Ferenbalm 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....

.

History

Ferenbalm is first mentioned in 1123 as villa de Balmis. Since the 16th Century it was called Feren-Balm to differenate it from Oberbalm.

Geography

Ferenbalm has an area, , of 9.18 km² (3.5 sq mi). Of this area, 6.27 km² (2.4 sq mi) or 68.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 1.75 km² (0.675678777536936 sq mi) or 19.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.05 km² (0.405407266522162 sq mi) or 11.4% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.15 km² (37.1 acre) or 1.6% is either rivers or lakes and 0.01 km² (2.5 acre) or 0.1% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 5.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 5.7%. 17.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.3% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 54.2% is used for growing crops and 12.3% is pastures, while 1.7% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams.

Ferenbalm lies on the plateau

Plateau

In geology and earth science, a plateau , also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain. A highly eroded plateau is called a dissected plateau...

 between the Saane and Bibern rivers. The municipality does not have a central town; it is instead made up of the villages of Ferenbalm, Vogelbuch, Kleingümmenen, Rizenbach, Biberen, Jerisberg, Jerisberghof, Haselhof and the exclave Gammen.

Demographics

Ferenbalm has a population (as of ) of . , 4.0% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -1.1%. Most of the population speaks German (95.7%), with French being second most common ( 1.0%) and Italian 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 48.2% 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....

 (16.7%), 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....

 (9.5%) 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:...

 (8.8%).

The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 23.6% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 63.2% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.2%. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Ferenbalm about 79.1% 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...

).

Ferenbalm has an unemployment rate of 1.05%. , there were 138 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 43 businesses involved in this sector. 113 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 19 businesses in this sector. 118 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 21 businesses in this sector.
The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1764	488
1850	983
1900	1,114
1930	858
1950	1,036
2000	1,262