Kerns is a village

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 Obwalden

Obwalden

Obwalden is a canton of Switzerland. It is located in the centre of Switzerland. The population is 33,997 of which 4,043 are foreigners. Its capital is Sarnen. The canton contains the geographical centre of Switzerland.-History:...

 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....

.

History

Kerns is first mentioned in 1036 as Chernz though this mention is from a 14th Century copy of the original document. After 1101 it was normally mentioned as Chernes.

Geography

Kerns has an area, , of 92.6 square kilometres (35.8 sq mi). Of this area, 46.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 28.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.5% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (21.9%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

The municipality is located on a terrace on the south-west slope of the Stanserhorn

Stanserhorn

Stanserhorn is a mountain located in Switzerland, specifically, in the canton of Nidwalden, at 1898 meters above sea level. In 1893 a cable way was built to transport people from the base of the mountain to the summit. From the top, one can view as far as Elsass, France and The Black Forest in...

 and Arvigrat mountains in the Sarneraatal and Melchtal valleys. It is the largest municipality in the canton. It consists of the village of Kerns with the sections of Dorf, Siebeneich, Wisserlen, Halten and Dietried, the hamlets

Hamlet (place)

A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

 of Sankt Niklausen and Melchtal as well as the resort of Melchsee-Frutt.

Demographics

Kerns has a population (as of ) of . , 8.0% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 7.9%. Most of the population speaks German (96.2%), with Albanian being second most common ( 1.3%) and Portuguese being third ( 0.5%).

the gender distribution of the population was 49.8% male and 50.2% female. there are 1,700 households, and there were 2,110 households in Kerns alone, with 15 in St. Niklausen, 180 in Melchtal and 15 in Melchsee-Frutt.

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 38.1% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP

Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland

The Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland is a Christian democratic political party in Switzerland. It is the fourth-largest party in the National Council, with 31 seats, and the largest in the Council of States, with 15 seats. It has one seat, that of Doris Leuthard, on the Swiss...

 (36.6%), the Other (16.9%) and the SPS

Social Democratic Party of Switzerland

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

 (8.3%).

The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Kerns about 67.5% 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...

).

Kerns has an unemployment rate of 0.85%. , there were 445 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 172 businesses involved in this sector. 644 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 65 businesses in this sector. 853 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 136 businesses in this sector.

, the religious population distribution was; 4,654 or 83.6% are Roman Catholic, while 251 or 4.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church

Swiss Reformed Church

The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...

. There are 660 individuals (or about 11.86% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), or no church.

The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1744	1,820
1758	1,695
1799	1,999
1811	2,236
1850	2,509
1900	2,392
1950	3,406
1960	3,553
1970	3,881
1980	4,200
2000	5,101
2007	5,523

Sights

The main sights of Kerns are: chapel St. Niklausen, an old bridge (Hohe Brücke), and the pilgrimage church Melchtal. The ski area and mountain resort Melchsee-Frutt

Melchsee-Frutt

Melchsee-Frutt is a mountain resort village in Switzerland. The village is located near the lake Melchsee, in the municipality of Kerns, canton Obwalden. It has an elevation of 1920 meters. The main attractions of this resort are skiing, snowboarding, hiking, biking and rock climbing. The...

 with the lake Melchsee

Melchsee

Melchsee is a lake in the canton of Obwalden, Switzerland. It lends it name to the resort Melchsee-Frutt, in the municipality of Kerns. At an elevation of 1891 m, its surface area is 0.54 km²....

 is also part of the municipality of Kerns. The reservoir Tannensee

Tannensee

Tannensee is a reservoir in Obwalden, Switzerland. In 1958, Tannenbach and few other creeks were dammed with an earth-fill dam. The lake has a volume of 3.8 mio m³ and its surface area is 0.33 km². The reservoir is used to generate electricity at Kraftwerk Hugschwendi in Kerns.-External links:**...

is located above the village, at 1976 m (6,482.9 ft).