Rüthi is a municipality in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. History Rüthi is first mentioned in 820 as Reuti. Until 1994 it was known as Rüthi (Rheintal). Geography Rüthi has an area, , of . Of this area, 47.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 33.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 13.7% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (4.6%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes). The municipality was located in the Oberrheintal district until the creation of the Rheintal Wahlkreis. It consists of the villages of Rüthi, Büchel and the Hirschensprung as well as the southern part of the hamlet of Rehag. Other villages were part of the municipality. From 1798 to 1831 the village of Kobelwald (later part of Oberriet) and from 1803 to 31 the village of Lienz (afterward part of Sennwald, then in 1883 part of Altstätten) were part of Rüthi. Coat of arms The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure a Deer salient Or between two Cliffs Argent issuant from flanks and in chief as many Mullets of the same. Demographics Rüthi has a population (as of ) of . , about 18.1% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, (), 42 are from Germany, 12 are from Italy, 194 are from ex-Yugoslavia, 30 are from Austria, 6 are from Turkey, and 69 are from another country. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 2.2%. Most of the population () speaks German (90.1%), with Albanian being second most common ( 3.9%) and Serbo-Croatian being third ( 1.4%). Of the Swiss national languages (), 1,772 speak German, 12 people speak French, 11 people speak Italian, and 2 people speak Romansh. The age distribution, , in Rüthi is; 284 children or 14.4% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 283 teenagers or 14.4% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 228 people or 11.6% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 349 people or 17.7% are between 30 and 39, 272 people or 13.8% are between 40 and 49, and 220 people or 11.2% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 149 people or 7.6% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 113 people or 5.7% are between 70 and 79, there