Canton of Bern

The Canton of Berne has the largest north-south extension of all the cantons. It stretches from the Jura across the Central Plateau to the Alps, making it the only canton apart from Vaud to have a share in all three of Switzerland's major regions. It borders the cantons of Jura, Solothurn and Aargau to the north, Neuchâtel, Vaud and Fribourg to the west, Lucerne, Nidwalden, Obwalden and Uri to the east and Valais to the south.

Borders

Small-scale maps give the impression that the canton of Bern borders France at La Ferrière and is therefore a border canton. However, detailed maps show that the cantonal and national borders are a few hundred metres apart. Bern has thus been an internal canton since the loss of the Laufental in 1994. Today, the two exclaves of Münchenwiler and Clavaleyres still exist. The municipality of Schelten is connected to the canton by only one point. Steinhof is an enclave of the canton of Solothurn, Wallenbuch an enclave of the canton of Fribourg.

Regions

• To the west, between Lake Biel, Lake Murten and the city of Bern in the Aare Valley, stretches the Bernese Seeland, which was transformed from marshland into Switzerland's vegetable garden by the Jura water correction.
• In the northwest lies the French-speaking Bernese Jura.
• In the north-east of the canton lies the Oberaargau region, which, contrary to its name, is not part of the canton of Aargau.
• To the east of the city of Berne lies the Emmental, which belongs to the Pre-Alps and is the source of the famous Emmental cheese, and is closed off to the east by the Napf mountains.
• The Bernese Oberland lies to the south of the canton, with the Jungfrau region and the Haslital to the east, and the Saanenland, Simmental, Frutigland (Adelboden) and Lötschberg regions to the west.

Surveys

The highest point in the canton of Berne is the Finsteraarhorn (4274 m above sea level). The lowest point is the Aare near Wynau (401.5 m above sea level). In the canton of Berne rise the Bernese Alps with the Bernese Pre-Alps and the Bernese Jura. The largely French-speaking Bernese Jura is part of the Faltenjura. The largest town in the administrative district of Bernese Jura is the small town of Moutier, the seat of the governor is in Courtelary.

Mountains

The most important mountains in the canton of Bern are the Finsteraarhorn (4274 m a.s.l. ), with the highest peak in the Bernese Oberland, the Jungfrau (4158 m a.s.l. ), with the highest railway station in Europe, the Mönch (4107 m a.s.l. ), as part of the Eiger Mönch and Jungfrau Group, the Eiger (3967 m a.s.l. ), with the Eiger North Face and the Schilthorn (2970 m a.s.l. ) (also Piz Gloria), with the revolving restaurant from the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Waters

The total area of all water and wetlands is 418.21 km². Of these, 210.77 km² are glacier or firn, 162.56 km² are water, 41.69 km² are wet sites, and 3.19 km² are reed beds.

Lakes

Important lakes are Lake Thun (47.85 km²), Lake Biel (39.2 km²) and Lake Brienz (29.8 km²). Bern also has a share in Lake Neuchâtel.

Rivers

The largest river in the canton of Bern is the Aare. It rises at 1977 m above sea level on the Unteraar glacier (Grimsel region) and drains 17,709 km². The Aare is 291.5 km long. Its waters flow into the Rhine, which flows into the North Sea. It flows through the Grimsel reservoir (2.72 km²), Lake Brienz, Lake Thun, Lake Wohlen and, since the correction of the Jura waters, Lake Biel.

Other important rivers are the Emme, Simme, Kander, Saane, Broye and Suze.

The inhabitants of the canton are called Bernese, or Bernois in French.

Demographics

As of 31 December 2019, the population of the Canton of Bern was 1,039,474, with a population density of 174 inhabitants per square kilometre, which is below the Swiss average (208 inhabitants per square kilometre). The proportion of foreigners (registered residents without Swiss citizenship) was 16.6 per cent on 31 December 2019, compared to 25.3 per cent registered foreigners nationwide. As of January 31, 2021, the unemployment rate was 2.9 percent compared to 3.7 percent at the federal level.

Languages

The main language of the population is 86 percent German, 11 percent French, 3 percent Italian and 3 percent English, and about one to two percent each Portuguese, Serbian and Croatian, Albanian, Spanish or Turkish. The German-speaking population generally speaks Bernese German, the regional dialect of Swiss German.

The cantonal national and official languages are German and French. The official languages are governed by the territoriality principle, i.e. they are based on the territory. For communications with the cantonal authorities, French is the official language in Bernese Jura, German and French in the administrative region of Seeland and in the administrative district of Biel/Bienne, and German in the rest of the canton. At communal level, French is the official language almost everywhere in the Bernese Jura (including in the predominantly German-speaking communes of Mont-Tramelan and Rebévelier, but not in Schelten and Seehof), both languages apply to the communes of Biel/Bienne and Leubringen/Evilard, and German applies to all other communes. The authorities responsible for the whole canton may be addressed in either national language, and official texts concerning the whole canton must be made available in both languages.

For the Bernese Jura, the Conseil du Jura bernois has existed since 2006 as a regional parliament intended to ensure the cultural independence of the French-speaking minority. The Conseil des affaires francophones du district bilingue de Bienne fulfils an analogous function for Biel/Bienne and Evilard.

Religions - Denominations