Brenzikofen

Brenzikofen
Country Switzerland
Canton Bern
District Bern-Mittelland
Coordinates
Population 531 (Dec 2010)[1]
- Density 241 /km2 (625 /sq mi)
Area  2.2 km2 (0.85 sq mi)[2]
Elevation 583 m (1,913 ft)
Postal code 3671
SFOS number 0606
Surrounded by Bleiken bei Oberdiessbach, Fahrni, Heimberg, Herbligen, Oberdiessbach, Oppligen
Website Brenzikofen.ch
SFSO statistics
Brenzikofen

Brenzikofen is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

Contents

History

Brenzikofen is first mentioned in 1236 as Brenzichovin.[3]

Geography

Brenzikofen has an area, as of 2009, of 2.2 km2 (0.85 sq mi). Of this area, 1.19 km2 (0.46 sq mi) or 54.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.82 km2 (0.32 sq mi) or 37.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.19 km2 (0.073 sq mi) or 8.6% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.01 km2 (2.5 acres) or 0.5% is either rivers or lakes.[4]

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 5.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.7%. 37.3% of the total land area is heavily forested. Of the agricultural land, 28.6% is used for growing crops and 20.0% is pastures, while 5.5% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams.[4]

The municipality is located at the foot the Falkenfluh (Bürglen), and has a portion on the Rothachengraben. It includes the village of Brenzikofen and the village sections of Boden and Bälliz as well as scattered individual farm houses.

Demographics

Brenzikofen has a population (as of 31 December 2010) of 531.[1] As of 2007, 1.9% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 9.5%. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (99.0%), with Danish being second most common ( 0.4%) and English being third ( 0.2%).

In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 42.3% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Green Party (13.4%), the SPS (12.1%) and the FDP (11.7%).

The age distribution of the population (as of 2000) is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 28% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 58.6% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.4%. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Brenzikofen about 81.7% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either University or a Fachhochschule).

Brenzikofen has an unemployment rate of 1.33%. As of 2005, there were 22 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 9 businesses involved in this sector. 11 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 3 businesses in this sector. 76 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 16 businesses in this sector.[5] The historical population is given in the following table:[3]

year population
1764 144
1850 347
1900 392
1950 342
1980 328
1990 488
2000 485

External links

References

  1. ^ a b Swiss Federal Statistical Office - STAT-TAB, online database – Datenwürfel für Thema 01.2 - Bevölkerungsstand und -bewegung (German) accessed 29 September
  2. ^ Arealstatistik Standard - Gemeindedaten nach 4 Hauptbereichen
  3. ^ a b Brenzikofen in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
  4. ^ a b Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics 2009 data (German) accessed 25 March 2010
  5. ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 02-Jul-2009