Bubikon
Bubikon is a municipality in the district of Hinwil in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. History. Some names of localities have Celtic ("Mürg") origins, others ("Tafleten", "Kammern", "Zell") may have Roman origins. Fiefs of the St. Gallen Abbey are first mentioned around 744 in "Berlikon" ("Perolvinchova"), Bubikon is first mentioned in 811 as "Puapinchova". The Ritterhaus Bubikon, a Knights Hospitaller commandry, was given by the Counts of Toggenburg and Counts of Rapperswil between 1191 and 1198. The convent was secularized in 1528, and the commandry in 1798. Geography. Bubikon has an area of . Of this area, 62.4% is  used for agricultural purposes, 13.2% is forested, 19.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (5.2%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). housing and buildings made up 12.4% of the total area, while transportation infrastructure made up the rest (6.6%). Of the total unproductive area, water (streams and lakes) made up 0.8% of the area. 17.2% of the total municipal area was undergoing some type of construction. The municipality is located in the upper Glatt Valley on the water divide between the Glatt river and Lake Zurich. It includes the villages of Bubikon and Wolfhausen as well as  the hamlets of Barenberg, Berlikon, Bürg and Wändhüslen. The Egelsee lake is located in the municipality. Demographics. Bubikon has a population (as of ) of . , 8.7% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. the gender distribution of the population was 49.5% male and 50.5% female. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 17.7%. Most of the population () speaks German (93.6%), with Italian being second most common ( 2.1%) and Albanian being third ( 0.9%). In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 37.7% of the vote. The next three most  popular parties were the SPS (15.6%), the CSP (12%) and the Green Party (10%). The age distribution of the population () is 25% children and teenagers (0–19 years old), whereas adults (20–64 years old) make up 62.6% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 12.4%. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Bubikon about 80.7% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a "Fachhochschule"). There are 2125 households in Bubikon. Bubikon has an unemployment rate of 1.15%. , there were 145 people employed in  the primary economic sector and about 50 businesses involved in this sector. 1,031 people are employed in the secondary sector and there were 84 businesses in this sector. 1,274 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 203 businesses in this sector. 46.1% of the working population were employed full-time, and 53.9% were employed part-time. The historical population is given in the following table: Transport. Bubikon railway station is a stop of the Zürich S-Bahn on the lines S15 and S5. Its train station is a 25-minute (S5) ride from Zürich Hauptbahnhof.