Röthenbach im Emmental

Röthenbach im Emmental
Country Switzerland
Canton Bern
District Emmental
Population 1,277 (Dec 2010)[1]
- Density 35 /km2 (90 /sq mi)
Area  36.79 km2 (14.20 sq mi)[2]
Elevation 824 m (2,703 ft)
Postal code 3538
SFOS number 0904
Localities Dorf, Gauchern, Oberei
Surrounded by Bowil, Buchholterberg, Eggiwil, Eriz, Linden, Oberlangenegg, Schangnau, Signau, Wachseldorn
Website www.roethenbach.ch
SFSO statistics
Röthenbach im Emmental

Röthenbach im Emmental is a municipality in the administrative district of Emmental in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

Contents

History

Röthenbach is first mentioned in 1148 as Rochembac.[3]

Geography

Röthenbach im Emmental has an area, as of 2009, of 36.79 km2 (14.20 sq mi). Of this area, 16.05 km2 (6.20 sq mi) or 43.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 19.34 km2 (7.47 sq mi) or 52.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.21 km2 (0.47 sq mi) or 3.3% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.17 km2 (0.066 sq mi) or 0.5% is either rivers or lakes and 0.04 km2 (9.9 acres) or 0.1% is unproductive land.[4]

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 1.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.5%. 50.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 4.9% is used for growing crops and 27.9% is pastures and 10.6% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams.[4]

The municipality is located in the Röthenbach valley and includes the core village of Röthenbach which the parish church. Also part of the municipality are the hamlets of Ober- and Niederei, and scattered farm houses. The borders also include a mountain, the 1,546 m (5,072 ft) Honegg. The municipality is divided into nine sections (Kreise), each of which elect one member of the town council.

Demographics

Röthenbach has a population (as of 31 December 2010) of 1,277.[1] As of 2007, 1.7% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -3.4%. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (98.8%), with Macedonian being second most common ( 0.5%) and Serbo-Croatian being third ( 0.2%).

In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 73.3% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the local small left-wing parties (11.2%), the FDP (3.6%) and the SPS (3.4%).

The age distribution of the population (as of 2000) is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 29.6% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 54.4% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 15.9%. In Röthenbach about 59.5% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).

Röthenbach has an unemployment rate of 0.9%. As of 2005, there were 369 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 120 businesses involved in this sector. 75 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 16 businesses in this sector. 141 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 37 businesses in this sector.[5] The historical population is given in the following table:[3]

year population
1764 909
1850 1,701
1900 1,525
1950 1,451
2000 1,262

See also

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 Röthenbach 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 15-Jul-2009