Wattenwil 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 administrative district of Thun

Thun (administrative district)

Thun District in the Canton of Bern was created on 1 January 2010. It is part of the Oberland administrative region. It contains 35 municipalities with an area of and a population of 103,233....

 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

Wattenwil has an area of 14.5 km² (5.6 sq mi). Of this area, 42.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 48.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 7.4% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (1.9%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

Demographics

Wattenwil has a population (as of ) of . , 3.2% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 0.5%. Most of the population speaks German (95.6%), with Albanian being second most common ( 0.8%) and Italian 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 39.1% 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....

 (16.4%), the local small left-wing parties (11.1%) and the CSP

Christian Social Party (Switzerland)

The Christian Social Party is a political party in Switzerland. The CSP is more social democratic than the CVP. With the moderate Christian left as its background, the CSP commits itself to social democratic and environmentalist political solutions...

 (10.1%).

The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 26.2% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 56.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 17.7%. In Wattenwil about 72.1% 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...

).

Wattenwil has an unemployment rate of 1.92%. , there were 149 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 49 businesses involved in this sector. 301 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 39 businesses in this sector. 555 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 78 businesses in this sector.