| Lyss | ||||||||||
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| Population | 11,821 (Dec 2010)[1] | |||||||||
| - Density | 1,005 /km2 (2,603 /sq mi) | |||||||||
| Area | 14.83 km2 (5.73 sq mi)[2] | |||||||||
| Elevation | 444 m (1,457 ft) | |||||||||
| Postal code | 3250 | |||||||||
| SFOS number | 0306 | |||||||||
| Mayor | Hermann Moser (as of 2008) FDP/PRD | |||||||||
| Surrounded by | Aarberg, Büetigen, Busswil bei Büren, Diessbach bei Büren, Grossaffoltern, Kappelen, Seedorf, Worben | |||||||||
| Twin towns | Monopoli (Italy) | |||||||||
| Website | www.lyss.ch SFSO statistics |
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Lyss
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Map of Lyss
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Lyss is a municipality in the Seeland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2011, the former municipality of Busswil bei Büren was merged with Lyss.
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Lyss lies on the eastern edge of a wide valley that extends southwest to Lake Murten. West of this valley lie Lake Neuchâtel and Lake Biel, and beyond that the Jura mountains.
The valley is flat and was subject to flooding until 1878, when a major hydraulic engineering project changed the courses of the Aare and the Zihl and lowered the level of the three lakes by 2.5 meters. In addition, water from the Aare, the Broye, the Zihl, and the Schüss was diverted into the Nidau-Büren Canal and the Hagneck Canal.
Lyss has an area, as of 2009[update], of 11.78 km2 (4.55 sq mi). Of this area, 3.56 km2 (1.37 sq mi) or 30.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 3.98 km2 (1.54 sq mi) or 33.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 4.19 km2 (1.62 sq mi) or 35.6% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.05 km2 (12 acres) or 0.4% is either rivers or lakes.[3]
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 6.4% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 14.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 9.6%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 2.5% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 3.1%. 32.9% of the total land area is heavily forested. Of the agricultural land, 21.5% is used for growing crops and 7.2% is pastures, while 1.5% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams.[3]
Lyss was a sleepy agricultural village until the late 19th century, when the arrival of the railroad from Bern to Biel in 1864 and the restructuring of the watershed led to extensive population growth. In 1876, another railway line from Lausanne to Solothurn was built through Lyss. This made the town a rail hub.
Lyss has a population (as of 31 December 2010) of 11,821.[1] As of 2007[update], 15.1% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 9.4%. Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (85.1%), with Italian being second most common ( 3.3%) and Spanish being third ( 2.5%).
The historic population of Lyss is given in the following table:
| Year | Population |
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| 1850 |
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| 1900 |
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| 1920 |
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| 1946 |
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| 2004 |
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In the 2007 election the most popular party was SVP which received 28.5% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS (23.1%), the FDP (20.5%) and the CSP (9.2%).
The age distribution of the population (as of 2000[update]) is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 23.8% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 63.9% and the seniors (over 64 years old) make up 12.3%. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Lyss about 71.2% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).
Lyss has an unemployment rate of 1.65%. As of 2005[update], there were 173 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 23 businesses involved in this agricultural sector. 2717 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 126 businesses in this manufacturing sector. 3145 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 451 businesses in the services sector.[4]