Niederhelfenschwil
Niederhelfenschwil is a municipality in the Wahlkreis (constituency) of Wil in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. History Niederhelfenschwil is first mentioned in 818 as Helfolteswilare. In 1426 it was mentioned as Nidren-Helffentswile. The village of Lenggenwil was mentioned in 903 as Linkenvilare. Geography Niederhelfenschwil has an area, , of . Of this area, 71.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 19.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 8.4% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.6%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes). The municipality is located in the Wil Wahlkreis, north of the Thur river between Bischofszell and Wil. It consists of the villages of Niederhelfenschwil, Lenggenwil and Schloss Zuckenriet as well as the hamlets of Enkhüseren, Dietenwil and Dägetschwil. Coat of arms The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure between a Pall Or letters N, L and Z Demographics Niederhelfenschwil has a population (as of ) of . , about 5.6% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, (), 34 are from Germany, 16 are from Italy, 50 are from ex-Yugoslavia, 9 are from Austria, 5 are from Turkey, and 44 are from another country. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 11.6%. Most of the population () speaks German (97.0%), with Albanian being second most common ( 1.0%) and Portuguese being third ( 0.4%). Of the Swiss national languages (), 2,522 speak German, 2 people speak French, 8 people speak Italian, and 1 person speaks Romansh. The age distribution, , in Niederhelfenschwil is; 475 children or 18.3% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 406 teenagers or 15.6% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 279 people or 10.7% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 479 people or 18.4% are between 30 and 39, 357 people or 13.7% are between 40 and 49, and 252 people or 9.7% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 165 people or 6.3% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 138 people or 5.3% are between 70 and 79, there are 44 people or 1.7% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 4 people or 0.2% who are between 90 and 99. there were 176 persons (or 6.8% of the population) who were living alone in a private dwelling. There were 464 (or 17.9%) persons who were part of a couple (married or otherwise committed) without children, and 1,847 (or 71.1%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 62 (or 2.4%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 22 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 9 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 6 who lived household made up of unrelated persons, and 13 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing. In the 2007 federal election