Homberg, Switzerland

Not to be confused with Homburg, Switzerland.
Homberg
Country Switzerland
Canton Bern
District Thun
Coordinates
Population 500 (Dec 2010)[1]
- Density 77 /km2 (199 /sq mi)
Area  6.5 km2 (2.5 sq mi)[2]
Elevation 941 m (3,087 ft)
Postal code 3622
SFOS number 0931
Surrounded by Fahrni, Heiligenschwendi, Horrenbach-Buchen, Schwendibach, Steffisburg, Teuffenthal, Thun, Unterlangenegg
Website www.homberg.ch
SFSO statistics
Homberg

Homberg is a municipality in the administrative district of Thun in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

Contents

Geography

Homberg has an area, as of 2009, of 6.5 km2 (2.5 sq mi). Of this area, 4.11 km2 (1.59 sq mi) or 63.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 2.08 km2 (0.80 sq mi) or 32.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.28 km2 (0.11 sq mi) or 4.3% is settled (buildings or roads) and 0.01 km2 (2.5 acres) or 0.2% is unproductive land.[3]

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.2%. 30.6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 15.5% is used for growing crops and 46.0% is pastures, while 1.7% is used for orchards or vine crops.[3]

The municipality is located on the left side of the Zulg valley. It includes the hamlets of Dreiligass, Enzenbühl, Huckhaus and Fuhren along with scattered farm houses.

Demographics

Homberg has a population (as of 31 December 2010) of 500.[1] As of 2007, 1.4% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 1.6%. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (97.3%), with Albanian being second most common ( 1.0%) and Serbo-Croatian being third ( 0.6%).

In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 59.5% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the local small left-wing parties (15.3%), the CSP (6.8%) and the SPS (6.6%).

The age distribution of the population (as of 2000) is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 28.7% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 55.9% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 15.5%. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Homberg about 70.1% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).

Homberg has an unemployment rate of 0.63%. As of 2005, there were 104 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 38 businesses involved in this sector. 17 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 6 businesses in this sector. 44 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 9 businesses in this sector.[4] The historical population is given in the following table:[5]

year population
1764 306
1850 599
1900 501
1950 540
2000 485

Notable residents

Swiss-Bulgarian sports pedagogue Louis-Emil Eyer was born in Homberg.

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 Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics 2009 data (German) accessed 25 March 2010
  4. ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 16-Jul-2009
  5. ^ Homberg in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.