Inkwil
# Inkwil

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

## History

Inkwil is first mentioned in 1262 as Inchwile.

## Geography

Inkwil has an area, as of 2009, of 3.36 $km^2$ (1.30 sq mi). Of this area, 1.65 $km^2$ (0.64 sq mi) or 49.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 1.21 $km^2$ (0.47 sq mi) or 36.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.44 $km^2$ (0.17 sq mi) or 13.1% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.05 $km^2$ (12 acres) or 1.5% is either rivers or lakes and 0.03 $km^2$ (7.4 acres) or 0.9% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 7.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 5.7%. 35.1% of the total land area is heavily forested. Of the agricultural land, 37.5% is used for growing crops and 8.9% is pastures, while 2.7% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is in lakes.

It is divided into three sections; Dorf, Vorstatt and Station.

## Demographics

Inkwil has a population (as of 31 December 2020) of 628. As of 2007, 4.0% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -2.4%. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (98.0%), with Portuguese being second most common ( 0.5%) and Serbo-Croatian being third ( 0.5%).

In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 36.8% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS (29.8%), the FDP (13.7%) and the CSP (5.4%).

The age distribution of the population (as of 2000) is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 26.6% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 58.4% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 15%. About 82.2% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).

Inkwil has an unemployment rate of 1.64%. As of 2005, there were 20 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 8 businesses involved in this sector. 69 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 6 businesses in this sector. 20 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 10 businesses in this sector. The historical population is given in the following table:

| year | population |
| - | - |
| 1764 | 154 |
| 1850 | 420 |
| 1900 | 442 |
| 1950 | 507 |
| 2000 | 654 |

## Heritage sites of national significance

It is home to the Inkwilersee Insel prehistoric pile-dwelling (or stilt house) settlements that are part of the Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps UNESCO World Heritage Site.

