Freimettigen

Freimettigen
Country Switzerland
Canton Bern
District Bern-Mittelland
Coordinates
Population 432 (Dec 2010)[1]
- Density 196 /km2 (509 /sq mi)
Area  2.95 km2 (1.14 sq mi)[2]
Elevation 675 m (2,215 ft)
Postal code 3510
SFOS number 0607
Surrounded by Häutligen, Konolfingen, Linden, Niederhünigen, Oberdiessbach
Website www.freimettigen.ch
SFSO statistics
Freimettigen

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

Contents

History

Freimettigen is first mentioned in 1282 as Vrimuotingen.[3]

Geography

Freimettigen has an area, as of 2009, of 2.95 km2 (1.14 sq mi). Of this area, 1.88 km2 (0.73 sq mi) or 63.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.88 km2 (0.34 sq mi) or 29.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.17 km2 (0.066 sq mi) or 5.8% is settled (buildings or roads).[4]

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 3.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.0%. 28.8% of the total land area is heavily forested. Of the agricultural land, 35.9% is used for growing crops and 26.4% is pastures, while 1.4% is used for orchards or vine crops.[4]

The municipality is located on the north-west slope of the Kurzenberg, and a portion is in the Kiesen Valley. It includes the village of Freimettigen, the hamlet Dessikofen and scattered individual farm houses.

Demographics

Freimettigen has a population (as of 31 December 2010) of 432.[1] As of 2007, 3.1% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -11.5%. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (94.1%), with Spanish being second most common ( 2.8%) and English being third ( 1.5%).

In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 45.4% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the local small left-wing parties (11.1%), the SPS (11%) and the CSP (10.5%).

The age distribution of the population (as of 2000) is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 29.2% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 61.5% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 9.2%. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Freimettigen about 86.3% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).

Freimettigen has an unemployment rate of 0.2%. As of 2005, there were 46 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 17 businesses involved in this sector. 0 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 0 businesses in this sector. 17 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 5 businesses in this sector.[5] The historical population is given in the following table:[3]

year population
1764 86
1850 227
1900 207
1950 290
2000 390

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 Freimettigen 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