Schangnau is a 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 administrative district of Emmental

Emmental (administrative district)

Emmental District in the Canton of Bern was created on 1 January 2010. It is part of the Emmental-Oberaargau administrative region. It contains 42 municipalities with an area of and a population of 93,082....

 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 Bern 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....

.

Geography

Schangnau has an area, , of 36.48 km² (14.1 sq mi). Of this area, 19.43 km² (7.5 sq mi) or 53.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 13.05 km² (5 sq mi) or 35.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.75 km² (0.289576618944401 sq mi) or 2.1% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.39 km² (0.150579841851089 sq mi) or 1.1% is either rivers or lakes and 2.91 km² (1.1 sq mi) or 8.0% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 1.3% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.7%. 31.0% of the total land area is heavily forested and 4.0% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 26.3% is pastures and 26.1% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 3.7% is unproductive vegetation and 4.3% is too rocky for vegetation.

The municipality has the highest elevation of any in the Emmental

Emmental

For the cheese made in the region, see Emmental .The Emmental is a region in west central Switzerland, forming part of the canton of Bern. It is a hilly landscape comprising the basins of the Emme and Ilfis rivers. The region is mostly devoted to farming, particularly dairy farming...

. It is located around the source of the Emme River

Emme River

The Emme is a river in Switzerland. It rises in the Alps between the peaks of Hohgant and Augstmatthorn in the canton of Bern. The Emme is 80 kilometers long and flows through the Emmental and into the Aar below Solothurn. The drainage area is 983 km². The average discharge at the mouth is...

, which gives the valley (Emmental) its name. The municipality includes the village of Schangnau (at 933 m (3,061 ft)) and the hamlet

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 Wald as well as individual houses in the valley.

Demographics

Schangnau has a population (as of ) of . , 2.1% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -7.9%. Most of the population speaks German (98.6%), with Serbo-Croatian being second most common ( 1.1%) and French being third ( 0.1%).

In the 2007 election 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 84.1% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP

Free Democratic Party of Switzerland

The Free Democratic Party was a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It was one of the major parties in Switzerland until its merger with the smaller classical liberal Liberal Party, to form FDP.The Liberals on 1 January 2009....

 (4.4%), the Green Party

Green Party of Switzerland

The Green Party of Switzerland is the fifth-largest party in the National Council of Switzerland, and the largest party that is not represented on the Federal Council.-History:...

 (3.7%) and the SPS

Social Democratic Party of Switzerland

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

 (3.1%).

The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 27.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 54.8% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 17.9%. In Schangnau about 59.6% 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...

).

Schangnau has an unemployment rate of 0.3%. , there were 269 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 94 businesses involved in this sector. 71 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 18 businesses in this sector. 167 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 25 businesses in this sector.
The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1764	645
1850	1,074
1900	990
1950	1,099
2000	910

External links