Graben, Switzerland

Graben
Coat of arms
Graben
Location of Graben
Coordinates: 47°13′N 7°43′E / 47.217°N 7.717°ECoordinates: 47°13′N 7°43′E / 47.217°N 7.717°E
Country	Switzerland
Canton	Bern
District	Oberaargau
Area[1]
• Total	3.16 km^2 (1.22 sq mi)
Elevation	455 m (1,493 ft)
Population (Dec 2015[2])
• Total	337
• Density	110/km^2 (280/sq mi)
Postal code	3376
SFOS number	0976
Surrounded by	Aarwangen, Bannwil, Berken, Heimenhausen, Herzogenbuchsee, Thunstetten
Website	http://www.graben.ch SFSO statistics

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

History

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

Geography

Graben has an area, as of 2009, 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

Graben has a population (as of 31 December 2015) of 337.^[5] As of 2007, 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) 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) 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, 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

1. Arealstatistik Standard - Gemeindedaten nach 4 Hauptbereichen
2. Swiss Federal Statistical Office - STAT-TAB, online database – Ständige und nichtständige Wohnbevölkerung nach institutionellen Gliederungen, Geburtsort und Staatsangehörigkeit (German) accessed 30 August 2016
3. Graben in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
4. Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics 2009 data (German) accessed 25 March 2010
5. Swiss Federal Statistical Office - STAT-TAB, online database – Ständige und nichtständige Wohnbevölkerung nach institutionellen Gliederungen, Geburtsort und Staatsangehörigkeit (German) accessed 30 August 2016
6. Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 20-Jul-2009

External links

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