Betschwanden is a former municipality

Municipalities of Switzerland

Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...

 in the canton

Cantons of Switzerland

The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...

 of Glarus in Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

. Effective from 1 January 2011, Betschwanden is part of the municipality of Glarus Süd

Glarus Süd

Glarus Süd is one of three municipalities of the canton of Glarus, Switzerland .Effective from 1 January 2011, Glarus Süd incorporates the former municipalities of Betschwanden, Braunwald, Elm, Engi, Haslen, Linthal, Luchsingen, Matt, Mitlödi, Rüti, Schwanden, Schwändi and Sool.With an area of ,...

.

Geography

Betschwanden has an area, , of 9.7 km² (3.7 sq mi). Of this area, 36% is used for agricultural purposes, while 29.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (33.1%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

The municipality is located on the right side of the Grosstal near the former municipality of Diesbach

Diesbach

Diesbach is a village and former municipality in the canton of Glarus, Switzerland.It was formerly a municipality of its own, having been incorporated into Luchsingen in 2004. At that time Diesbach municipality had a population of 221....

, which is now part of Luchsingen

Luchsingen

Luchsingen is a former municipality in the canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Since 2004 the former municipalities of Hätzingen and Diesbach have been part of Luchsingen. Effective from 1 January 2011, Luchsingen is part of the municipality of Glarus Süd....

.

Demographics

Betschwanden has a population (as of ) of . , 6.8% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 9.1%. Most of the population speaks German (93.0%), with Finnish being the only other language listed in the census ( 0.6%).

In the 2007 federal election

Swiss federal election, 2007

Elections to the Swiss Federal Assembly, the federal parliament of Switzerland, were held on Sunday, 21 October 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, and 25 November 2007...

 the most popular party was the SVP

Swiss People's Party

The Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...

 which received 50.7% of the vote. Most of the rest of the votes went to the SPS

Social Democratic Party of Switzerland

The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 with 47.9% of the vote.

The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Betschwanden about 72.7% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either University or a Fachhochschule

Fachhochschule

A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...

).

Betschwanden has an unemployment rate of 4.75%. , there were 5 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 2 businesses involved in this sector. No one is employed in the secondary sector and there are no businesses in this sector. 19 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 7 businesses in this sector.

The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1692	123
1850	254
1900	255
1950	282
1980	132
2000	172