Ins, Switzerland
Encyclopedia
Ins 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 Seeland administrative district
Seeland (administrative district)
Seeland District in the Canton of Bern was created on 1 January 2010. It is part of the Seeland administrative region. It contains 46 municipalities with an area of and a population of 67,209....

 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....

.

Geography

Ins has an area, , of 23.86 km² (9.2 sq mi). Of this area, 15.93 km² (6.2 sq mi) or 66.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 5.01 km² (1.9 sq mi) or 21.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.28 km² (0.88031292159098 sq mi) or 9.6% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.38 km² (0.146718820265163 sq mi) or 1.6% is either rivers or lakes and 0.3 km² (0.115830647577761 sq mi) or 1.3% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 4.3% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.0%. 20.0% of the total land area is heavily forested. Of the agricultural land, 59.7% is used for growing crops and 6.1% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 1.2% is unproductive vegetation.

Ins is located on the southern slope of the Schaltenrain (592 m (1,942.3 ft)) and stretches over part of the Grosses Moos, a particularly productive area with nearly black soil in the Bernese Seeland
Seeland (Switzerland)
Seeland is a region in Switzerland, at the foot of the first mountain range of the Jura Mountains containing the 3 lakes of Morat , Neuchâtel and Bienne . In previous aeras, it was the floodplain of the Aare and is thus swampy. After the huge hydrological works Jura water correction, the area...

. On the south it is bordered by Lake Neuchatel
Lake Neuchâtel
Lake Neuchâtel is a lake in Romandy, Switzerland . The lake lies mainly in the canton of Neuchâtel, but is also shared by the cantons of Vaud, of Fribourg, and of Bern....

 and the Broye Canal. It includes the settlement of Witzwil im Moos and several scattered, individual farm houses.

Despite being a small municipality, Ins serves as a center for the neighbouring communities, which are even smaller in both population and area. Ins lies at the end of the Biel-Täuffelen
Täuffelen
Täuffelen is a municipality in the Seeland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.-Geography:Täuffelen has an area of . Of this area, 60.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 12% is forested...

-Ins (BTI) rail line, and is also served by the Ins-Erlach
Erlach, Switzerland
Erlach is the capital municipality of the Seeland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.-History:Erlach is first mentioned in 1185 as Erilacho and in 1274 as Cellie. In French it was called Cerlier. In 1264/66 Erlach received a Handfeste or document of rights from Count...

 postbus.

Demographics

Ins has a population (as of ) of . , 12.3% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 16.6%. Most of the population speaks German (91.1%), with French being second most common ( 3.6%) and Albanian being third ( 1.0%).

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 40.4% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (18.8%), the Green Party
Green Party of Switzerland
The Green Party of Switzerland is the fifth-largest party in the National Council of Switzerland, and the largest party that is not represented on the Federal Council.-History:...

 (14.4%) and 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....

 (13.5%).

The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 24.8% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 57.3% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 17.8%. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Ins about 77.4% 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...

).

Ins has an unemployment rate of 0.78%. , there were 281 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 60 businesses involved in this sector. 190 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 25 businesses in this sector. 964 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 118 businesses in this sector.

The historical population is given in the following table:
year population
1700 740
1730 864
1764 723
1798 853
1818 1,041
1850 1,378
1900 1,537
1950 2,233
2000 2,947

Famous residents

The Swiss painter and illustrator Albert Anker
Albert Anker
Albert Samuel Anker was a Swiss painter and illustrator who has been called the "national painter" of Switzerland because of his enduringly popular depictions of 19th-century Swiss village life.-Life:...

lived in Ins until his death in 1910.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK