Canton of Zug

Canton of Zug Kanton Zug (German) Canton of Zoug
Canton
Flag Coat of arms
Location in Switzerland Map of Zug Lowest point		388 m (1,273 ft): Reussspitz at the confluence of the Reuss and the Lorze
Joined	1352
Languages	German
Website	www.zg.ch

The canton of Zug or Zoug (

The first trace of a settlement in the canton dates from approximately 14,000 BC, with additional finds from the

After the Roman conquest the area was home to as many as ten Villa rustica. In addition to a number of coin hoards, graves and ruins, a collection of 23 terracotta religious statues were discovered in Cham. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the area was incorporated into the Frankish Empire in 536/37. During the Early Middle Ages a number of parish churches were founded in the canton as the population grew. A settlement existed near the present location of Zug Castle and Cham by the 9th or 10th century. The city of Zug was founded in the first half of the 13th century.^[4]

Near the southern shore of the

In 1803, under the

The canton of Zug is located in central Switzerland and covers an area of 239 square kilometres (92 sq mi). The cantons of

The river Lorze is the principal drainage in the canton. It originates in Ägerisee, from where it flows northward through moraine deposits in a deep gorge with fine stalactite caverns.^[5] The river eventually enters the Zugersee, before flowing back out of the lake through the town of Cham, and joining the Reuss in the northern corner of the canton. The Reuss forms the boundary of the canton in the north west.

Canton Zug's borders were mainly established by nature itself: the rivers Sihl and Biber, and the Höhronen ridge in the east; the Rossberg mountain in the south, and the Rooterberg mountain, and the Reuss in the west. Only the 87.5 km-long border between the cantons of Zürich and Zug is not naturally defined. With its 1580 m peak, the Wildspitz is the highest point in the canton. The lowest point in the north of the canton is at 388 m, at Rüssspitz (German: Reussspitz) on the border, the confluence of the rivers Lorzen and Reuss.

Diverse landscape

The canton of Zug is multi-faceted, despite its small size. In rough terms, there are two zones, divided by the north-south axis of Lake Zug: the western part with Ennetsee and the plateau of Zug, Steinhausen and Baar; and the eastern part consisting of the hilly and mountainous zone. In the latter is the Zugerberg with the Rossberg mountain chain, the valley of Oberägeri and Unterägeri, with Lake Ägeri, and the mountain ridge of Höhronen and the countryside of Menzingen and Neuheim.

The power of the glaciers in the ice ages is impressively shown in the lateral moraines of the mountains Walchwilerberg and Zugerberg. These are the remaining traces of the Reuss Glacier. The moraine and drumlin landscape of Menzingen and Neuheim are the result of the convergence of the Reuss Glacier and the Linth Glacier. The Swiss geologist Albert Heim (1849–1937) once noted that "this must be the most impressive moraine landscape in Switzerland".^{[citation needed]} The glaciation of the Zug mountains stopped in around 15,000 BCE.

The Lorze is the only large river flowing wholly within the canton. The Sihl and Reuss both follow cantonal borders. The Lorze flows from Lake Ägeri through the deep valley of the Lorzentobel to Baar and Lake Zug. In Cham, the Lorze leaves Lake Zug and joins the Reuss at the aforementioned Reussspitz.

Political subdivisions

The canton forms a single administrative district, which comprises eleven municipalities. The legislature (Kantonsrat) has 80 members. The executive (Regierungsrat) has seven members. Members of both governments are elected directly by popular vote. The term of office in both cases is four years. The two members of the Federal

Demographics

Largest groups of foreign residents 2014^[6]

Nationality	Number	% total (foreigners)
Germany	6497	5.4 (20.5)
Italy	2957	2.5 (9.3)
United Kingdom	2041	1.7 (6.5)
Portugal	2004	1.7 (6.3)
Serbia	1311	1.1 (4.1)
Kosovo	1296	1.1 (4.1)
Turkey	1067	0.9 (3.4)
Bosnia and Herzegovina	993	0.8 (3.1)
The Netherlands	910	0.8 (2.9)
Austria	868	0.7 (2.7)
Croatia	792	0.7 (2.5)
France	776	0.6 (2.4)
Macedonia	703	0.6 (2.2)
Sri Lanka	686	0.6 (2.2)
USA	678	0.6 (2.1)
Russia	566	0.5 (1.8)

The population of the canton (as of 31 December 2020) is 128,794.[2] As of 2014^[update], the population included 31,643 foreigners, or about 26% of the total population, up from 15.6% in 1990.^[6] The largest foreign population is to be found in the municipality of Walchwil with 33.2% foreign nationals, then Zug (31.7%), Baar (28.1%), Risch (26.3%), and Oberägeri (25.3%). The lowest rate is to be found in Menzingen (18.9%) and Hünenberg (16.5%).^[7]

The majority of the population (as of 2000^[update]) is

While the majority of the population understands standard German, most residents speak the Swiss German dialect of central Switzerland.

Historical population

The historical population is given in the following table:

Economy

The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) described the economy as follows:

In the higher regions of the canton the population is mainly engaged in pastoral pursuits and cattle-breeding. There are 61 alps (high pastures) in the canton. At Cham is a well-known factory of

Apiculture flourishes in the canton. A number of factories have sprung up in the new quarter of the town. The formerly important silk-weaving industry has now disappeared.^[5]

Since 1910 the economy has shifted dramatically in Zug. In 2014, about 1.8% of the workers in Zug work in the primary sector (the total for all of Switzerland is 3.3%) Of these 1.8%, in 2008, nearly two-thirds kept dairy cows.^[10] However, its low tax rates and business friendly climate have brought many small and medium-sized businesses in all areas of the economy. There are over 24,300^[11] registered companies and over 70,000 jobs^[12] in the canton, with 12,900^[13] of the registered companies based in the city of Zug.

In 2014 the secondary sector employed 22,096 or about 20.5% of the total. Of those in the secondary sector, 28.3% worked in the manufacture of data-processing equipment, electronic and optical products. About a quarter of all secondary sector workers in the canton work in construction, with 19.7% in specialized trades such as electrician or plumber and 7% in construction management or labor. The tertiary sector employed 83,591 or about 77.7% of the total. Of those in the tertiary sector, the largest group of employees (17% of all tertiary sector) work in wholesale business including wholesale pharmaceuticals. The next largest group category is education which makes up 6.22% of the sector. Due to Zug's status as a business center and tax haven, 5.74% of the tertiary sector is in management and business consultancy, 4.67% provide information technology services, 4% provide legal and tax consultancy and nearly 4% provide financial services.^[14]

In 2016, the town of Zug began accepting digital currency for small payments of municipal fees. Then, in 2021, the canton started accepting bitcoin or Ethereum for personal and company taxes up to CHF100,000. To reduce risk, Zug converts the cryptocurrency into Swiss francs. This is part of a strategy to associate Zug with new technologies.^[15][16]

Zug has also been referred to as the Crypto Valley by Ethereum co-founder Mihai Alisie because of the large number of companies engaged in cryptocurrency in the area.^[15] By 2018, a Crypto Valley Association had been formed with Oliver Bussmann, as its president.^[17]

At the end of 2019, the following were identified as the largest cryptocurrency companies in Zug: Ethereum ($14.4 billion), Dfinity ($2bn), Polkadot ($1.2bn), Bitmain ($1bn), Libra ($1bn), Tezos ($924m), Cardano ($869m) and Cosmos ($818m).^[18] By 2021, the term ‘Crypto Valley’ was being used to cover Switzerland and Liechtenstein with 960 companies; Zug accounted for 433 companies, followed by Zurich (178). Eleven companies were described as ‘unicorns’ with the largest – Ethereum ($157 billion), Cardano ($41bn) and Polkadot ($29bn), all being based in the canton.^[19] By 2024, there were 1,290 cryptocurrency companies in the Crypto Valley; 512 in Zug and 278 in Zurich. The largest companies – Ethereum ($273 billion), Solana ($43 billion), Cardano ($21bn) and Polkadot ($10bn), were all based in the canton. The 50 biggest companies had a valuation of $383 billion.^[20]

The canton of Zug has one of the lowest tax rates in Switzerland.

Bloomberg L. P. reported that trading houses with ties to Russian oligarchs are peppered all over the low tax canton of Zug. Local officials estimate that there are at least 40 companies connected to Russia that employ about 900 people in the canton. Twenty firms identified as Russian by the canton paid CHF31 million ($33 million) in cantonal and municipal taxes in 2020, but “the true scale of Russian operations in Zug is hard to determine because Swiss registration rules demand limited information from companies looking to do business there,” writes Bloomberg.^[21]

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Transport

Zug is located on the north side of the

Gotthard line to Zürich. It is also a major railway junction of the Zug–Lucerne railway

and the north–south axis.

The motorway

Zugersee

.

Politics

Federal election results

Percentage of the total vote per party in the canton in the Federal Elections 1971-2015[22]
Party		Ideology	1971	1975	1979	1983	1987	1991	1995	1999	2003	2007	2011	2015
FDP.The Liberalsa		Classical liberalism	0.0	23.1	32.8	33.6	34.1	32.9	22.5	25.7	22.4	21.5	19.2	17.6
CVP/PDC/PPD/PCD		Christian democracy	0.0	39.4	34.1	39.9	34.2	34.2	27.1	26.4	22.9	23.3	24.3	26.4
SP/PS		Social democracy	0.0	35.7	30.9	22.8	22.6	16.1	17.0	23.3	13.4	9.1	5.3	13.8
SVP/UDC		Swiss nationalism	0.0	* b	*	*	*	*	15.2	21.4	27.7	29.1	28.3	30.5
GLP/PVL		Green liberalism	0.0	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	6.8	3.6
GPS/PES		Green politics	0.0	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	17.0	15.4	7.2
FGA		Feminism	0.0	*	*	*	7.8	10.1	10.4	c	13.6	d	d	d
Other			0.0	1.8	2.2	3.8	1.3	6.7	7.8	3.3	*	*	0.7	1.0
Voter participation %			0.0	58.9	55.9	53.3	46.4	51.1	44.4	53.5	52.6	53.7	55.1	53.7

^a FDP before 2009, FDP.The Liberals after 2009

^b "*" indicates that the party was not on the ballot in this canton.

^c Part of a coalition with the SP

^d Part of a coalition with the Green Party

References

1. ^ Arealstatistik Land Cover - Kantone und Grossregionen nach 6 Hauptbereichen accessed 27 October 2017
2. ^ ^{a b} "Ständige und nichtständige Wohnbevölkerung nach institutionellen Gliederungen, Geburtsort und Staatsangehörigkeit". bfs.admin.ch (in German). Swiss Federal Statistical Office - STAT-TAB. 31 December 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
3. ^ Statistik, Bundesamt für (21 January 2021). "Bruttoinlandsprodukt (BIP) nach Grossregion und Kanton - 2008-2018 | Tabelle". Bundesamt für Statistik (in German). Retrieved 1 July 2023.
4. ^ ^{a b c} Canton of Zug in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h}  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Coolidge, William Augustus Beevoort (1911). "Zug (canton)". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 1047–1048.
6. ^ ^{a b} "Ständige Wohnbevölkerung nach Nationalität, Kanton Zug und Schweiz, 2010-2014" (XLS) (statistics) (in German). Fachstelle für Statistik, Amt für Raumplanung, Kanton Zug. 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
7. ^ "Ständige Wohnbevölkerung in den Zuger Gemeinden, 2010-2014, nach Staatsangehörigkeit" (XLS) (statistics) (in German). Fachstelle für Statistik, Amt für Raumplanung, Kanton Zug. 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
8. ^ Federal Department of Statistics (2004). "Wohnbevölkerung nach Religion". Archived from the original (Interactive Map) on 24 September 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
9. ^ "Zug (Kanton)". Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (in German). Retrieved 25 January 2022.
10. ^ "Arbeitsstätten und Beschäftigte nach Kanton und Wirtschaftsart (BZ)". STAT-TAB (in German). Federal Statistical Office. 2008. Archived from the original on 5 August 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
11. ^ Canton of Zug - Regional Economy (in German) accessed 9 March 2011
12. ^ Canton of Zug - Economy (in German) accessed 9 March 2011
13. ^ Zug City website - Numbers Archived 15 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine (in German) accessed 9 March 2011
14. ^ "Arbeitsstätten und Beschäftigte nach Kanton, Wirtschaftsabteilung und Grössenklasse". STAT-TAB (in German). Federal Statistical Office. 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2017.^{[permanent dead link]}
15. ^ ^{a b} Uhlig/jse, Christian (1 July 2016). "Alpine 'Crypto Valley' pays with Bitcoins". DW Finance. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
16. ^ Johannes Ritter (2021) "The Swiss can now pay taxes in Bitcoin in the canton of Zug", Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, February 19.
17. ^ Martin Arnold and Ralph Atkins. "European banks break ranks over cryptocurrencies". Financial Times. 12 February 2018. Accessed 20 April 2020.
18. ^ "Crypto Valley companies gain in substance". Banking Newslink. 24 January 2020. Accessed 20 April 2020.
19. ^ "CV VC - Top 50 Report". cvvc.com.
20. ^ "Switzerland's Crypto Valley Top 50 Surges with a 106% Valuation Increase to $382.93 Billion". www.cvvc.com. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
21. ^ "Swiss Federal Tax Office" (in German). Berne, Switzerland: Eidg. Steuerverwaltung, Swiss Federal Council. 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
22. ^ Nationalratswahlen: Stärke der Parteien nach Kantonen (Schweiz = 100%) (Report). Swiss Federal Statistical Office. 2015. Archived from the original on 2 August 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2016.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Canton of Zug.

• Canton of Zug's official page (in German)
• Official statistics
• Zug-Zuerich border photos
• Kanton Zug - All photographs index