Leimiswil

Leimiswil is a former municipality in the Oberaargau administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2011 Kleindietwil and Leimiswil were merged with the municipality of Madiswil.

Geography

Leimiswil has an area, as of 2009, of 4.65 km² (1.80 sq mi). Of this area, 3.51 km² (1.36 sq mi) or 75.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.87 km² (0.34 sq mi) or 18.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.25 km² (0.097 sq mi) or 5.4% is settled (buildings or roads).

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 3.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.7%. 17.0% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 37.8% is used for growing crops and 35.5% is pastures, while 2.2% is used for orchards or vine crops.

Demographics

Leimiswil has a population (as of 31 December 2010) of 398.As of 2007, 1.7% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -9.1%. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (95.9%), with Albanian being second most common ( 2.0%) and Portuguese being third ( 0.9%).