Demographics
Solothurn has a population (as of December 2011) of 16,311. As of 2008, 21.1% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 4.4%.
Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (13,270 or 85.7%), with Italian being second most common (469 or 3.0%) and Albanian being third (261 or 1.7%). There are 193 people who speak French and 19 people who speak Romansh.
As of 2008, the gender distribution of the population was 48.1% male and 51.9% female. The population was made up of 5,891 Swiss men (37.0% of the population) and 1,775 (11.1%) non-Swiss men. There were 6,669 Swiss women (41.8%) and 1,604 (10.1%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 3,864 or about 24.9% were born in Solothurn and lived there in 2000. There were 3,630 or 23.4% who were born in the same canton, while 4,135 or 26.7% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 3,193 or 20.6% were born outside of Switzerland.
In 2008 there were 115 live births to Swiss citizens and 27 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 190 deaths of Swiss citizens and 10 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 75 while the foreign population increased by 17. There were 8 Swiss men and 13 Swiss women who immigrated back to Switzerland. At the same time, there were 91 non-Swiss men and 78 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 98 and the non-Swiss population increased by 161 people. This represents a population growth rate of 1.7%.
The age distribution, as of 2000, in Solothurn is; 913 children or 5.9% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 2,013 teenagers or 13.0% are between 7 and 19. Of the adult population, 888 people or 5.7% of the population are between 20 and 24 years old. 4,832 people or 31.2% are between 25 and 44, and 3,678 people or 23.7% are between 45 and 64. The senior population distribution is 2,068 people or 13.4% of the population are between 65 and 79 years old and there are 1,097 people or 7.1% who are over 80.
As of 2000, there were 6,784 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 6,403 married individuals, 1,144 widows or widowers and 1,158 individuals who are divorced.
As of 2000, there were 7,447 private households in the municipality, and an average of 1.9 persons per household. There were 3,468 households that consist of only one person and 303 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 7,625 households that answered this question, 45.5% were households made up of just one person and there were 49 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 1,907 married couples without children, 1,455 married couples with children There were 405 single parents with a child or children. There were 163 households that were made up of unrelated people and 178 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
In 2000 there were 1,311 single family homes (or 44.3% of the total) out of a total of 2,957 inhabited buildings. There were 838 multi-family buildings (28.3%), along with 441 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (14.9%) and 367 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (12.4%). Of the single family homes 161 were built before 1919, while 62 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (443) were built between 1919 and 1945.
In 2000 there were 8,586 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 2,954. There were 728 single room apartments and 1,634 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 7,272 apartments (84.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 794 apartments (9.2%) were seasonally occupied and 520 apartments (6.1%) were empty. As of 2009, the construction rate of new housing units was 3.3 new units per 1000 residents. As of 2003 the average price to rent an average apartment in Solothurn was 980.18 Swiss francs (CHF) per month (US$780, £440, €630 approx. exchange rate from 2003). The average rate for a one room apartment was 568.85 CHF (US$460, £260, €360), a two room apartment was about 725.13 CHF (US$580, £330, €460), a three room apartment was about 904.51 CHF (US$720, £410, €580) and a six or more room apartment cost an average of 1564.78 CHF (US$1250, £700, €1000). The average apartment price in Solothurn was 87.8% of the national average of 1116 CHF. The vacancy rate for the municipality, in 2010, was 0.45%.
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