Kirchdorf, Switzerland
Encyclopedia
Kirchdorf 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....

.

Geography

Kirchdorf has an area, , of 6.13 km² (2.4 sq mi). Of this area, 4.16 km² (1.6 sq mi) or 67.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 1.09 km² (0.420851352865863 sq mi) or 17.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.7 km² (0.270271511014775 sq mi) or 11.4% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.11 km² (27.2 acre) or 1.8% is either rivers or lakes and 0.04 km² (9.9 acre) or 0.7% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 3.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.6%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 4.9% of the area 17.0% of the total land area is heavily forested. Of the agricultural land, 41.3% is used for growing crops and 22.3% is pastures, while 4.2% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is in lakes.

The municipality includes the village of Kirchdorf together with other hamlets
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

 and individual houses. It is located on a terrace between the Aare valley and the Gürbetal
Gürbetal
Gürbetal in Switzerland lies between the cities of Bern and Thun, west of the Aare river. It contains the municipality of Seftigen and those that surround it. The valley is named after the Gürbe river which flows through it. The largest town in the Gürbe valley is Belp...

 (Gürbe valley), it also is bordered by Gerzensee
Gerzensee (lake)
Gerzensee is a lake in Canton of Berne, Switzerland. Its surface area is 0.25 km².It gives the name to the village of Gerzensee....

 Lake. The parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

 of Kirchdorf includes Gelterfingen
Gelterfingen
Gelterfingen is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.-History:Gelterfingen is first mentioned in 1345 as Geltolfingen und die Weiler Kramburg und Eggenhorn.-Geography:...

, Jaberg
Jaberg
Jaberg is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.-Geography:Jaberg has an area, , of . Of this area, or 51.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 22.7% is forested...

, Kienersrüti
Kienersrüti
Kienersrüti is a municipality in the administrative district of Thun in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.It is the third-smallest independent municipality in the canton. It is rural in character and its economy based mostly on farming. A regional popular saying names it "the one street lantern...

, Mühledorf, Noflen
Noflen
Noflen is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.-Geography:Noflen has an area, , of . Of this area, or 81.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 13.6% is forested...

 and Uttigen
Uttigen
Uttigen is a municipality in the administrative district of Thun in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.-Geography:Uttigen has an area of . Of this area, 44.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 33.2% is forested...

.

Demographics

Kirchdorf has a population (as of ) of . , 2.1% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 9.1%. Most of the population speaks German (96.7%), with French being second most common ( 1.2%) and Rhaeto-romance being third ( 0.4%).

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 43.1% 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....

 (16.2%), 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:...

 (12.9%) and the local small left-wing parties (10%).

The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 27.7% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 58.4% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.9%. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Kirchdorf about 84.7% 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...

).

Kirchdorf has an unemployment rate of 0.78%. , there were 96 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 27 businesses involved in this sector. 42 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 13 businesses in this sector. 136 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 25 businesses in this sector.
The historical population is given in the following table:
year population
1764 326
1850 679
1880 710
1900 605
1930 589
1950 640
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