Bettenhausen 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 Oberaargau administrative district 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....

. On 1 January 2011, the former municipality of Bollodingen

Bollodingen

Bollodingen is a former municipality in the Oberaargau administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2011 it was merged with the municipality of Bettenhausen.-Geography:...

 was merged with Bettenhausen.

Geography

Bettenhausen, Switzerland has an area, , of 1.98 km² (0.764482274013219 sq mi). Of this area, 1.45 km² (0.559848129959176 sq mi) or 73.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.32 km² (0.123552690749611 sq mi) or 16.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.21 km² (0.0810814533044324 sq mi) or 10.6% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.01 km² (2.5 acre) or 0.5% is either rivers or lakes.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 7.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.5%. 15.7% of the total land area is heavily forested. Of the agricultural land, 60.1% is used for growing crops and 13.1% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams.

Demographics

Bettenhausen has a population (as of ) of . , 2.6% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 7.8%. Most of the population speaks German (98.1%), with French being second most common ( 0.8%) and Turkish 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 49.8% 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....

 (19.7%), 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....

 (11.3%) and 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:...

 (9.6%).

The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 26.7% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 59.6% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.7%. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Bettenhausen about 75.3% 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...

).

Bettenhausen has an unemployment rate of 2.04%. , there were 28 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 9 businesses involved in this sector. 16 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 4 businesses in this sector. 13 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 5 businesses in this sector.
The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1764	143
1850	433
1900	390
1950	395
2000	475

External links