Affoltern im Emmental

Swiss municipality in the canton of Bern

Affoltern im Emmental is a municipality in the district of Trachselwald in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

Affoltern is first mentioned in 1261/63 as Affolterra. From the same survey, housing and buildings made up 4.3%, and transportation infrastructure made up 2.4%. All of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 42.2% is used for growing crops and 28.7% is pasturage, while 1.4% is used for orchards or vine crops.

The name Affoltern is a derivation of the old German for apple tree, "Affal Tra". The apple tree features prominently in Affoltern's coat of arms, making it an example of canting arms. The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Argent an Apple Tree eradicated Vert fructed Gules.

as of 2011, Affoltern im Emmental had an unemployment rate of 1.95%. as of 2011, there were a total of 572 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 178 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 63 businesses involved in this sector. The secondary sector employs 184 people and there were 33 businesses in this sector. The tertiary sector employs 211 people, with 53 businesses in this sector. In 2000, there were 212 workers who commuted into the municipality and 328 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.5 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. A total of 321 workers (60.2% of the 533 total workers in the municipality) both lived and worked in Affoltern im Emmental. Of the working population, 6.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 53% used a private car. In 2011 there were a total of 437 tax payers in the municipality. Of that total, 81 made over 75,000 CHF per year. There were 8 people who made between 15,000 and 20,000 per year. The greatest number of workers, 116, made between 50,000 and 75,000 CHF per year. The average income of the over 75,000 CHF group in Affoltern im Emmental was 103,449 CHF, while the average across all of Switzerland was 136,785 CHF. In 2011 a total of 0.7% of the population received direct financial assistance from the government.

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 49.7% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (12.8%), the Social Democratic Party (SP) (9.8%) and the Evangelical People's Party (EVP) (9.1%). In the federal election, a total of 500 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 54.1%.

From the 2000 census, 1,001 or 82.6% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 66 or 5.4% were Roman Catholic. Of the rest of the population, there were 61 individuals (or about 5.03% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 9 (or about 0.74% of the population) who were Muslim. There were 2 individuals who were Hindu. 38 (or about 3.14% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 35 individuals (or about 2.89% of the population) did not answer the question.

In Affoltern im Emmental about 58.6% of the population have completed non mandatory upper secondary education, and 17.6% have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). During the 2012–13 school year, there were a total of 92 students attending classes in Affoltern im Emmental. There were a total of 20 students in the German language kindergarten classes in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 5.0% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 5.0% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality's primary school had 59 students in German language classes. Of the primary students, 6.8% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 5.1% have a different mother language than the classroom language. During the same year, the lower secondary schools in neighboring municipalities had a total of 13 students from Affoltern im Emmental. as of 2000, there were a total of 174 students attending any school in the municipality. Of those, 132 both lived and attended school in the municipality, while 42 students came from another municipality. During the same year, 60 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

A train station is located in Weier, which connects it to Huttwil in the one direction and Lützelflüh in the other.

Bruno Leibundgut astronomer and former Science Director of the ESO who co invented the Very Large Telescope was born in Affoltern.