Beckenried

The first settlers in what would become Beckried were from Alamanni tribes that moved into the area over 2000 years ago. During the Middle Ages the region was part of extensive estates that were shared between Engelberg Abbey, Murbach-Lucerne and Steinen, Switzerland. The two tower houses in the village (named: Retschrieden and Isenringen) were built in the 13th century for two local, influential families. In 1262 the village is mentioned in an agreement over a nearby pasture. ==Geography==

Beckenried has an area, (as of the 2004/09 survey) of . Of this area, about 48.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 37.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 6.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and 7.9% is unproductive land. In the 2004/09 survey a total of or about 3.2% of the total area was covered with buildings, an increase of over the 1981 amount. Of the agricultural land, is used for orchards and vineyards, is fields and grasslands and consists of alpine grazing areas. Since 1981 the amount of agricultural land has decreased by and the amount of forested land has increased by . Rivers and lakes cover in the municipality. The municipality is a linear village along the shore of Lake Lucerne. It consists of the village of Beckenried with the sections known as Oberdorf, Niederdorf and Dorf. The Beckenried–Gersau car ferry links a terminal in Niederdorf with Gersau on the opposite bank of Lake Lucerne. ==Demographics==

Beckenried has a population () of . , 12.6% of the population are resident foreign nationals of which a small minority (182 or 5.1% of the total population) was born in Germany. Over the last 5 years (2010-2015) the population has changed at a rate of 6.88%. The birth rate in the municipality, in 2015, was 12.3, while the death rate was 6.3 per thousand residents. In 2015 there were 1,541 private households in Beckenried with an average household size of 2.27 persons. In 2015 about 34.8% of all buildings in the municipality were single family homes, which is about the same as the percentage in the canton (35.5%) and much less than the percentage nationally (57.4%). Of the 721 inhabited buildings in the municipality, in 2000, about 40.5% were single family homes and 39.3% were multiple family buildings. Additionally, about 27.5% of the buildings were built before 1919, while 14.3% were built between 1991 and 2000. In 2014 the rate of construction of new housing units per 1000 residents was 10.14. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.48%. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width: auto height:200 barincrement:45 PlotArea = top:20 left:40 bottom:20 right:35 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:4000 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:800 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:200 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width: 35 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1743 from:start till:823 text:"823" bar:1850 from:start till:1342 text:"1,342" bar:1860 from:start till:1360 text:"1,360" bar:1870 from:start till:1309 text:"1,309" bar:1880 from:start till:1530 text:"1,530" bar:1888 from:start till:1492 text:"1,492" bar:1900 from:start till:1663 text:"1,663" bar:1910 from:start till:1643 text:"1,643" bar:1920 from:start till:1628 text:"1,628" bar:1930 from:start till:1683 text:"1,683" bar:1941 from:start till:1817 text:"1,817" bar:1950 from:start till:1981 text:"1,981" bar:1960 from:start till:2042 text:"2,042" bar:1970 from:start till:2092 text:"2,092" bar:1980 from:start till:2120 text:"2,120" bar:1990 from:start till:2418 text:"2,418" bar:2000 from:start till:2825 text:"2,825" bar:2010 from:start till:3297 text:"3,297" bar:2015 from:start till:3544 text:"3,544" ==Notable sights and recreation==

The main sights of Beckenried are: the church St. Heinrich and its cemetery chapel, the Ridli chapel, the chapel St. Anna, the Klewen chapel, fun fair (Älplerkilbi), and the St. Nikolas market. The urban village of Beckenried and the hamlet of Ridli are both part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites. Starting from Beckenried the longest cable car in central Switzerland brings tourists up to Klewenalp, a major holiday resort both in winter and in summer. ==Economy==

Beckenried is classed as a suburban community. , there were a total of 1,167 people employed in the municipality. Of these, a total of 158 people worked in 49 businesses in the primary economic sector. The secondary sector employed 258 workers in 42 separate businesses, of which 6 businesses employed a total of 147 employees. Finally, the tertiary sector provided 751 jobs in 174 businesses. In 2015 a total of 10.1% of the population received social assistance. In 2015 local hotels had a total of 27,293 overnight stays, of which 35.4% were international visitors. In 2015, there was one movie theater in the municipality with 198 seats. In 2015 the average cantonal, municipal and church tax rate in the municipality for a couple with two children making was 3.2% while the rate for a single person making was 11.2%, both of which are close to the average for the canton. The canton has a slightly lower than average tax rate for those making and one of the lowest for those making . In 2013, the average income in the municipality per tax payer was and the per person average was , which is less than the cantonal average of and respectively In contrast, the national tax payer average is , while the per person average is . ==Politics==

In the 2015 federal election the only major party which ran a candidate was the SVP which received 83.9% of the vote. In the federal election, a total of 1,492 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 58.8%. In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the SVP with 48.1%, followed by the FDP with 34.1% and the GPS with 17.8%. In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the FDP which received 87.7% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the local small left-wing parties (10.9%), a catch-all other category (1.4%) and the CVP (0.1%). ==Education==

In Beckenried about 75.2% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). ==References==