Gurtnellen 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....

.

History

Gurtnellen is first mentioned in 1257 as Chuno und die Gurteneller. In 1321 it was mentioned as Gruntellon, and in 1359 as Gurtenellen.

Geography

Gurtnellen has an area, , of 83.4 km² (32.2 sq mi). Of this area, 11.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 25.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.3% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (61.7%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). , 16.9% of the total land area was heavily forested, while 5.2% is covered in small trees and shrubbery. Of the agricultural land, 0.0% is used for farming or pastures, while 2.9% is used for orchards or vine crops and 9.0% is used for alpine pastures. Of the settled areas, 0.2% is covered with buildings, 0.1% is industrial, 0.2% is classed as special developments, and 0.8% is transportation infrastructure. Of the unproductive areas, 0.1% is unproductive standing water (ponds or lakes), 0.9% is unproductive flowing water (rivers), 39.3% is too rocky for vegatation, and 21.4% is other unproductive land.

The municipality is located above the Reuss river

Reuss River

The Reuss is a river in Switzerland. With a length of and a drainage basin of , it is the fourth largest river in Switzerland...

 along the Gotthard rail line. It consists of the village sections of Dorf, Wiler, Intschi, Arni as well as part of the area on the left side of the Reuss near Amsteg and Silenen

Silenen

Silenen is a municipality in the canton of Uri in Switzerland.-Geography:Silenen has an area, , of . Of this area, 12.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 18.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.7% is settled and the remainder is non-productive...

.

Demographics

Gurtnellen has a population (as of ) of . , 4.4% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -8.7%. Most of the population speaks German (97.3%), with Portuguese being second most common ( 1.6%) and French being third ( 0.5%). the gender distribution of the population was 50.0% male and 50.0% 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 90.6% of the vote.

The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Gurtnellen about 43.9% 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...

).

Gurtnellen has an unemployment rate of 0.65%. , there were 82 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 38 businesses involved in this sector. 64 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 3 businesses in this sector. 168 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 21 businesses in this sector.

The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1837	615
1850	675
1880	1,541
1900	1,112
1920	1,631
1950	1,132
1970	1,048
1980	813
1990	688
2000	631
2005	640
2007	638

Population increase due to construction of the Gotthard rail tunnel.

Population increase due to bridge construction and electrification of the Gotthard rail tunnel.