Wiler bei Utzenstorf is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the administrative district of

Emmental The Emmental ( en, Emme Valley) is a valley in west-central Switzerland, forming part of the canton of Bern. It is a hilly landscape comprising the basins of the rivers Emme and Ilfis. The region is mostly devoted to farming, particularly dai ...

in the canton of

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

History

Wiler bei Utzenstorf is first mentioned around 1261–63 as ''Wilere''. The village was first mentioned as a part of the Kyburg district of

Utzenstorf Utzenstorf is a municipality in the administrative district of Emmental in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is regionally famous for its medieval castle, Landshut Castle. History Utzenstorf is first mentioned in 1175 as ''Uzansdorf''. ...

. It was also part of the court and

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

of Utzenstorf. In 1514, the entire district was acquired by the town of

. Under Bernese rule it became part of the

bailiwick A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. The bailiwick is probably modelled on th ...

Landshut Landshut (; bar, Landshuad) is a town in Bavaria in the south-east of Germany. Situated on the banks of the River Isar, Landshut is the capital of Lower Bavaria, one of the seven administrative regions of the Free State of Bavaria. It is also t ...

in Utzenstorf. With the

Act of Mediation The Act of Mediation () was issued by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the French Republic on 19 February 1803 establishing the Swiss Confederation. The act also abolished the previous Helvetic Republic, which had existed since the invasion ...

in 1803, the old bailiwick was dissolved and Wiler became part of the new Fraubrunnen District. In the 19th century many of the local farmers shifted from raising food crops to raising dairy cattle. A dairy farmers' cooperative was established in 1850 and in 1859 a local dairy was built. A new road from Burgdorf to

Solothurn Solothurn ( , ; french: Soleure ; it, Soletta ; rm, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the Capital (political), capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the n ...

was built through the village in 1908. This was followed by a railroad station of the Solothurn-Burgdorf-Thun Railway in 1929. The improved roads and the railroad allowed factories to settle in Wiler. The village began to change from a rural, agricultural village into an industrial and

commuter town A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

. The first village school, shared between Wiler and Zielebach, opened in 1728. In 2010, the schools of Wiler, Utzenstorf,

Bätterkinden Bätterkinden is a municipality in the administrative district of Emmental in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is about north of Bern. History Bätterkinden is first mentioned in 1261 as ''Beturchingen''. During the High Middle Ages the ...

and Zielebach have joined together into the Untere Emme school district.

Geography

Wiler bei Utzenstorf has an area of . Of this area, or 52.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 30.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 15.2% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.0% is either rivers or lakes.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 2.9% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 6.3% and transportation infrastructure made up 5.8%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 40.6% is used for growing crops and 9.4% is pastures, while 2.9% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality is located on the right bank of the

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 long and flows through the Emmental and between Zuchwil and Luterbach into the Aare. The drainage area i ...

. It consists of the village of Wiler bei Utzenstorf and the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of Wilerfeld. On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Fraubrunnen, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Emmental.Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
accessed 4 April 2011

Coat of arms

The

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. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The vis ...

of the municipal

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

is ''Per bend Argent and Vert two Leaves counterchanged.''

Demographics

Wiler bei Utzenstorf has a population () of . , 4.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals.Statistical office of the Canton of Bern
accessed 4 January 2012 Over the last 10 years (2000-2010) the population has changed at a rate of 4%. Migration accounted for 0.8%, while births and deaths accounted for 2.7%.
accessed 20 February 2013 Most of the population () speaks

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

(754 or 96.5%) as their first language,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

is the second most common (10 or 1.3%) and French is the third (8 or 1.0%). , the population was 53.6% male and 46.4% female. The population was made up of 413 Swiss men (50.9% of the population) and 22 (2.7%) non-Swiss men. There were 365 Swiss women (45.0%) and 12 (1.5%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 234 or about 30.0% were born in Wiler bei Utzenstorf and lived there in 2000. There were 342 or 43.8% who were born in the same canton, while 139 or 17.8% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 46 or 5.9% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 19.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 60.8% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 20.1%. , there were 300 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 406 married individuals, 38 widows or widowers and 37 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 98 households that consist of only one person and 19 households with five or more people. , a total of 327 apartments (88.4% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 22 apartments (5.9%) were seasonally occupied and 21 apartments (5.7%) were empty.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen
accessed 28 January 2011 , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.7 new units per 1000 residents. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:1020 height:210 PlotArea = top:10 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:850 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:200 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:40 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1764 from:start till:181 text:"181" bar:1850 from:start till:337 text:"337" bar:1860 from:start till:335 text:"335" bar:1870 from:start till:344 text:"344" bar:1880 from:start till:359 text:"359" bar:1888 from:start till:316 text:"316" bar:1900 from:start till:402 text:"402" bar:1910 from:start till:419 text:"419" bar:1920 from:start till:398 text:"398" bar:1930 from:start till:454 text:"454" bar:1941 from:start till:541 text:"541" bar:1950 from:start till:594 text:"594" bar:1960 from:start till:713 text:"713" bar:1970 from:start till:845 text:"845" bar:1980 from:start till:740 text:"740" bar:1990 from:start till:835 text:"835" bar:2000 from:start till:781 text:"781"

Politics

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) which received 29.4% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Swiss People's Party (SVP) (24.6%), the Social Democratic Party (SP) (19.4%) and the Green Liberal Party (GLP) (6.8%). In the federal election, a total of 302 votes were cast, and the

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Unive ...

was 45.6%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election
accessed 8 May 2012

Economy

, Wiler bei Utzenstorf had an unemployment rate of 2.18%. , there were a total of 413 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 31 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 13 businesses involved in this sector. 287 people were employed in the

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in construction. ...

and there were 14 businesses in this sector. 95 people were employed in the

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...

, with 15 businesses in this sector. There were 405 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 44.7% of the workforce. there were a total of 358

full-time equivalent Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit that indicates the workload of an employee, employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often used to me ...

jobs. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 21, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 258 of which 228 or (88.4%) were in manufacturing and 30 (11.6%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 79. In the tertiary sector; 7 or 8.9% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 45 or 57.0% were in the movement and storage of goods, 7 or 8.9% were in a hotel or restaurant, and 5 or 6.3% were technical professionals or scientists. , there were 258 workers who commuted into the municipality and 288 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.1 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 13.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 52.1% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 63 or 8.1% were

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, while 626 or 80.2% belonged to the

Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), (EKS); french: Église évangélique réformée de Suisse (EERS); it, Chiesa evangelica riformata in Svizzera (CERiS); rm, Baselgia evangelica refurmada da la Svizra (BRRS) formerly named Federation o ...

. Of the rest of the population, there was 1 member of an Orthodox church, and there were 30 individuals (or about 3.84% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 11 (or about 1.41% of the population) who were

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

ic. There were 4 individuals who were

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

. 40 (or about 5.12% of the population) belonged to no church, are

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, and 21 individuals (or about 2.69% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Wiler bei Utzenstorf about 314 or (40.2%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 81 or (10.4%) have completed additional higher education (either

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

or a ''

Fachhochschule A ''Fachhochschule'' (; plural ''Fachhochschulen''), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts ...

''). Of the 81 who completed tertiary schooling, 74.1% were Swiss men, 23.5% were Swiss women. The Canton of Bern school system provides one year of non-obligatory

Kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

, followed by six years of Primary school. This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude. Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners ...

. During the 2010-11 school year, there were a total of 70 students attending classes in Wiler bei Utzenstorf. There was one kindergarten class with a total of 16 students in the municipality. The municipality had 3 primary classes and 54 students. Of the primary students, 7.4% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens).Schuljahr 2010/11 pdf document
accessed 4 January 2012 , there were 3 students in Wiler bei Utzenstorf who came from another municipality, while 54 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

References

{{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Bern