Willadingen 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
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 ...
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
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
Willadingen is first mentioned in 1214 as ''Willedingen''.
[
The oldest evidence of humans in the municipal area are some ]neolithic
The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...
s in the Neumatt area, followed by a grave or a graveyard in Wigglismoos. The small community has always been politically, economically and religiously dependent on Koppigen. Today it is part of the Koppigen school district and 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 ...
. The close connection to Koppigen probably came about under Peter of Thorberg who bought land in the village from Ulrich of Urtinen in 1374. After his death in 1397, the Thorberg Charterhouse, which he had helped found, inherited all of his land. After the city 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 ...
accepted the Protestant Reformation
The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...
and secularized the Chapterhouse in 1528, Bern acquired the village. Under Bernese rule Willadingen became part of the district of Koppigen.[
The rural village has remained mostly agricultural with very little industry. In 2000, almost three-quarters of the working population commuted to jobs in nearby cities.][
]
Geography
Willadingen has an area of . Of this area, or 68.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 28.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 4.6% is settled (buildings or roads).[Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics]
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 4.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.5%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 51.9% is used for growing crops and 16.7% is pastures.[
The municipality is located along the Ösch river, on the border with the ]Canton of Solothurn
The canton of Solothurn or canton of Soleure (; ; ; ) is a Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Switzerland. It is located in the northwest of Switzerland. The capital is Solothurn.
History
The village of ''Salodurum'' was founded in the time of t ...
. It consists of the village of Willadingen, 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 Mösli and Moosgasse and the new housing development of Lischmatt.
On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Burgdorf, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Emmental.[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 ''Argent a Bull Sable horned and hoofed Or.''
Demographics
Willadingen has a population () of . , 1.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals.[Statistical office of the Canton of Bern]
accessed 4 January 2012 Over the last 10 years (2000-2010) the population has changed at a rate of 11.3%. Migration accounted for 15.3%, while births and deaths accounted for 0.6%.
accessed 24-September-2012German
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 ...
(169 or 98.8%) as their first language. There is one 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 ...
speaker and one Portuguese speaker.[
, the population was 50.5% male and 49.5% female. The population was made up of 99 Swiss men (50.5% of the population) and (0.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 95 Swiss women (48.5%) and 2 (1.0%) non-Swiss women.][
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 18.9% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 62.2% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 18.9%.][
, there were 67 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 79 married individuals, 13 widows or widowers and 12 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 19 households that consist of only one person and 3 households with five or more people. , a total of 72 apartments (88.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 5 apartments (6.2%) were seasonally occupied and 4 apartments (4.9%) 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 5.1 new units per 1000 residents.[ The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.08%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
Sights
The entire village of Willadingen is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
The Federal Inventory of Heritage Sites (ISOS) is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage.
Sites of national importance
Types
The types are based on t ...
.
Politics
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 45% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (21.1%), the Social Democratic Party (SP) (11.6%) and the Green Liberal Party (GLP) (5.9%). In the federal election, a total of 98 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 59.8%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election]
accessed 8 May 2012
Economy
, Willadingen had an unemployment rate of 1.1%. , there were a total of 38 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 22 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 8 businesses involved in this sector. 9 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 3 businesses in this sector. 7 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 2 businesses in this sector.[
there were a total of 28 ]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 15, all in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 8 of which 1 was in manufacturing and 7 were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 5. In the tertiary sector; 1 was in trade, sale or the repair of motor vehicles and 4 were in a hotel or restaurant.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Betriebszählung: Arbeitsstätten nach Gemeinde und NOGA 2008 (Abschnitte), Sektoren 1-3
accessed 28 January 2011
, there were 10 workers who commuted into the municipality and 76 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 7.6 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 5.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 59.2% used a private car.[
]
Religion
From the , 9 or 5.3% 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 153 or 89.5% 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 ...
. 8 (or about 4.68% 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 1 individuals (or about 0.58% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Willadingen about 65 or (38.0%) 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 35 or (20.5%) 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 35 who completed tertiary schooling, 71.4% were Swiss men, 28.6% were Swiss women.[
During the 2010-11 school year, there were no students attending school in Willadingen.][Schuljahr 2010/11 pdf document]
accessed 4 January 2012
, there were 19 students from Willadingen who attended schools outside the municipality.[
]
References
{{Authority control
Municipalities of the canton of Bern