Buchholterberg is a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
in the administrative district of
Thun
Thun () is a List of towns in Switzerland, town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the administrative district of Thun (administrative district), Thun in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Canton of Bern, Bern in Switzerland. ...
in the
canton of
Bern
Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...
in
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
.
History
Buchholterberg is first mentioned in 1268 as ''Bucholtron''.
[
The municipality was gradually settled as farmers moved out from other villages into the villages that would make up Buchholterberg. By 1257 ]Graf
(; feminine: ) is a historical title of the German nobility and later also of the Russian nobility, usually translated as "count". Considered to be intermediate among noble ranks, the title is often treated as equivalent to the British title ...
Ulrich von Buchegg was mentioned as owning some property in the villages. Other Bern
Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...
ese patricians also held lands in the area. In 1399, the entire area was acquired by the city of Bern and added to the Röthenbach District. It was later assigned to the Landvogtei of Signau and then the Konolfingen District before joining the Thun District
Thun District is one of the 26 administrative districts in the canton of Bern, Switzerland. Its capital is the municipality of Thun.
On 1 January 2010, the district's administrative functions were transferred to the newly established and enlarge ...
in 1864. Originally Buchholterberg, Wachseldorn, Süderen and Bleiken were all combined into the Buchholterberg-third of the parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
of Oberdiessbach
Oberdiessbach is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Bern-Mittelland (administrative district), Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Bern (canton), Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2010 ...
. In 1805 parts of Buchholterberg and Wachseldorn-Gützenschwendi merged to form a political municipality and a parish. However, in 1823, they separated into two political municipalities (Buchholterberg and Wachseldorn), but remained a combined parish under Oberdiessbach. In 1860 the independent Buchholterberg parish was created, which included all the municipality along with Wachseldorn.[
Traditionally the local residents practiced seasonal alpine herding where they raised cattle in high meadows during the summer and over wintered on the valley floor. Only a limited number of crops were grown on the valley floor. In 1857-68 a road was built linking the municipality with Steffisburg and the rest of the ]Aare
The Aare () or Aar () is the main tributary of the High Rhine (its discharge even exceeds that of the latter at their confluence) and the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland.
Its total length from its source to i ...
river valley. Other roads eventually connected it to Oberdiessbach and the upper Emmental
The Emmental (, ) is a valley in west-central Switzerland, forming part of the canton of Bern. It is a hilly landscape comprising the basins of the rivers Emme and Ilfis. The region is mostly devoted to farming, particularly dairy farming. The ...
and a PostBus bus route now connects the municipality to Thun
Thun () is a List of towns in Switzerland, town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the administrative district of Thun (administrative district), Thun in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Canton of Bern, Bern in Switzerland. ...
. However, the large, sparsely settled municipality remains very rural and agrarian. In 1990 over half of the residents commuted to jobs in nearby cities and many of the remaining workers were employed in dairy farming.[
There are three primary schools in the municipality, Badhaus, Wangelen and Bruchbühl. The school house in Bruchbühl was built on the site of the first school in the municipality, which opened in 1699. Secondary students travel to the secondary schools in Oberdiessbach or Unterlangenegg.][
]
Geography
Buchholterberg has an area of . As of 2012, a total of or 57.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 34.9% is forested. The rest of the municipality is or 6.3% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.3% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.7% is unproductive land.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics]
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010
During the same year, housing and buildings made up 3.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.3%. All of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 19.6% is used for growing crops and 36.4% is pasturage, while 1.6% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.[
The municipality is located in the hills north-east of ]Thun
Thun () is a List of towns in Switzerland, town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the administrative district of Thun (administrative district), Thun in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Canton of Bern, Bern in Switzerland. ...
, near Rothachen canyon (''Rothachenschlucht''). It includes the village of Heimenschwand, the regions known as ''Obere Allmendgemeinde'', ''Untere Allmendgemeinde'' and the new developments of Heimenegg, Höh and Längmatt. ''Obere Allmendgemeinde'' includes part of Heimenschwand, Zihl and Bätterich. ''Untere Allmendgemeinde'' has the rest of Heimenschwand, Marbach, Schaubhaus, Badhaus, Ibach, Wangelen, Teufenbach, Wyler and Rothachen.
On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Thun, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Thun.[Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz]
accessed 4 April 2011
Coat of arms
The blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...
of the municipal coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
is ''Gules a Base vert and overall a Beech tree eradicated Argent and leaved of the second.''
Demographics
Buchholterberg has a population () of . , 3.6% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Between the last 2 years (2010-2012) the population changed at a rate of 1.4%. Migration accounted for 1.0%, while births and deaths accounted for 0.2%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office]
accessed 14 August 2014
Most of the population () speaks German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
(1,457 or 98.9%) as their first language, Albanian
Albanian may refer to:
*Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular:
**Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans
**Albanian language
**Albanian culture
**Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...
is the second most common (5 or 0.3%) and French is the third (3 or 0.2%). There are 2 people who speak Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
.[
, the population was 49.1% male and 50.9% female. The population was made up of 727 Swiss men (47.8% of the population) and 19 (1.3%) non-Swiss men. There were 754 Swiss women (49.6%) and 20 (1.3%) non-Swiss women.][Statistical office of the Canton of Bern]
accessed 4 January 2012 Of the population in the municipality, 723 or about 49.1% were born in Buchholterberg and lived there in 2000. There were 542 or 36.8% who were born in the same canton, while 89 or 6.0% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 28 or 1.9% were born outside of Switzerland.[
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 22.6% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 60.0% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 17.4%.][
, there were 661 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 683 married individuals, 96 widows or widowers and 33 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 157 households that consist of only one person and 53 households with five or more people. , a total of 514 apartments (85.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 61 apartments (10.2%) were seasonally occupied and 25 apartments (4.2%) were empty.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen]
accessed 28 January 2011 , the construction rate of new housing units was 2.6 new units per 1000 residents.[ The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.7%. In 2012, single family homes made up 33.9% of the total housing in the municipality.
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
Economy
, Buchholterberg had an unemployment rate of 0.59%. , there were a total of 521 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 206 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 82 businesses involved in this sector. 71 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 23 businesses in this sector. 243 people were employed in the tertiary sector
The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the ...
, with 61 businesses in this sector.[ There were 730 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 40.4% of the workforce.
there were a total of 330 ]full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit of measurement that indicates the workload of an employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often use ...
jobs. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 124, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 74 of which 17 or (23.0%) were in manufacturing and 57 (77.0%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 132. In the tertiary sector; 28 or 21.2% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 7 or 5.3% were in the movement and storage of goods, 8 or 6.1% were in a hotel or restaurant, 8 or 6.1% were in the information industry, 2 or 1.5% were the insurance or financial industry, 23 or 17.4% were technical professionals or scientists, 13 or 9.8% were in education and 27 or 20.5% were in health care.
, there were 100 workers who commuted into the municipality and 442 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 4.4 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. A total of 288 workers (74.2% of the 388 total workers in the municipality) both lived and worked in Buchholterberg.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 10.1% used public transportation to get to work, and 58.5% used a private car.[
The local and cantonal tax rate in Buchholterberg is one of the lowest in the canton. In 2012 the average local and cantonal tax rate on a married resident, with two children, of Buchholterberg making 150,000 CHF was 12.1%, while an unmarried resident's rate was 18.1%. For comparison, the average rate for the entire canton in 2011, was 14.2% and 22.0%, while the nationwide average was 12.3% and 21.1% respectively.
In 2010 there were a total of 642 tax payers in the municipality. Of that total, 158 made over 75,000 CHF per year. There were 5 people who made between 15,000 and 20,000 per year. The greatest number of workers, 186, made between 50,000 and 75,000 CHF per year. The average income of the over 75,000 CHF group in Buchholterberg was 114,296 CHF, while the average across all of Switzerland was 131,244 CHF.
In 2011 a total of 1.6% of the population received direct financial assistance from the government.
]
Politics
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 53.7% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (11.7%), the Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland (EDU) (9.8%) and the Social Democratic Party (SP) (5.3%). In the federal election, a total of 659 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...
was 52.7%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election]
accessed 8 May 2012
Religion
From the , 1,175 or 79.8% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The P ...
, while 37 or 2.5% were Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
. Of the rest of the population, there was 1 member of an Orthodox church, and there were 126 individuals (or about 8.55% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 8 (or about 0.54% of the population) who were Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
. There was 1 person who was Hindu
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
. 38 (or about 2.58% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...
or atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
, and 87 individuals (or about 5.91% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Buchholterberg about 56% of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 11.5% have completed additional higher education (either university
A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
or a ''Fachhochschule
A (; plural ), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a Hochschule, German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts, such as engineering, te ...
'').[ Of the 93 who had completed some form of tertiary schooling listed in the census, 75.3% were Swiss men, 20.4% were Swiss women.][
The Canton of Bern school system provides one year of non-obligatory ]Kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...
, followed by six years of Primary school. This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude. Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...
.[Datei der Gemeinde- und Schultabellen]
accessed 23 July 2014
, there were a total of 177 students attending any school in the municipality. Of those, 172 both lived and attended school in the municipality, while 5 students came from another municipality. During the same year, 65 residents attended schools outside the municipality.[
]
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Municipalities of the canton of Bern