Gündlischwand

Gündlischwand
Country Switzerland
Canton Bern
District Interlaken-Oberhasli
Population 280 (Dec 2010)[1]
- Density 17 /km2 (43 /sq mi)
Area  16.89 km2 (6.52 sq mi)[2]
Elevation 660 m (2,165 ft)
Postal code 3815
SFOS number 0578
Mayor Peter Brawand
Localities Zweilütschinen
Surrounded by Iseltwald, Lütschental, Lauterbrunnen, Gsteigwiler and Bönigen
Website Gündlischwand.ch
SFSO statistics
Gündlischwand

Gündlischwand is a municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

Contents

History

Gündlischwand is first mentioned in 1331 as Gundlisswant.[3]

Geography

Gündlischwand has an area, as of 2009, of 16.89 km2 (6.52 sq mi). Of this area, 5.47 km2 (2.11 sq mi) or 32.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 6.73 km2 (2.60 sq mi) or 39.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.28 km2 (0.11 sq mi) or 1.7% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.2 km2 (0.077 sq mi) or 1.2% is either rivers or lakes and 4.2 km2 (1.6 sq mi) or 24.9% is unproductive land.[4]

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 0.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.7%. 35.3% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 3.1% is pastures and 29.2% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 8.9% is unproductive vegetation and 15.9% is too rocky for vegetation.[4]

Gündlischwand lies in the Bernese Oberland in the Alps on the Black Lütschine. The Sägis Valley is located in the municipality, with a small lake and the mountain Sägissa (2,465 m (8,087 ft)).

Along with eight other municipalities, Gündlischwand belongs to the church parish of Gsteig bei Interlaken.

Demographics

Gündlischwand has a population (as of 31 December 2010) of 280.[1] As of 2007, 4.3% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -11.7%. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (96.2%), with Serbo-Croatian being second most common ( 1.5%) and English being third ( 1.1%).

In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 58.8% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS (11%), the Green Party (10.3%) and the FDP (8.5%).

The age distribution of the population (as of 2000) is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 23.6% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 61.2% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 15.2%. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Gündlischwand about 76.3% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).

Gündlischwand has an unemployment rate of 2%. As of 2005, there were 26 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 5 businesses involved in this sector. 12 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 5 businesses in this sector. 130 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 11 businesses in this sector.[5]

The historical population is given in the following table:[3]

year population
1764 123
1850 335
1888 279
1900 321
1950 308
2000 263

External links

References

  1. ^ a b Swiss Federal Statistical Office - STAT-TAB, online database – Datenwürfel für Thema 01.2 - Bevölkerungsstand und -bewegung (German) accessed 29 September
  2. ^ Arealstatistik Standard - Gemeindedaten nach 4 Hauptbereichen
  3. ^ a b Gündlischwand in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
  4. ^ a b Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics 2009 data (German) accessed 25 March 2010
  5. ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 12-Jun-2009