Oberbipp 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 Oberaargau administrative district 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 ...

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

Oberbipp is first mentioned in 968 as ''Pippa''. In 1327 it was mentioned as ''Obern Bipp''.

Geography

Oberbipp has an area, , of . Of this area, or 47.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 39.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 13.0% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.4% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.4% 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 5.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 5.3%. Out of the forested land, 37.7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.9% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 32.0% is used for growing crops and 14.2% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams. The municipality is located on the southern slope of the

Jura mountains The Jura Mountains ( ) are a sub-alpine mountain range a short distance north of the Western Alps and mainly demarcate a long part of the French–Swiss border. While the Jura range proper (" folded Jura", ) is located in France and Switzerla ...

. It includes the village of Oberbipp, the section of Buchli and other scattered settlements.

Demographics

Oberbipp has a population (as of ) of . , 8.9% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 10.4%. Most of the population () speaks German (91.9%), with Albanian being second most common ( 1.8%) and Serbo-Croatian being third ( 1.5%). In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 46% of the vote. The next two most popular parties were the FDP (17.3%), and the SP (17.3%). The age distribution of the population () is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 27.6% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 59.3% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13%. In Oberbipp about 76.5% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either 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 ...

or additional higher education (either university 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 ...

''). Oberbipp has an unemployment rate of 2.24%. , there were 64 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 22 businesses involved in this sector. 181 people are 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 are 14 businesses in this sector. 174 people are 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 30 businesses in this sector.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 21-Jul-2009 The historical population is given in the following table:

References

External links

* {{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Bern