Hundwil is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the canton of

Appenzell Ausserrhoden Appenzell Ausserrhoden (; in English sometimes Appenzell Outer Rhodes) (german: Kanton Appenzell Ausserrhoden; rm, Chantun Appenzell Dadora; french: Canton d'Appenzell Rhodes-Extérieures; it, Canton Appenzello Esterno) is one of the 26 canton ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

2011-08-21-Hundwil (Foto Dietrich Michael Weidmann) 362

History

Hundwil is first mentioned in 921 as ''Huntwilare''.

Geography

Hundwil has an area, , of . Of this area, 58.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 31.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (7.1%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). Hundwil was a capital of the former district Hinterland. It lies on the road between

Herisau Herisau is a municipality and the capital of the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland. It is the seat of the canton's government and parliament; the judicial authorities are situated in Trogen. The central hamlet and the houses around ...

and

Appenzell Appenzell is a historic canton in the northeast of Switzerland, and entirely surrounded by the canton of St. Gallen. Appenzell became independent of the Abbey of Saint Gall in 1403 and entered a league with the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1411, ...

. The

Landsgemeinde The ''Landsgemeinde'' ("cantonal assembly"; , plural ''Landsgemeinden'') is a public, non-secret ballot voting system operating by majority rule, which constitutes one of the oldest forms of direct democracy. Still at use – in a few places � ...

square and the ''Kronenplatz'', as well as the Protestant church are listed as heritage sites of national significance.

Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance #REDIRECT Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance {{R from other capitalisation ...

(1995), p. 55. It consists of the village of Hundwil, a number of

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...

, numerous individual farm houses and alpine herding camps. Until 1749, the municipality of

Stein Stein is a German, Yiddish and Norwegian word meaning "stone" and "pip" or "kernel". It stems from the same Germanic root as the English word stone. It may refer to: Places In Austria * Stein, a neighbourhood of Krems an der Donau, Lower Aust ...

was part of Hundwil. The Hundwiler Höhi is a recreational destination at . The most well-known and highest mountain in the area is

Säntis At above sea level, Säntis is the highest mountain in the Alpstein massif of northeastern Switzerland. It is also the culminating point of the whole Appenzell Alps, between Lake Walen and Lake Constance. Shared by three cantons, the mountain ...

(), which is shared with neighbouring municipalities. The valley station Schwägalp also belongs to the extended Hundwil municipality.

Demographics

Hundwil has a population () of 994, of which about 4.9% are foreign nationals.Brief Statistics for the half-canton
accessed 15 September 2009 Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -5.6%. Most of the population () speaks German (97.2%), with Serbo-Croatian being second most common ( 1.3%) and Portuguese being third ( 0.5%).
accessed 16-Sep-2009 , the gender distribution of the population was 52.2% male and 47.8% female. The age distribution, , in Hundwil is; 114 people or 11.0% of the population are between 0–6 years old. 156 people or 15.0% are 6-15, and 68 people or 6.6% are 16-19. Of the adult population, 57 people or 5.5% of the population are between 20 and 24 years old. 275 people or 26.5% are 25-44, and 212 people or 20.4% are 45-64. The senior population distribution is 99 people or 9.5% of the population are between 65 and 79 years old, and 57 people or 5.5% are over 80.Appenzell Outer Rhodes website
accessed 15 September 2009 In the 2007 federal election the FDP received 60.9% of the vote. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Hundwil about 60% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a ''

Fachhochschule A ''Fachhochschule'' (; plural ''Fachhochschulen''), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts ...

''). Hundwil has an unemployment rate of 0.55%. , there were 168 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 69 businesses involved in this sector. 64 people are employed in the

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructi ...

and there are 10 businesses in this sector. 196 people are employed in the

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...

, with 40 businesses in this sector. The historical population is given in the following table:

References

{{Authority control Municipalities of Appenzell Ausserrhoden Cultural property of national significance in Appenzell Ausserrhoden