Hundwil 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

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an It ...

Appenzell Ausserrhoden Canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden ( ; ; ; ), in English sometimes Appenzell Outer Rhodes, is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of twenty municipalities. The seat of the gove ...

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 ...

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 municipalities of Switzerland, municipality and the capital of the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland. It is the seat of the canton's government and parliament; the judicial authorities are situated ...

and

Appenzell Appenzell () was a cantons of Switzerland, canton in the northeast of Switzerland, and entirely surrounded by the canton of St. Gallen, in existence from 1403 to 1597. Appenzell became independent of the Abbey of Saint Gall in 1403 and entered ...

. The

Landsgemeinde The ''Landsgemeinde'' ("cantonal assembly"; , plural ''Landsgemeinden'') is a public, non-secret ballot voting system operating by majority rule. Still in use – in a few places – at the subnational political level in Switzerland, it was fo ...

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. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

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

Stein Stein may refer to: Places Austria * Stein, a neighbourhood of Krems an der Donau, Lower Austria * Stein, Styria, a municipality in the district of Fürstenfeld, Styria * Stein (Lassing), a village in the district of Liezen, Styria * Stein a ...

was part of Hundwil. The

Hundwiler Höhi The Hundwiler Höhi (1,306 m) is a mountain of the Appenzell Alps, located on the border between the Swiss cantons of Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Appenzell Innerrhoden. It is situated between the municipality of Hundwil and the district of Gonten ...

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 Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

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 ...

''). 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 ...

, 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