Rickenbach is a

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

in the district of

Sursee Sursee is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Sursee (Amt), Sursee in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Lucerne (canton), Lucerne, Switzerland. Sursee is located at the northern end of Lake Sempach, not far from wh ...

in the canton of

Lucerne Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. On 1 January 2013 the former municipality of

Pfeffikon Pfeffikon is a former Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Sursee (Amt), Sursee in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Lucerne (canton), Lucerne in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipality of Pfeffikon m ...

merged into the municipality of Rickenbach.Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
accessed 9 February 2013

Geography

Rickenbach has an area of . Of this area, 62.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 26.3% is forested. The rest of the land, (11%) is settled. , 26.28% of the total land area was forested. Of the agricultural land, 58.33% is used for farming or pastures, while 4.38% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the settled areas, 4.91% is covered with buildings, 2.03% is industrial, 0.43% is classed as special developments, 0.11% is parks or greenbelts and 3.53% is transportation infrastructure.

Demographics

Rickenbach has a population (as of ) of . , 13.3% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 8.7%. Most of the population () speaks German (92.3%), with Albanian being second most common (3.5%) and Portuguese being third (1.4%). In the 2007 election the most popular party was the CVP which received 40.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (28.7%), the FDP (24.1%) and the SPS (3.2%). The age distribution in Rickenbach is; 642 people or 28.9% of the population is 0–19 years old. 568 people or 25.6% are 20–39 years old, and 722 people or 32.6% are 40–64 years old. The senior population distribution is 213 people or 9.6% are 65–79 years old, 59 or 2.7% are 80–89 years old and 14 people or 0.6% of the population are 90+ years old.LUSTAT Lucerne Cantonal Statistics
accessed 12 August 2009 In Rickenbach about 69.9% 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 (; plural ), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a Hochschule, German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts, such as engineering, te ...

''). there are 682 households, of which 144 households (or about 21.1%) contain only a single individual. 116 or about 17.0% are large households, with at least five members. there were 384 inhabited buildings in the municipality, of which 301 were built only as housing, and 83 were

mixed use Mixed use is a type of Real estate development, urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning classification that blends multiple Land use, uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into ...

buildings. There were 222 single family homes, 35 double family homes, and 44 multi-family homes in the municipality. Most homes were either two (172) or three (85) story structures. There were only 20 single story buildings and 24 four or more story buildings. Rickenbach has an unemployment rate of 1.77%. , there were 113 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 41 businesses involved in this sector. 295 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 41 businesses in this sector. 246 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 ...

, with 50 businesses in this sector.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 24-Aug-2009 52.1% of the population of the municipality were employed in some capacity. At the same time, females made up 40.6% of the workforce. the religious membership of Rickenbach was; 1,529 (75.8%) were Roman Catholic, and 198 (9.8%) were Protestant, with an additional 20 (0.99%) that were of some other Christian faith. There are 4 individuals (0.2% of the population) who are Jewish. There are 135 individuals (6.69% of the population) who are Muslim. Of the rest; there were 4 (0.2%) individuals who belong to another religion (not listed), 55 (2.73%) who do not belong to any organized religion, 72 (3.57%) who did not answer the question.

References

{{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Lucerne