Wald 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 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 Appenzell Ausserrhoden

Appenzell Ausserrhoden

Appenzell Ausserrhoden is a canton of Switzerland. The seat of the government and parliament is Herisau, judicial authorities are in Trogen. Appenzell Ausserrhoden is located in the north east of Switzerland, bordering the cantons of St...

 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

Wald has an area, , of 6.8 km² (2.6 sq mi). Of this area, 66% is used for agricultural purposes, while 28.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 5.4% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.1%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

Demographics

Wald has a population of 868, of which about 10.1% are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -6.3%. Most of the population speaks German (93.6%), with Serbo-Croatian being second most common ( 2.3%) and French being third ( 0.8%).

, the gender distribution of the population was 51.3% male and 48.7% female. The age distribution, , in Wald is; 94 people or 10.7% of the population are between 0–6 years old. 129 people or 14.6% are 6-15, and 50 people or 5.7% are 16-19. Of the adult population, 46 people or 5.2% of the population are between 20–24 years old. 231 people or 26.2% are 25-44, and 200 people or 22.7% are 45-64. The senior population distribution is 89 people or 10.1% of the population are between 65–79 years old, and 42 people or 4.8% are over 80.

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 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....

 received 65.3% of the vote.

In Wald about 77.5% 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...

).

Wald has an unemployment rate of 0.58%. , there were 73 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 31 businesses involved in this sector. 133 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 16 businesses in this sector. 88 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 29 businesses in this sector.

The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1980	695
1990	851
2000	894
2005	874
2007	875