Unterschächen 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 Uri

Canton of Uri

Uri is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and a founding member of the Swiss Confederation. It is located in Central Switzerland. The canton's territory covers the valley of the Reuss River between Lake Lucerne and the St. Gotthard Pass. German is the primary language spoken in Uri...

 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....

, situated in the upper Schächental

Schächental

The Schächental is an alpine valley of Uri, Switzerland, formed by the Schächen river. The valley stretches to the east of Altdorf for some 10 km....

.

Geography

Unterschächen has an area, , of 80.3 km² (31 sq mi). Of this area, 35.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 9.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.8% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (54.2%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). , 5.6% of the total land area was heavily forested, while 2.1% is covered in small trees and shrubbery. Of the agricultural land, 4.3% is used for orchards or vine crops and 31.3% is used for alpine pastures. Of the settled areas, 0.3% is covered with buildings, and 0.5% is transportation infrastructure. Of the unproductive areas, 0.5% is unproductive flowing water (rivers), 40.4% is too rocky for vegatation, and 13.2% is other unproductive land.

Demographics

Unterschächen has a population (as of ) of . , 1.0% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -6.6%. Most of the population speaks German (99.6%), with Italian being second most common ( 0.3%) and Portuguese being third ( 0.1%). the gender distribution of the population was 52.2% male and 47.8% female.

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....

 party received 95.1% of the vote.

In Unterschächen about 37% 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...

).

Unterschächen has an unemployment rate of 0.22%. , there were 138 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 51 businesses involved in this sector. 7 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 4 businesses in this sector. 66 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 15 businesses in this sector.

The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1970	665
1980	652
1990	689
2000	764
2005	746
2007	730

Weather

Unterschächen has an average of 155.5 days of rain per year and on average receives 1773 mm (69.8 in) of precipitation. The wettest month is August during which time Unterschächen receives an average of 196 mm (7.7 in) of precipitation. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 14.8 days. The month with the most days of precipitation is July, with an average of 16, but with only 193 mm (7.6 in) of precipitation. The driest month of the year is October with an average of 107 mm (4.2 in) of precipitation over 14.8 days.