Urnäsch

Geschichte

Urnäsch is a municipality in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Switzerland.HistoryIn 831 AD a part of Urnäsch known as Färchen was first mentioned. In 1344 the village is sold to the German Earl Werdenberg, but later the Abbey of St. Gall acquired the land.After the battles in Vögelinsegg (1403) and Stoss (1405) the land gained independence as part of Appenzell. In 1417 a church was built. This is considered the formal establishment of Urnäsch. There was a devastating fire in 1641.GeographyUrnäsch has an area, of 48.3km2. Of this area, 53.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 41.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.4% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (1.7%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).The elevation of the village is 838m. The lowest elevation is the Murbach which is 722m, while the highest point is the Petersalp which is 1590m.DemographicsUrnäsch has a population of 2,268, of which about 11.6% are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -3%. Most of the population speaks German (93.0%), with Serbo-Croatian being second most common ( 2.3%) and Italian being third ( 1.0%)., the gender distribution of the population was 50.6% male and 49.4% female. The age distribution, in Urnäsch is; 216 people or 9.2% of the population are between 0–6 years old. 316 people or 13.5% are 6-15, and 121 people or 5.2% are 16-19. Of the adult population, 143 people or 6.1% of the population are between 20–24 years old. 651 people or 27.9% are 25-44, and 495 people or 21.2% are 45-64. The senior population distribution is 276 people or 11.8% of the population are between 65–79 years old, and 118 people or 5.1% are over 80.