Hergiswil


Hergiswil is a municipality in the canton of Nidwalden in Switzerland.

History

Hergiswil is first mentioned around 1303-09 as ze Hergenswile.

Geography

Hergiswil has an area,, of. Of this area, 29.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 44.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 9.7% is settled and the remainder is non-productive.
The municipality is located between the foot of Mount Pilatus and Lake Lucerne.

Demographics

Hergiswil has a population of. , 14.5% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 11.5%. Most of the population speaks German , with Italian being second most common and French being third. the gender distribution of the population was 52.2% male and 47.8% female.
there are 2,216 households, of which 1,627 households contain only one or two individuals. 91 or about 4.1% are large households, with at least five members.
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the FDP which received 89.1% of the vote. Most of the rest of the votes went to local small right-wing parties.
In Hergiswil about 77.7% of the population have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education.
Hergiswil has an unemployment rate of 1.24%. , there were 89 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 35 businesses involved in this sector. 666 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 72 businesses in this sector. 2,091 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 382 businesses in this sector.
The historical population is given in the following table:
yearpopulation
1769460
1850804
19001,080
19502,904
19704,364
19904,625
20004,962
20055,396

Transport

Hergiswil is served by Hergiswil station and Hergiswil Matt station on the Brünig railway line, and the linked Luzern–Stans–Engelberg line. The Lucerne S-Bahn services S4 and S5 combine to provide four trains per hour at each station. Hergiswil station is also served by hourly InterRegio trains between Lucerne and Interlaken, and between Lucerne and Engelberg.

Sights

The main sights of Hergiswil are: an old clergy house, the church, the chapel Maria zum guten Rat, old mansion Thumigerhaus, and a glazier's workshop with museum. The workshop was established in 1817, burning down on one occasion, but is still working.