St. Stephan 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 Obersimmental-Saanen administrative district

Obersimmental-Saanen (administrative district)

Obersimmental-Saanen District in the Canton of Bern was created on 1 January 2010. It is part of the Oberland administrative region. It contains 7 municipalities with an area of and a population of 16,784....

 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

St. Stephan has an area of 60.9 km² (23.5 sq mi). Of this area, 51.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 30.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.7% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (15%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

St. Stephan lies in the Bernese Oberland

Bernese Oberland

The Bernese Oberland is the higher part of the canton of Bern, Switzerland, in the southern end of the canton: The area around Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, and the valleys of the Bernese Alps .The flag of the Bernese Oberland consists of a black eagle in a gold field The Bernese Oberland (Bernese...

 in the Simmental

Simmental

Simmental is an alpine valley in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland. It expands from Lenk to Boltigen, in a more or less South-North direction , and from there to the valley exit at Wimmis near Spiez it takes a West-East orientation . It comprises the municipalities of Lenk, St...

 between Zweisimmen

Zweisimmen

Zweisimmen is a municipality in the Obersimmental-Saanen administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.-Geography:Zweisimmen has an area of . Of this area, 56.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 32.9% is forested...

 and Lenk

Lenk im Simmental

Lenk im Simmental is a municipality in the Obersimmental-Saanen administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.-History:Lenk is first mentioned in 1370 as An der Leng....

. The municipality includes Albristhorn (2762 m (9,061.7 ft)).

The municipality consists of the cooperative farming villages (Bäuerten) of Ried, Häusern, Grodey, Matten, Fermel, Obersteg and Zu Hähligen. There is not a place known as St. Stephan.

At the bottom of the valley is a 2050 m (6,725.7 ft) paved airfield. A private firm controls the service. The field was built for the military, but it is used for both civilian and military purposes.

Demographics

St. Stephan has a population (as of ) of . , 6.7% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -5.6%. Most of the population speaks German (95.7%), with Albanian being second most common ( 1.2%) and Serbo-Croatian being third ( 0.9%).

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 42.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the local small left-wing parties (33.1%), 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....

 (11%) and the SPS

Social Democratic Party of Switzerland

The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (4.3%).

The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 28.4% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 55.8% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 15.9%. In St. Stephan about 60.1% 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...

).

St. Stephan has an unemployment rate of 1.66%. , there were 281 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 90 businesses involved in this sector. 120 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 18 businesses in this sector. 110 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 30 businesses in this sector.
The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1764	840
1850	1,454
1900	1,403
1950	1,293
2000	1,381