Reichenbach im Kandertal
Encyclopedia
Reichenbach im Kandertal 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 Frutigen-Niedersimmental administrative district
Frutigen-Niedersimmental (administrative district)
Frutigen-Niedersimmental District in the Canton of Bern was created on 1 January 2010. It is part of the Oberland administrative region. It contains 13 municipalities with an area of and a population of 38,871....

 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....

. Until 1957 it was known as Reichenbach bei Frutigen.

Geography

Reichenbach im Kandertal has an area of 125.8 km² (48.6 sq mi). Of this area, 40% is used for agricultural purposes, while 24.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.9% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (33.9%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

Demographics

Reichenbach im Kandertal has a population (as of ) of . , 3.5% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 0.5%. Most of the population speaks German (97.1%), with Albanian being second most common ( 0.8%) and French being third ( 0.5%).

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 55.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (10.7%), the local small left-wing parties (10.1%) and 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....

 (9.3%).

The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 25.9% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 56.8% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 17.3%. In Reichenbach im Kandertal about 69.1% 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...

).

Reichenbach im Kandertal has an unemployment rate of 1.42%. , there were 442 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 145 businesses involved in this sector. 381 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 64 businesses in this sector. 553 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 91 businesses in this sector.

Sights

Since 1910, the nearby mountain of Niesen (altitude 2362 m) can be ascended at gradients of up to 68% via the Niesenbahn, which with a length of 3499 m is the longest funicular railway in Europe.
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