Bercher is a municipality in the district of Gros-de-Vaud in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.
History
Bercher is first mentioned in 1154 as de Berchiaco.
Geography
Bercher has an area, , of . Of this area, or 56.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 26.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 16.2% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.5% is either rivers or lakes.
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.2% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 8.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 5.2%. Out of the forested land, 24.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.9% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 46.8% is used for growing crops and 9.2% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
The municipality was part of the Echallens District until it was dissolved on 31 August 2006, and Bercher became part of the new district of Gros-de-Vaud.
The municipality is located in the Gros-de-Vaud region.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules, on a fess between three annulets Or a feathered hat gules.
Demographics
Bercher has a population () of . , 15.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 30%. It has changed at a rate of 26.2% due to migration and at a rate of 4.5% due to births and deaths.
Most of the population () speaks French (809 or 92.1%), with German being second most common (30 or 3.4%) and Portuguese being third (12 or 1.4%). There are 8 people who speak Italian.
Of the population in the municipality 220 or about 25.1% were born in Bercher and lived there in 2000. There were 389 or 44.3% who were born in the same canton, while 127 or 14.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 131 or 14.9% were born outside of Switzerland.
In there were 7 live births to Swiss citizens and 3 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 6 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 1 while the foreign population increased by 3. At the same time, there were 3 non-Swiss men and 6 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 11 and the non-Swiss population increased by 5 people. This represents a population growth rate of 1.5%.
The age distribution, , in Bercher is; 140 children or 12.6% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 167 teenagers or 15.1% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 120 people or 10.8% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 140 people or 12.6% are between 30 and 39, 207 people or 18.7% are between 40 and 49, and 136 people or 12.3% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 111 people or 10.0% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 55 people or 5.0% are between 70 and 79, there are 25 people or 2.3% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 7 people or 0.6% who are 90 and older.
, there were 361 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 413 married individuals, 59 widows or widowers and 45 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 342 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.5 persons per household. There were 96 households that consist of only one person and 28 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 349 households that answered this question, 27.5% were households made up of just one person and there was 1 adult who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 98 married couples without children, 126 married couples with children There were 15 single parents with a child or children. There were 6 households that were made up of unrelated people and 7 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.