Herbligen

Herbligen
Country Switzerland
Canton Bern
District Bern-Mittelland
Coordinates
Population 550 (Dec 2010)[1]
- Density 204 /km2 (528 /sq mi)
Area  2.76 km2 (1.07 sq mi)[2]
Elevation 578 m (1,896 ft)
Postal code 3671
SFOS number 0610
Surrounded by Bleiken bei Oberdiessbach, Brenzikofen, Oberdiessbach, Oppligen, Wichtrach
Website www.herbligen.ch
SFSO statistics
Herbligen

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

Contents

History

Herbligen is first mentioned in 1302 as Herblingen.[3]

Geography

Herbligen has an area, as of 2009, of 2.76 km2 (1.07 sq mi). Of this area, 1.31 km2 (0.51 sq mi) or 47.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 1.1 km2 (0.42 sq mi) or 39.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.32 km2 (0.12 sq mi) or 11.6% is settled (buildings or roads) and 0.01 km2 (2.5 acres) or 0.4% is unproductive land.[4]

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.1% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 5.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 5.1%. 38.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.1% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 25.7% is used for growing crops and 19.2% is pastures, while 2.5% is used for orchards or vine crops.[4]

The municipality is located in the lower Kiesen Valley and includes the hamlets of Herbligen, Hubel and Helisbühl as well as scattered individual farm houses. It is part of the parish of Oberdiessbach.

Demographics

Herbligen has a population (as of 31 December 2010) of 550.[1] As of 2007, 2.4% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 6%. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (98.4%), with French being second most common (0.6%) and Portuguese being third (0.6%).

In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 40.5% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the local small left-wing parties (23.2%), the CSP (12.1%) and the SPS (10.3%).

The age distribution of the population (as of 2000) is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 26.4% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 58.2% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 15.4%. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Herbligen about 81.8% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).

Herbligen has an unemployment rate of 0.86%. As of 2005, there were 46 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 15 businesses involved in this sector. 23 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 6 businesses in this sector. 46 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 11 businesses in this sector.[5] The historical population is given in the following table:[3]

year population
1764 192
1850 355
1900 302
1950 425
2000 500

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 Herbligen 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