Bäretswil

Bäretswil
Coat of arms
Bäretswil Show map of Switzerland Bäretswil Show map of Canton of Zurich
Location of Bäretswil
Coordinates: 47°20′N 8°51′E / 47.333°N 8.850°E / 47.333; 8.850Coordinates: 47°20′N 8°51′E / 47.333°N 8.850°E / 47.333; 8.850
Country	Switzerland
Canton	Zurich
District	Hinwil
Area
• Total	22.19 km2 (8.57 sq mi)
Elevation	702 m (2,303 ft)
Highest elevation (Allmen)	1,074 m (3,524 ft)
Lowest elevation	616 m (2,021 ft)
Population (Dec 2015)
• Total	4,958
• Density	220/km2 (580/sq mi)
Postal code	8344
SFOS number	0111
Localities	Bäretswil, Adetswil; Bettswil, Fehrenwaldsberg, Kleinbäretswil, Tisenwaldsberg, Wappenswil, Neuthal, Hof, Hinterburg, Tanne, Ghöch
Surrounded by	Bauma, Fischenthal, Hinwil, Hittnau, Pfäffikon, Wetzikon
Website	www.baeretswil.ch SFSO statistics

Bäretswil is a municipality in the district of Hinwil in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland.

Bäretswil is first mentioned in 741 as Berofovilare. In 745 it was mentioned as Perolfeswilari.

Bäretswil has an area of 22.2 km² (8.6 sq mi). Of this area, 51.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 39.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 8.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (1.2%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). In 1996^[update] housing and buildings made up 5.4% of the total area, while transportation infrastructure made up the rest (2.8%). Of the total unproductive area, water (streams and lakes) made up 0.2% of the area. As of 2007^[update] 4.7% of the total municipal area was undergoing some type of construction.

The municipality is located in the hills between the Glatt and Töss Valleys. It includes the villages of Bäretswil and Adetswil as well as the hamlets of Bettswil, Wappenswil, Hof-Neuthal, Tanne and Klein Bäretswil and scattered individual homes.

The old cotton mill, pictured, now houses museums of spinning and weaving machinery.

Bäretswil has a population (as of 31 December 2015) of 4,958. As of 2007^[update], 8.9% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. As of 2008^[update] the gender distribution of the population was 49.9% male and 50.1% female. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 10.2%. Most of the population (as of 2000^[update]) speaks German (93.9%), with Italian being second most common ( 1.7%) and Albanian being third ( 1.3%).