Gunzwil was 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...

 within the district of Sursee, 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 Lucerne, 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....

. On 1 January 2009 it merged with the municipality of Beromünster

Beromünster

Beromünster is a municipality in the district of Sursee in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland. On 1 January 2009 Gunzwil became part of Beromünster.-History:...

, becoming a village inside the new municipality of Beromünster.

History

Gunzwil was first mentioned in 1036 as Gunczwilare, though the only existing document that mentions this is a 14th Century copy. In 1173 it was mentioned as in Gunzewile.

Geography

Gunzwil has an area of 23.2 km² (9 sq mi). Of this area, 78.5% was used for agricultural purposes, while 15% was forested. Of the rest of the land, 6.3% was settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.1%) was non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

The municipality was located between the Suren- and Seetal valleys. It consisted of the village of Gunzwil and numerous hamlets

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...

. Since 1 January 2009 it has been part of Beromünster. The merged municipality has an area of 29.35 km² (11.3 sq mi) and a population of 4,588 of which 10.1% are foreign.

Demographics

Gunzwil had a population of 1,875, of which 5.6% were foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -1.5%. Most of the population spoke German (94.9%), with Albanian second most common (2.2%), and Italian third (0.5%).

In the 2007 election the most popular party was the CVP

Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland

The Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland is a Christian democratic political party in Switzerland. It is the fourth-largest party in the National Council, with 31 seats, and the largest in the Council of States, with 15 seats. It has one seat, that of Doris Leuthard, on the Swiss...

, which received 41.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were 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...

 (30.4%), 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....

 (16.5%) and 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:...

 (5.5%).

The age distribution of the population was: children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 30% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 59%, and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 11%. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Gunzwil about 71.3% of the population (between age 25-64) had 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...

).

, there were 339 people employed in the primary economic sector, and about 112 businesses involved in this sector. 169 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 26 businesses in this sector. 228 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 42 businesses in this sector. Gunzwil had an unemployment rate of 0.86%.

The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1456	c. 335
around 1695	c. 894
1798	1,181
1816	1,619
1850	1,806
1900	1,439
1950	1,583
2000	1,857