Gaiserwald

Gaiserwald
Coat of arms
Gaiserwald Show map of Switzerland Gaiserwald Show map of Canton of St. Gallen
Location of Gaiserwald
Coordinates: 47°25′N 9°19′E / 47.417°N 9.317°E / 47.417; 9.317Coordinates: 47°25′N 9°19′E / 47.417°N 9.317°E / 47.417; 9.317
Country	Switzerland
Canton	St. Gallen
District	St. Gallen
Government
• Mayor	Andreas Haltinner
Area
• Total	12.66 km2 (4.89 sq mi)
Elevation	650 m (2,130 ft)
Population (Dec 2015)
• Total	8,378
• Density	660/km2 (1,700/sq mi)
Postal code	9030
SFOS number	3442
Surrounded by	Andwil, Gossau, St. Gallen, Waldkirch, Wittenbach
Website	www.gaiserwald.ch SFSO statistics

Gaiserwald is a municipality in the Wahlkreis (constituency) of St. Gallen in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. The municipality consists of the villages of St. Josefen, Abtwil and Engelburg.

Gaiserwald is first mentioned in 1282 as Gaiserwalt.

Gaiserwald has an area, as of 2006^[update], of 12.7 km² (4.9 sq mi). Of this area, 49.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 30.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 18.8% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (1.2%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes).

The municipality is located in the St Gallen Wahlkreis and is part of the suburbs of St. Gallen. While there is no village of Gaiserwald, the municipality consists of the villages of St. Josefen, Abtwil and Engelburg.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Argent a Pale wavy Azure between three Annulets in pale Gules in dexter and a Pine Tree eradicated of the same in sinister.

Gaiserwald has a population (as of 31 December 2015) of 8,378. As of 2007^[update], about 12.1% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, (as of 2000^[update]), 148 are from Germany, 113 are from Italy, 284 are from ex-Yugoslavia, 57 are from Austria, 90 are from Turkey, and 170 are from another country. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 9.4%. Most of the population (as of 2000^[update]) speaks German (93.4%), with Serbo-Croatian being second most common ( 1.4%) and Albanian being third ( 0.9%). Of the Swiss national languages (as of 2000^[update]), 7,003 speak German, 28 people speak French, 61 people speak Italian, and 10 people speak Romansh.