Graben, Switzerland

Municipality in Bern, Switzerland

Graben

Municipality

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Location of Graben

Graben

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Graben

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Coordinates: 47°13′N 7°43′E﻿ / ﻿47.217°N 7.717°E﻿ / 47.217; 7.717
Country| Switzerland
Canton| Bern
District| Oberaargau
Area

[1]

• Total

| 3.2 km2 (1.2 sq mi)
Elevation

| 455 m (1,493 ft)
Population

(31 December 2018)[2]

• Total

| 331
• Density| 100/km2 (270/sq mi)
Time zone| UTC+01:00 (Central European Time)
• Summer (DST)| UTC+02:00 (Central European Summer Time)
Postal code(s)|

3376

SFOS number| 0976
ISO 3166 code| CH-BE
Surrounded by| Aarwangen, Bannwil, Berken, Heimenhausen, Herzogenbuchsee, Thunstetten
Website| https://www.graben.ch
SFSO statistics

Graben is a municipality in the Oberaargau administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

## History

[edit]

Graben is first mentioned in 1220 as Stadonce. In the 19th Century it was known as Graben durch den Wald.[3]

## Geography

[edit]

Aerial view with Berken and Bannwil from 3000 m by Walter Mittelholzer (1923)

Graben has an area, as of 2009[update], of 3.16 km2 (1.22 sq mi). Of this area, 1.67 km2 (0.64 sq mi) or 52.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 1.16 km2 (0.45 sq mi) or 36.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.22 km2 (0.085 sq mi) or 7.0% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.11 km2 (27 acres) or 3.5% is either rivers or lakes and 0.01 km2 (2.5 acres) or 0.3% is unproductive land.[4]

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 4.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.9%. 33.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 36.4% is used for growing crops and 16.1% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams.[4]

The municipality is located at the confluence of the Önz into the Aare river a nature reserve. It includes the hamlets of Baumgarten, Burach, Gsoll, Hubel, Kleinholz, Schörlishäusern, Schwendi and Stadönz.

## Demographics

[edit]

Graben has a population (as of 31 December 2020) of 336.[5] As of 2007[update], 4.7% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 0.3%. Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (98.7%), with French being second most common ( 1.0%) and English being third ( 0.3%).

In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 62% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS (9.7%), the local small left-wing parties (8.3%) and the FDP (8%).

The age distribution of the population (as of 2000[update]) is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 27.2% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 56% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16.8%. About 75.9% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).

Graben has an unemployment rate of 1.97%. As of 2005[update], there were 39 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 12 businesses involved in this sector. 6 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 2 businesses in this sector. 45 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 6 businesses in this sector.[6] The historical population is given in the following table:[3]

year  | population

|

1764  | 221
1850  | 325
1900  | 303
1950  | 342
2000  | 309

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "Arealstatistik Standard - Gemeinden nach 4 Hauptbereichen". Federal Statistical Office. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
2. ^ "Ständige Wohnbevölkerung nach Staatsangehörigkeitskategorie Geschlecht und Gemeinde; Provisorische Jahresergebnisse; 2018". Federal Statistical Office. 9 April 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
3. ^ a b Graben in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
4. ^ a b Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics 2009 data (in German) accessed 25 March 2010
5. ^ "Ständige und nichtständige Wohnbevölkerung nach institutionellen Gliederungen, Geburtsort und Staatsangehörigkeit". bfs.admin.ch (in German). Swiss Federal Statistical Office - STAT-TAB. 31 December 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
6. ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office Archived 2016-01-05 at the Wayback Machine accessed 20-Jul-2009

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Graben BE.

* Graben in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.

* v
* t
* e

Municipalities in the Oberaargau administrative district, Switzerland

* Aarwangen
* Attiswil
* Auswil
* Bannwil
* Berken
* Bettenhausen
* Bleienbach
* Busswil bei Melchnau
* Eriswil
* Farnern
* Gondiswil
* Graben
* Heimenhausen
* Herzogenbuchsee
* Huttwil
* Inkwil
* Langenthal
* Lotzwil
* Madiswil
* Melchnau
* Niederbipp
* Niederönz
* Oberbipp
* Ochlenberg
* Oeschenbach
* Reisiswil
* Roggwil
* Rohrbach
* Rohrbachgraben
* Rumisberg
* Rütschelen
* Schwarzhäusern
* Seeberg
* Thörigen
* Thunstetten
* Ursenbach
* Walliswil bei Niederbipp
* Walliswil bei Wangen
* Walterswil
* Wangen an der Aare
* Wiedlisbach
* Wynau
* Wyssachen

* Canton of Bern
* Districts of Canton Bern
* Municipalities of the canton of Bern

Authority control databases

National|

* Germany

Other|

* Historical Dictionary of Switzerland

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