Hermrigen

Hermrigen is first mentioned in 1249 as Hermeringen. The oldest trace of a settlement in the area are scattered Stone Age (probably Mesolithic) items which were found at Schönbrünnefeld. A Hallstatt era grave mound has been found in the Hermrigenmoos-Holehölzli. A few Roman era artifacts were also found around the municipality. During the Middle Ages a number of Ministerialis (unfree knights in the service of a feudal overlord) or knightly families owned land or rights in the village along with Frienisberg Abbey. In 1335 the Knight Ulrich von Sutz sold his land in Hermrigen to the Count of Neuchâtel-Nidau. In 1398, the city of Bern acquired the lands of the Counts, including Hermeigen. Under Bernese rule it was combined with the village of Merzligen-Niklaus to form the court of Hermrigen. That organization remained until the reorganization following the 1798 French invasion. The village is part of the parish of Täuffelen. The Jura water correction projects of 1868 to 1891 helped drain many of the marshes outside the village. Drainage projects in 1925-33 and 1977-89 helped open up additional farmland. A primary school was built in 1971 and is shared with the municipality of Merzligen. Today about two-thirds of the working population commutes to jobs in nearby towns and cities. ==Geography==

Hermrigen has an area of . As of 2012, a total of or 50.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 42.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 7.6% is settled (buildings or roads) and or 0.3% is unproductive land. During the same year, housing and buildings made up 4.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.3%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 39.5% is used for growing crops and 9.1% is pastures, while 2.0% is used for orchards or vine crops. ==Coat of arms==

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules a Sword in pale Argent hilted and pommed Or between two Oak Leaves of the last. ==Demographics==

Hermrigen has a population () of . , 3.3% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2001-2011) the population has changed at a rate of 4.1%. Migration accounted for 2.8%, while births and deaths accounted for 0.4%. Most of the population () speaks German (253 or 97.3%) as their first language, French is the second most common (3 or 1.2%) and Italian is the third (1 or 0.4%). Of the population in the municipality, 91 or about 35.0% were born in Hermrigen and lived there in 2000. There were 104 or 40.0% who were born in the same canton, while 37 or 14.2% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 10 or 3.8% were born outside of Switzerland. , there were 31 households that consist of only one person and 6 households with five or more people. , a total of 108 apartments (93.1% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 2 apartments (1.7%) were seasonally occupied and 6 apartments (5.2%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 8.1 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: auto height:200 barincrement:45 PlotArea = top:20 left:35 bottom:20 right:35 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:360 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:70 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:14 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width: 35 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1764 from:start till:87 text:"87" bar:1850 from:start till:329 text:"329" bar:1860 from:start till:359 text:"359" bar:1870 from:start till:345 text:"345" bar:1880 from:start till:323 text:"323" bar:1888 from:start till:350 text:"350" bar:1900 from:start till:307 text:"307" bar:1910 from:start till:311 text:"311" bar:1920 from:start till:305 text:"305" bar:1930 from:start till:304 text:"304" bar:1941 from:start till:285 text:"285" bar:1950 from:start till:312 text:"312" bar:1960 from:start till:310 text:"310" bar:1970 from:start till:276 text:"276" bar:1980 from:start till:259 text:"259" bar:1990 from:start till:272 text:"272" bar:2000 from:start till:260 text:"260" ==Politics==

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 57.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (18.7%), the Social Democratic Party (SP) (10.2%) and the FDP.The Liberals (4.9%). In the federal election, a total of 105 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 50.7%. ==Economy==

, Hermrigen had an unemployment rate of 0.68%. , there were a total of 72 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 32 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 14 businesses involved in this sector. 11 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 4 businesses in this sector. 29 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 9 businesses in this sector. , there were 28 workers who commuted into the municipality and 102 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 3.6 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. A total of 42 workers (60.0% of the 70 total workers in the municipality) both lived and worked in Hermrigen. Of the working population, 13.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 56.3% used a private car. For comparison, the rate for the entire canton in the same year, was 14.2% and 22.0%, while the nationwide rate was 12.3% and 21.1% respectively. In 2009 there were a total of 122 tax payers in the municipality. Of that total, 32 made over 75,000 CHF per year. There was one person who made between 15,000 and 20,000 per year. The greatest number of workers, 40, made between 50,000 and 75,000 CHF per year. The average income of the over 75,000 CHF group in Hermrigen was 113,153 CHF, while the average across all of Switzerland was 130,478 CHF. In 2011 a total of 1.6% of the population received direct financial assistance from the government. ==Religion==

From the , 208 or 80.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 17 or 6.5% were Roman Catholic. Of the rest of the population, there were 2 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.77% of the population). There was 1 individual who was Jewish, and 20 (or about 7.69% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 12 individuals (or about 4.62% of the population) did not answer the question. ==Education==

In Hermrigen about 61.5% of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 12.2% have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). During the 2011-12 school year, there were a total of 51 students attending classes in Hermrigen. There was one kindergarten class with a total of 12 students in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 16.7% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality had one primary class and 33 students. Of the primary students, 3.0% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 6.1% have a different mother language than the classroom language. During the same year, there was one lower secondary class with a total of 6 students. There were 16.7% who were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 16.7% have a different mother language than the classroom language. , there were a total of 72 students attending any school in the municipality. Of those, 18 both lived and attended school in the municipality, while 54 students came from another municipality. During the same year, 12 residents attended schools outside the municipality. ==References==