Niederbipp 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 Oberaargau administrative district 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 ...

. On 1 January 2020 the former municipality of

Wolfisberg Wolfisberg is a former municipality in the Oberaargau administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2020 the former municipality of Wolfisberg merged into Niederbipp. Geography Wolfisberg has an area of . Of this ...

merged into Niederbipp.

History

Niederbipp is first mentioned in 968 as ''Pippa''. In 1302 it was mentioned as ''Nider-Bippe''.

Geography

Niederbipp has an area, , of . Of this area, or 47.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 37.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 15.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and or 0.3% is unproductive land.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.9% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 5.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 5.0%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.7% of the area Out of the forested land, 36.6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 34.1% is used for growing crops and 10.6% is pastures, while 1.3% is used for orchards or vine crops and 1.2% is used for alpine pastures. The municipality is located on the southern flank of the

Jura mountains The Jura Mountains ( , , , ; french: Massif du Jura; german: Juragebirge; it, Massiccio del Giura, rm, Montagnas da Jura) are a sub-alpine mountain range a short distance north of the Western Alps and mainly demarcate a long part of the Frenc ...

. It includes the village of Niederbipp, the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...

of Walde, Holzhüsere and Lehn and scattered individual houses.

Demographics

Niederbipp has a population (as of ) of . , 18.0% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 5.1%. Most of the population () speaks German (89.0%), with Serbo-Croatian being second most common ( 3.1%) and Albanian being third ( 1.8%). In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 43.8% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the

SPS SPS may refer to: Law and government * Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures of the WTO * NATO Science for Peace and Security * Single Payment Scheme, an EU agricultural subsidy * The Standard Procurement System, fo ...

(19.8%), the FDP (19.2%) and the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

(6.2%). The age distribution of the population () is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 25.5% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 58.2% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16.3%. In Niederbipp about 69.3% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university 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 ...

''). Niederbipp has an unemployment rate of 1.79%. , there were 255 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 46 businesses involved in this sector. 623 people are 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 are 55 businesses in this sector. 853 people are 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 105 businesses in this sector.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 21-Jul-2009 The historical population is given in the following table:

Transport

Härkingen Härkingen is a municipality in the district of Gäu in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. History Härkingen is first mentioned in 1080 as ''quendam comitatum nomine Härichingen in pago Buchsgeowe situm (Kopie)''. In 1101 it was mentioned ...

respectively Niederbipp are scheduled as one of the eight hubs of the proposed

Cargo Sous Terrain Cargo Sous Terrain (abbreviated to CST; French language, literally: "Underground Cargo") is a planned underground logistics system in Switzerland. It was set up as an association (''Förderverein Cargo sous terrain'') in September 2013, and was ba ...

, an underground cargo transport system those first phase is planned by the early 2030s.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Bern