Bauen has an area,, of. Of this area, 13.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 74.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.9% is settled and the remainder is non-productive. , 68.3% of the total land area was heavily forested, while 0.8% is covered in small trees and shrubbery. Of the agricultural land, 1.8% is used for farming or pastures, while 10.3% is used for orchards or vine crops and 1.3% is used for alpine pastures. Of the settled areas, 2.1% is covered with buildings, 0.5% is industrial, and 0.3% is transportation infrastructure. Of the unproductive areas, 0.3% is unproductive standing water, 1.6% is unproductive flowing water, 4.2% is too rocky for vegetation, and 2.6% is other unproductive land. The village lies on the west side of the Urner lake, which is part of the bigger lake Vierwaldstättersee or the Lake of the Four Forest Cantons. Until 1956 the only way to reach the village was over steepfootpaths from the neighboring communities. Because of its position on the lake and the Föhn wind, Bauen has a very mild climate.
Demographics
Bauen has a population of. , 8.7% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -14.1%. Most of the population speaks German , with Italian being second most common and Czech being third. the gender distribution of the population was 48.7% male and 51.3% female. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Bauen about 75.6% of the population have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education. Bauen has an unemployment rate of 0.76%. , there were 16 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 8 businesses involved in this sector. 7 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 3 businesses in this sector. 44 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 7 businesses in this sector. The historical population is given in the following table:
year
population
1799
115
1850
175
1900
167
1950
194
1970
157
2000
228
2005
192
MARCH 2014
176
Coat of arms
First mentioned in 1849, the flag or coat of arms shows elk horns in gold with ten red flames along the horns tips with a bigger red flame over the head, on a black background. Originally made in 1843, the coat of arms comes from an idea of St. Idda von Fischingen, whose church choir had the symbol of an elk with flaming horns. This goes back to around 1812 when the church was inaugurated. The oldest coat of arms still intact hangs in the old guardhouse from Bauen to see.
Notable residents
, the composer of the Swiss psalm "Trittst im Morgenrot daher", was born in Bauen. A bust of him is located in front of the village church.
