Golaten is a municipality

Municipalities of Switzerland

Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...

 in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district

Bern-Mittelland (administrative district)

Bern-Mittelland District in the Canton of Bern was created on 1 January 2010. It is part of the Bern-Mittelland administrative region, and is the only district in the region...

 in the canton

Cantons of Switzerland

The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...

 of Bern in Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

.

History

Golaten is first mentioned in 983-93 as Gulada. In 1277 it was mentioned as Golatun.

Geography

Golaten has an area, , of 2.8 km² (1.1 sq mi). Of this area, 1.43 km² (0.552126086787325 sq mi) or 51.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.57 km² (0.220078230397745 sq mi) or 20.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.23 km² (0.0888034964762831 sq mi) or 8.2% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.29 km² (0.111969625991835 sq mi) or 10.4% is either rivers or lakes and 0.26 km² (0.100386561234059 sq mi) or 9.3% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 5.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.4%. 19.3% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.1% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 31.4% is used for growing crops and 13.2% is pastures, while 6.4% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 8.2% is in lakes and 2.1% is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 9.3% is unproductive vegetation.

There are two towns within the municipality, Golaten and Lachen and multiple small groups of farm houses (ex. Mannenwil, Wittenberg).

Golaten lies in the Swiss plateau

Swiss plateau

The Swiss Plateau or Central Plateau constitutes one of the three major landscapes in Switzerland alongside the Jura mountains and the Swiss Alps. It covers about 30% of the Swiss surface...

 on the reservoir

Reservoir

A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...

 Niederried, which makes it a good area for waterfowl

Waterfowl

Waterfowl are certain wildfowl of the order Anseriformes, especially members of the family Anatidae, which includes ducks, geese, and swans....

. On the southeastern edge of the municipality the Aare and Saane

Saâne

The Saâne is a river of Normandy, France, in length, flowing through the department of Seine-Maritime.- Geography :The Saâne has its source in the Pays de Caux in the territory of the hamlet of Varvannes, in the commune of Val-de-Saâne...

 rivers flow together.

Demographics

Golaten has a population (as of ) of . , 6.2% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -8.1%. Most of the population speaks German (94.3%), with Albanian being second most common ( 2.7%) and Portuguese being third ( 1.2%).

In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP

Swiss People's Party

The Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...

 which received 62.2% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP

Free Democratic Party of Switzerland

The Free Democratic Party was a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It was one of the major parties in Switzerland until its merger with the smaller classical liberal Liberal Party, to form FDP.The Liberals on 1 January 2009....

 (12.4%), the local small left-wing parties (5.6%) and the SPS

Social Democratic Party of Switzerland

The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (5.2%).

The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 26.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 60.4% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.3%. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Golaten about 71.2% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule

Fachhochschule

A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...

).

Golaten has an unemployment rate of 0.09%. , there were 103 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 23 businesses involved in this sector. 12 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 3 businesses in this sector. 29 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 6 businesses in this sector.
The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1764	139
1850	370
1900	330
1950	317
2000	331