Gossau is a municipality in the Wahlkreis (constituency) of St. Gallen in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. History Gossau is first mentioned in 824 as Cozesaua. Geography Gossau has an area, , of . Of this area, 63% is used for agricultural purposes, while 16.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 20.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.6%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes). The municipality is located in the St Gallen Wahlkreis. Gossau is the largest municipality in the valley between the Glatt Valley and the Sitter River and lies on the intersection of the St. Gallen-Zürich and Thurgau-Appenzell roads. It consists of the village of Gossau with the sections of Mettendorf, Niederdorf, Oberdorf and Watt and the village of Arnegg as well as the hamlets of Albertschwil, Enggetschwil, Geretschwil, Hochschoren, Hueb, Matten, Neuchlen, Rain, Rüeggetschwil, Rüti, Wilen, Zinggenhueb, Erlen, Herzenwil and Stöcklen. In 1806 the hamlets of Arnegg (without Oberarnegg), Erlen, Fronackeren, Geretschwil, Herzenwil, Hölzli, Stöcklen, Wilen and Zinggenhueb came to Gossau from Andwil in exchange for Fronackeren, Hölzli, Landegg and Neuegg. Coat of arms The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Or a Cross bottony Gules issuant from jaws of a Wyvern passant Vert and in sinister chief a Bear rampant Sable langued and in his virility of the second. Demographics Gossau has a population (as of ) of . , about 18.4% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, (), 168 are from Germany, 487 are from Italy, 1,574 are from ex-Yugoslavia, 105 are from Austria, 214 are from Turkey, and 496 are from another country. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 3.9%. Most of the population () speaks German (88.4%), with Serbo-Croatian being second most common ( 4.2%) and Italian being third ( 2.1%). Of the Swiss national languages (), 14,855 speak German, 48 people speak French, 349 people speak Italian, and 24 people speak Romansh. The age distribution, , in Gossau is; 2,007 children or 11.9% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 2,158 teenagers or 12.8% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 2,304 people or 13.7% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 2,703 people or 16.1% are between 30 and 39, 2,401 people or 14.3% are between 40 and 49, and