Merzligen 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 Seeland administrative district

Seeland (administrative district)

Seeland District in the Canton of Bern was created on 1 January 2010. It is part of the Seeland administrative region. It contains 46 municipalities with an area of and a population of 67,209....

 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

Merzligen has an area, , of 2.28 square kilometre (0.88031292159098 sq mi). Of this area, 1.63 km² (0.629346518505832 sq mi) or 71.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.38 km² (0.146718820265163 sq mi) or 16.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.24 km² (0.0926645180622084 sq mi) or 10.5% is settled (buildings or roads) and 0.01 km² (2.5 acre) or 0.4% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 6.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.5%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 61.8% is used for growing crops and 5.7% is pastures, while 3.9% is used for orchards or vine crops.

Merzligen is located on the heights between Lake Biel

Lake Biel

Lake Biel or Lake Bienne is a lake in the west of Switzerland. Together with Lake Morat and Lake Neuchâtel, it is one of the three large lakes in the Jura region of Switzerland. It lies approximately at , at the language boundary between German & French speaking areas.The lake is 15 km long and up...

 and the Bernese Seeland

Seeland (Switzerland)

Seeland is a region in Switzerland, at the foot of the first mountain range of the Jura Mountains containing the 3 lakes of Morat , Neuchâtel and Bienne . In previous aeras, it was the floodplain of the Aare and is thus swampy. After the huge hydrological works Jura water correction, the area...

. It includes the village of Merzligen and part of the hamlet

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 St. Niklaus (the other part belongs to Bellmund

Bellmund

Bellmund is a municipality in the Biel/Bienne administrative districtin the canton of Bern in Switzerland. The Knebelburg, as the site of a High Medieval fortification and a prehistorical hill dwelling, is a heritage site of national significance.-History:...

).

Demographics

Merzligen has a population (as of ) of . , 2.7% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 4.7%. Most of the population speaks German (91.5%), with French being second most common ( 6.1%) and Italian being third ( 0.5%).

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 31.6% 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....

 (21.7%), 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....

 (17.4%) 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:...

 (10.7%).

The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 23.4% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 62.8% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.9%. In Merzligen about 80.8% 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...

).

Merzligen has an unemployment rate of 0.46%. , there were 27 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 12 businesses involved in this sector. 5 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 4 businesses in this sector. 16 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 8 businesses in this sector.
The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1764	97
1850	198
1900	210
1950	230
2000	411