rivers or other natural areas.

The town is built on a delta, which is land formed by a river, at the top part of Lake Zurich. Lachen is the smallest town in the Canton of Schwyz. It is sometimes called the "town with the best sunset-views on Lake Zurich" because of its location.

People and Population

Lachen has a population of about 8,226 people (as of December 2014).

• About 27.2% of the people living here are from other countries.
• Over the last 10 years, the number of people living in Lachen has grown by about 14.1%.

Languages Spoken

Most people in Lachen speak German (84.9%). Other languages spoken include Italian (5.1%) and Albanian (2.4%).

Age Groups

As of 2000, the population was almost evenly split between males (49.1%) and females (50.9%).

• About 20.6% of the people are under 19 years old.
• About 31.1% are between 20 and 39 years old.
• About 32.8% are between 40 and 64 years old.
• About 7.8% are between 65 and 74 years old.
• About 5.5% are between 70 and 79 years old.
• About 2.2% are over 80 years old.

There is even one person in Lachen who is over 100 years old!

Households

In 2000, there were 2,817 households in Lachen.

• About 36.9% of these households had only one person living in them.
• About 4.1% were large households with five or more people.

Political Parties

In the 2007 election, the most popular political group was the SVP. They received 43.2% of the votes. Other popular groups were the FDP (19.4%), the SPS (19.1%), and the CVP (13.9%). These parties are groups of people who share similar ideas about how the town and country should be run.

Education and Jobs

• About 69.2% of adults (between 25 and 64 years old) in Lachen have finished high school or gone on to higher education, like university.
• Lachen has a low unemployment rate of 1.98%.

People in Lachen work in different types of jobs:

• Primary sector: This includes jobs like farming. In 2005, 61 people worked in this area.
• Secondary sector: This includes jobs in factories and manufacturing. In 2005, 859 people worked in this area.
• Tertiary sector: This includes jobs in services, like shops, offices, and healthcare. In 2005, 2,686 people worked in this area.

Religious Groups

According to the 2000 census:

• About 66.0% of the people are Roman Catholic.
• About 15.7% belong to the Swiss Reformed Church.
• About 2.85% belong to the Orthodox Church.
• About 6.58% are Muslim.
• About 5.36% do not follow any religion (agnostic or atheist).

Population Growth Over Time

The table below shows how Lachen's population has grown over the years:

Weather in Lachen

Lachen gets a lot of rain, with an average of 149.1 rainy days each year. The total amount of rain is about 1428 millimeters (56 inches) per year.

• The wettest month is August, with about 186 millimeters (7.3 inches) of rain over 14.2 days.
• May has the most rainy days (14.7 days), but with less rain (139 millimeters or 5.5 inches).
• January is the driest month, with about 80 millimeters (3.1 inches) of rain over 14.2 days.

Transportation

Getting around Lachen and to other places is easy:

• The town is located right on the A3 motorway, which is a major highway.
• The Lachen railway station is a stop on the Lake Zürich left-bank railway line.
• You can take the Zürich S-Bahn trains (S2 and S25) from Lachen.
• The S2 train runs every half-hour between Zürich and Ziegelbrücke.
• The S25 train runs every hour between Zürich and Linthal.
• A train ride to Zürich takes about 30 to 40 minutes.

Famous Citizens

Some well-known people were born or lived in Lachen:

• Joachim Raff (1822 in Lachen – 1882) was a German-Swiss composer, teacher, and pianist.
• Alessandro Spezialetti (born 1975 in Lachen) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer.
• Maya Bamert (born 1979 in Lachen) is a Swiss bobsledder who competed in the 2006 Winter Olympics.
• Josip Drmić (born 1992 in Lachen) is a Swiss professional footballer.

Images for kids

• 

  An aerial view of Lachen from 1919.

• 

  The marina of Lachen at sunset.

• 

  A church in Lachen.

• 

  The old town hall of Lachen, built in 1506.

See also

In Spanish: Lachen para niños