Includes the area of Balm bei Messen

Balm bei Messen

Balm bei Messen was a municipality in the district of Bucheggberg in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. On 1 January 2010 the municipalities of Balm bei Messen, Brunnenthal and Oberramsern merged into the municipality of Messen.-History:...

, Brunnenthal

Brunnenthal, Switzerland

Brunnenthal was a municipality in the district of Bucheggberg, in the canton of Solothurn, Switzerland. On 1 January 2010 the municipalities of Balm bei Messen, Brunnenthal and Oberramsern merged into the municipality of Messen.-History:...

 and Oberramsern

Oberramsern

Oberramsern was a municipality in the district of Bucheggberg in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. On 1 January 2010, the municipalities of Balm bei Messen, Brunnenthal and Oberramsern merged into the municipality of Messen.-History:...

 which merged into Messen

Messen

Messen is a municipality in the district of Bucheggberg, in the canton of Solothurn, Switzerland. On 1 January 2010 the municipalities of Balm bei Messen, Brunnenthal and Oberramsern merged into the municipality of Messen.-History:...

 1 January 2010.

Mergers

On 1 January 1961 the former municipalities of Lüterkofen and Ichertswil merged to form the new municipality of Lüterkofen-Ichertswil.

On 1 January 1995 the former municipalities of Gächliwil and Lüterswil merged to form the new municipality of Lüterswil-Gächliwil.

On 1 January 2010 the municipalities of Balm bei Messen

Balm bei Messen

Balm bei Messen was a municipality in the district of Bucheggberg in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. On 1 January 2010 the municipalities of Balm bei Messen, Brunnenthal and Oberramsern merged into the municipality of Messen.-History:...

, Brunnenthal

Brunnenthal, Switzerland

Brunnenthal was a municipality in the district of Bucheggberg, in the canton of Solothurn, Switzerland. On 1 January 2010 the municipalities of Balm bei Messen, Brunnenthal and Oberramsern merged into the municipality of Messen.-History:...

, and Oberramsern

Oberramsern

Oberramsern was a municipality in the district of Bucheggberg in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. On 1 January 2010, the municipalities of Balm bei Messen, Brunnenthal and Oberramsern merged into the municipality of Messen.-History:...

 merged into the municipality of Messen.

Geography

Bucheggberg district has an area, , of 62.81 square kilometres (24.3 sq mi). Of this area, 36.8 km² (14.2 sq mi) or 58.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 20.09 km² (7.8 sq mi) or 32.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 5.35 km² (2.1 sq mi) or 8.5% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.53 km² (0.204634144054044 sq mi) or 0.8% is either rivers or lakes and 0.04 km² (9.9 acre) or 0.1% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 4.3% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.9%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 57.2% is used for growing crops, while 1.4% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

Coat of arms

The blazon

Blazon

In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...

 of the municipal coat of arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

 is Or three Roses Gules barbed and seeded proper in pale.

Demographics

Bucheggberg district has a population of .

Most of the population speaks German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 (6,909 or 97.4%), with French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 being second most common (63 or 0.9%) and English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 being third (15 or 0.2%). There are 4 people who speak Romansh.

, the gender distribution of the population was 50.0% male and 50.0% female. The population was made up of 3,606 Swiss men (47.1% of the population) and 219 (2.9%) non-Swiss men. There were 3,639 Swiss women (47.5%) and 193 (2.5%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the district 2,524 or about 35.6% were born in the district and lived there in 2000. There were 1,556 or 21.9% who were born in the same canton, while 2,483 or 35.0% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 356 or 5.0% were born outside of Switzerland.

In there were 77 live births to Swiss citizens and 4 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 55 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 22 while the foreign population increased by 4. There were 4 Swiss men and 8 Swiss women who immigrated back to Switzerland. At the same time, there were 17 non-Swiss men and 17 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 34 and the non-Swiss population increased by 33 people. This represents a population growth rate of 0.9%.

, there were 2,935 people who were single and never married in the district. There were 3,499 married individuals, 371 widows or widowers and 287 individuals who are divorced.

There were 663 households that consist of only one person and 239 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 2,789 households that answered this question, 23.8% were households made up of just one person and 23 were adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 858 married couples without children, 1,035 married couples with children There were 117 single parents with a child or children. There were 35 households that were made up unrelated people and 58 households that were made some sort of institution or another collective housing.

The historical population is given in the following chart:

Politics

In the 2007 federal election

Swiss federal election, 2007

Elections to the Swiss Federal Assembly, the federal parliament of Switzerland, were held on Sunday, 21 October 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, and 25 November 2007...

 the most popular party was the FDP

FDP.The Liberals

FDP.The Liberals is a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It is the joint-largest party in the Federal Council, third-largest party in the National Council, and second-largest in the Council of States....

 which received 33.63% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were 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...

 (25.26%), the SP

Social Democratic Party of Switzerland

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

 (20.85%) 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:...

 (9.89%). In the federal election, a total of 3,113 votes were cast, and the voter turnout

Voter turnout

Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...

 was 53.5%.

Religion

From the , 793 or 11.2% were Roman Catholic, while 5,269 or 74.3% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church

Swiss Reformed Church

The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...

. Of the rest of the population, there were 16 members of an Orthodox church

Orthodox Christianity

The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...

 (or about 0.23% of the population), there were 28 individuals (or about 0.39% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church

Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland

The Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland is the Swiss member church of the Union of Utrecht, also known as Old Catholic Church, originally founded by the jansenists, with a later influx of discontented Catholics following their disappointment with the First Vatican Council. It has 14,000...

, and there were 85 individuals (or about 1.20% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 32 (or about 0.45% of the population) who were Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic. There were 9 individuals who were Buddhist

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

 and 2 individuals who belonged to another church. 723 (or about 10.19% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic

Agnosticism

Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....

 or atheist

Atheism

Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...

, and 135 individuals (or about 1.90% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Bucheggberg about 2,933 or (41.4%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 984 or (13.9%) have completed 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...

). Of the 984 who completed tertiary schooling, 72.5% were Swiss men, 24.6% were Swiss women, 1.9% were non-Swiss men and 1.0% were non-Swiss women.