Bärschwil is a
village
A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...
and
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 district of
Thierstein in the
canton
Canton may refer to:
Administrative divisions
* Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries
* Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French
Arts and entertainment
* Canton (band), an It ...
of
Solothurn
Solothurn ( ; ; ; ; ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the north-west of Switzerland on the banks of the Aare and on the foot of the Weissenstein Jura mountains.
The town is ...
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
Bärschwil is first mentioned in 1194 as ''Bermeswile''.
[
From the 19th century until 1957, Bärschwil was a source of ]gypsum
Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate Hydrate, dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, drywall and blackboard or sidewalk ...
. Initially, the gypsum was extracted on the surface but, subsequently, using underground mines accessed via adit
An adit (from Latin ''aditus'', entrance) or stulm
is a horizontal or nearly horizontal passage to an underground mine.
Miners can use adits for access, drainage, ventilation, and extracting minerals at the lowest convenient level. Adits are a ...
s. Until 1910, the mine was situated at Gupf and, when that was exhausted, a new mine was opened at Kirchacker.[
]
Geography
Bärschwil has an area, , of . Of this area, or 41.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 52.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 5.0% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.2% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.3% is unproductive land.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics]
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.8%. Out of the forested land, 49.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 5.1% is used for growing crops and 31.7% is pastures, while 2.3% is used for orchards or vine crops and 2.2% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.[
The municipality is located in the Thierstein district, in a side valley off the ]Birs
The Birs (French: ''Birse'') is a long river in Switzerland that flows through the Jura region and ends as a tributary to the Rhine between Basel and Birsfelden. It is the most important river of the Swiss Jura.
Course
The Birs has its sour ...
river. It consists of the village of Bärschwil and the hamlets
A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...
of Wiler and Schmelzi.
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 ''Per fess Azure a Fish naiant Argent and of the last a Crozier Gules.''
Demographics
Bärschwil has a population () of . , 3.8% of the population are resident foreign nationals.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Superweb database – Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008]
accessed 19 June 2010 Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of -0.5%. It has changed at a rate of 1.4% due to migration and at a rate of -2.2% due to births and deaths.
accessed 9 April 2011German
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 ...
(831 or 95.3%), with French
French may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France
** French people, a nation and ethnic group
** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices
Arts and media
* The French (band), ...
being second most common (9 or 1.0%) and English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Culture, language and peoples
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
* ''English'', an Amish ter ...
being third (9 or 1.0%). There is 1 person who speaks Romansh.[
, the gender distribution of the population was 52.4% male and 47.6% female. The population was made up of 425 Swiss men (48.9% of the population) and 30 (3.5%) non-Swiss men. There were 393 Swiss women (45.2%) and 21 (2.4%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 446 or about 51.1% were born in Bärschwil and lived there in 2000. There were 94 or 10.8% who were born in the same canton, while 252 or 28.9% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 70 or 8.0% were born outside of Switzerland.][
In , there were 4 live births to Swiss citizens and were 5 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 1 while the foreign population remained the same. There were 3 Swiss men and 2 Swiss women who immigrated back to Switzerland. At the same time, there was 1 non-Swiss woman who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population remained the same in 2008 and the non-Swiss population remained the same. This represents a ]population growth rate
Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 8.2 billion in 2025. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 70 million annu ...
of 0.0%.[
The age distribution, , in Bärschwil is; 50 children or 5.7% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 176 teenagers or 20.2% are between 7 and 19. Of the adult population, 46 people or 5.3% of the population are between 20 and 24 years old. 236 people or 27.1% are between 25 and 44, and 231 people or 26.5% are between 45 and 64. The senior population distribution is 110 people or 12.6% of the population are between 65 and 79 years old and there are 23 people or 2.6% who are over 80.
, there were 366 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 422 married individuals, 46 widows or widowers and 38 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 – 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 338 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household.[ There were 88 households that consist of only one person and 36 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 338 households that answered this question, 26.0% were households made up of just one person and there were 6 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 94 married couples without children, 127 married couples with children There were 14 single parents with a child or children. There were 9 households that were made up of unrelated people.][
, there were 205 single family homes (or 69.0% of the total) out of a total of 297 inhabited buildings. There were 36 multi-family buildings (12.1%), along with 53 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (17.8%) and 3 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (1.0%). Of the single family homes 39 were built before 1919, while 25 were built between 1990 and 2000.][Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB – Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 – Gebäude und Wohnungen]
accessed 28 January 2011
, there were 364 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 5 rooms of which there were 113. There were 4 single room apartments and 172 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 335 apartments (92.0% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 12 apartments (3.3%) were seasonally occupied and 17 apartments (4.7%) were empty.[ , the construction rate of new housing units was 1.2 new units per 1000 residents.][ The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 4.42%.][
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
Politics
In the 2007 federal election, the most popular party was the SVP which received 35.45% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (24.77%), the FDP (21.91%) and the SP (9.33%). In the federal election, a total of 365 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 50.9%.
Economy
, Bärschwil had an unemployment rate of 2.6%. , there were 49 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 22 businesses involved in this sector. 52 people were employed in the secondary sector
In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructi ...
and there were 12 businesses in this sector. 25 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 11 businesses in this sector.[ There were 433 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 37.4% of the workforce.
, the total number of ]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 was 97. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 32, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 47 of which 19 or (40.4%) were in manufacturing and 28 (59.6%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 18. In the tertiary sector; 2 or 11.1% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 4 or 22.2% were in the movement and storage of goods, 4 or 22.2% were in a hotel or restaurant, 6 or 33.3% were in education.
, there were 40 workers who commuted into the municipality and 331 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 8.3 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 26.1% used public transportation to get to work, and 56.4% used a private car.[
]
Religion
From the , 645 or 74.0% 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 ...
, while 81 or 9.3% 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 ...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 2 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.23% of the population), there were 10 individuals (or about 1.15% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 13 individuals (or about 1.49% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 7 (or about 0.80% of the population) who were Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
ic. There was 1 person who was Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
and 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 ...
. 95 (or about 10.89% 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 17 individuals (or about 1.95% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Bärschwil about 291 or (33.4%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education
Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education.
Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...
, and 48 or (5.5%) 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 48 who completed tertiary schooling, 77.1% were Swiss men, 16.7% were Swiss women.[
During the 2010–2011 school year, there were a total of 45 students in the Bärschwil school system. The ]education system
The educational system generally refers to the structure of all institutions and the opportunities for obtaining education within a country. It includes all pre-school institutions, starting from family education, and/or early childhood education ...
in the Canton of Solothurn allows young children to attend two years 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 ...
. During that school year, there were children in kindergarten. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
, with some of the children attending smaller, specialized classes. In the municipality there were 45 students in primary school. The secondary school
A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...
program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling, followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. All the lower secondary students from Bärschwil attend their school in a neighboring municipality.Canton of Solothurn – School statistics
accessed 13 March 2011
, there were 37 students in Bärschwil who came from another municipality, while 62 residents attended schools outside the municipality.[
]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barschwil
Municipalities of the canton of Solothurn