Rüderswil 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 administrative district of Emmental

Emmental (administrative district)

Emmental District in the Canton of Bern was created on 1 January 2010. It is part of the Emmental-Oberaargau administrative region. It contains 42 municipalities with an area of and a population of 93,082....

 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....

.

Geography

Rüderswil has an area, , of 17.17 km² (6.6 sq mi). Of this area, 11.7 km² (4.5 sq mi) or 68.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 4.07 km² (1.6 sq mi) or 23.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.24 km² (0.478766676654743 sq mi) or 7.2% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.17 km² (0.065637366960731 sq mi) or 1.0% is either rivers or lakes.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 4.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.7%. 21.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.9% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 29.1% is used for growing crops and 36.9% is pastures, while 2.2% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams.

The municipality is located on a terrace above the left bank of the Emme River

Emme River

The Emme is a river in Switzerland. It rises in the Alps between the peaks of Hohgant and Augstmatthorn in the canton of Bern. The Emme is 80 kilometers long and flows through the Emmental and into the Aar below Solothurn. The drainage area is 983 km². The average discharge at the mouth is...

. It includes the village of Rüderswil, parts of the villages Schwanden im Emmental, Ranflüh and Zollbrück as well as scattered houses and 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...

 on both sides of the Emme. In 1889 the Wittenbachviertel (Wittenbach quarter) went to Lauperswil

Lauperswil

Lauperswil is a municipality in the administrative district of Emmental in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.-Geography:Lauperswil has an area, , of . Of this area, or 56.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 35.3% is forested...

 and in 1894 Häleschwand went to Signau

Signau

Signau is a municipality in the administrative district of Emmental in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.-Geography:Signau lies in the Emmental....

.

Demographics

Rüderswil has a population (as of ) of . , 2.5% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 3.4%. Most of the population speaks German (98.1%), with Albanian being second most common ( 1.0%) and French being third ( 0.1%).

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....

 (12.2%), the local small left-wing parties (7.4%) 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....

 (6.9%).

The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 26.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 58.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 15.6%. In Rüderswil about 70.7% 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...

).

Rüderswil has an unemployment rate of 0.82%. , there were 323 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 102 businesses involved in this sector. 190 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 36 businesses in this sector. 248 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 44 businesses in this sector.
The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1764	1,171
1850	2,533
1900	2,370
1950	2,328
2000	2,258

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