Lauperswil 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 Emmental

Emmental (administrative district)

Emmental District in the Canton of Bern was created on 1 January 2010. It is part of the Emmental-Oberaargau administrative region. It contains 42 municipalities with an area of and a population of 93,082....

 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

Lauperswil has an area, , of 21.21 km² (8.2 sq mi). Of this area, 11.9 km² (4.6 sq mi) or 56.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 7.48 km² (2.9 sq mi) or 35.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.61 km² (0.621624475333981 sq mi) or 7.6% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.12 km² (29.7 acre) or 0.6% is either rivers or lakes and 0.03 km² (7.4 acre) or 0.1% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 3.3% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.6%. 32.7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.5% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 16.1% is used for growing crops and 38.1% is pastures, while 1.9% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams.

The municipality includes the village of Lauperswil on the left bank of the Emme River

Emme River

The Emme is a river in Switzerland. It rises in the Alps between the peaks of Hohgant and Augstmatthorn in the canton of Bern. The Emme is 80 kilometers long and flows through the Emmental and into the Aar below Solothurn. The drainage area is 983 km². The average discharge at the mouth is...

 and part of the toll bridge

Toll bridge

A toll bridge is a bridge over which traffic may pass upon payment of a toll, or fee.- History :The practice of collecting tolls on bridges probably harks back to the days of ferry crossings where people paid a fee to be ferried across stretches of water. As boats became impractical to carry large...

 over the Emme (the northern part of the bridge belongs to Rüderswil

Rüderswil

Rüderswil is a municipality in the administrative district of Emmental in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.-Geography:Rüderswil has an area, , of . Of this area, or 68.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 23.7% is forested...

). The small settlements of Emmenmatt, Bomatt, Mungnau and Obermatt, and the 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...

 of Wittenbach, Längenbach and Ebnit as well as individual farm houses on both sides of the Emme also belong to the municipality. In 1889, Lauperswil acquired the section known as the Wittenbachviertel (Wittenbach quarter) from Rüderswil.

Demographics

Lauperswil has a population (as of ) of . , 3.3% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -2.8%. Most of the population speaks German (96.9%), with Albanian being second most common ( 1.0%) and French being third ( 0.3%).

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 57.6% 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....

 (10.9%), the local small left-wing parties (8.5%) 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:...

 (7.8%).

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 57.8% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16%. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Lauperswil about 64.7% 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...

).

Lauperswil has an unemployment rate of 0.8%. , there were 349 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 119 businesses involved in this sector. 465 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 41 businesses in this sector. 436 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 61 businesses in this sector.
The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1764	1,425
1850	2,816
1900	2,631
1950	2,848
2000	2,681

External links