Jonschwil is first mentioned in 796 as Johannisvilare. In 1282 it was mentioned as Jonswiler. The village of Schwarzenbach was first mentioned in 779, and the hamlet of Bettenau was mentioned in 772 as Betinauvia.
Geography
Jonschwil has an area,, of. Of this area, 58.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 24.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 15% is settled and the remainder is non-productive. The municipality is located in the Wil Wahlkreis. It consists of the villages of Jonschwil and Schwarzenbach and the hamlets of Bettenau and Oberrindal as well as scattered farm houses. Bettenauer Weiher is a small lake located in Oberuzwil at the border to Jonschwil.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Or St. Martin armoured Azure holding a sword Argent cutting his cloak Gules riding on a Horse Sable.
Demographics
Jonschwil has a population of. , about 9.4% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Of the foreign population,, 31 are from Germany, 31 are from Italy, 150 are from ex-Yugoslavia, 21 are from Austria, 15 are from Turkey, and 27 are from another country. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 11.1%. Most of the population speaks German, with Albanian being second most common and Serbo-Croatian being third. Of the Swiss national languages, 2,974 speak German, 6 people speak French, 24 people speak Italian, and 1 person speaks Romansh. The age distribution,, in Jonschwil is; 462 children or 14.7% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 536 teenagers or 17.1% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 369 people or 11.8% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 534 people or 17.0% are between 30 and 39, 499 people or 15.9% are between 40 and 49, and 385 people or 12.3% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 181 people or 5.8% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 94 people or 3.0% are between 70 and 79, there are 62 people or 2.0% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 12 people or 0.4% who are between 90 and 99. there were 274 persons who were living alone in a private dwelling. There were 533 persons who were part of a couple without children, and 2,007 who were part of a couple with children. There were 212 people who lived in single parent home, while there are 19 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 15 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 18 who lived household made up of unrelated persons, and 56 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing. In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 40.2% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP, the FDP and the SP. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Jonschwil about 74.1% of the population have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education. Out of the total population in Jonschwil,, the highest education level completed by 617 people was Primary, while 1,206 have completed Secondary, 277 have attended a Tertiary school, and 133 are not in school. The remainder did not answer this question. The historical population is given in the following table:
year
population
1819
867
1850
1,307
1900
1,201
1950
1,383
1970
1,708
2000
3,134
Economy
, Jonschwil had an unemployment rate of 1.15%. , there were 119 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 48 businesses involved in this sector. 581 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 51 businesses in this sector. 692 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 84 businesses in this sector. the average unemployment rate was 2.3%. There were 192 businesses in the municipality of which 53 were involved in the secondary sector of the economy while 92 were involved in the third. there were 496 residents who worked in the municipality, while 1,184 residents worked outside Jonschwil and 646 people commuted into the municipality for work.
Religion
From the, 1,942 or 62.0% are Roman Catholic, while 758 or 24.2% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there are 31 individuals who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 40 individuals who belong to another Christian church. There are 112 who are Islamic. There are 7 individuals who belong to another church, 145 belong to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 99 individuals did not answer the question.
