Ins, Switzerland

Municipality in Bern, Switzerland

Ins (; anɛt) is a municipality in the Seeland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

Ins is first mentioned in 1009 as Anestre. In 1179 it was mentioned as Anes. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 4.3% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.0%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 59.7% is used for growing crops and 6.1% is pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 0.4% is in lakes and 1.2% is in rivers and streams. and stretches over part of the Grand Marais, a particularly productive area with nearly black soil in the Bernese Seeland. On the south it is bordered by Lake Neuchatel and the Broye Canal. It includes the settlement of Witzwil im Moos and several scattered, individual farm houses. Despite being a small municipality, Ins serves as a center for the neighbouring communities, which are even smaller in both population and area. Ins lies at the end of the Bienne Täuffelen Ins (BTI) rail line, and is also served by the Ins Erlach postbus. On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Erlach, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Seeland.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Or a Mullet Gules between a Ploughshare Azure in bend and a Sickle of the same in bend sinister and Mount of 3 Coupeaux Vert.

Ins has a population of as of 2010, 15.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000 2010) the population has changed at a rate of 16.2%. Migration accounted for 15.3%, while births and deaths accounted for 0.7%. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (2,685 or 91.1%) as their first language, French is the second most common (105 or 3.6%) and Albanian is the third (28 or 1.0%). There are 21 people who speak Italian and 3 people who speak Romansh. as of 2000, there were 334 households that consist of only one person and 73 households with five or more people. In 2000, a total of 1,104 apartments (90.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 67 apartments (5.5%) were seasonally occupied and 44 apartments (3.6%) were empty. as of 2010, the construction rate of new housing units was 13 new units per 1000 residents.

The Albert Anker house, the farm house Himmelriich and the earthen fortifications at Fenis are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire village of Ins is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 30.4% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Social Democratic Party (SP) (18.7%), the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (17.2%) and the Green Party (11.3%). In the federal election, a total of 1,237 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 55.2%.

as of 2011, Ins had an unemployment rate of 1.51%. as of 2008, there were a total of 1,487 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 234 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 57 businesses involved in this sector. 231 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 31 businesses in this sector. 1,022 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 127 businesses in this sector. In 2000, there were 589 workers who commuted into the municipality and 832 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.4 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 18.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 43.3% used a private car. During the 2010–11 school year, there were a total of 625 students attending classes in Ins. There were 3 kindergarten classes with a total of 69 students in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 14.5% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 21.7% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality had 12 primary classes and 244 students. Of the primary students, 14.3% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 16.4% have a different mother language than the classroom language. During the same year, there were 12 lower secondary classes with a total of 240 students. There were 10.8% who were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 17.1% have a different mother language than the classroom language. as of 2000, there were 174 students in Ins who came from another municipality, while 75 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

The municipality has two railway stations, and The first of these is an interchange on the standard gauge Bern–Neuchâtel and Fribourg–Ins lines and the narrow gauge Biel–Täuffelen–Ins line. It has regular service to , , , , and Ins Dorf is located in the centre of Ins on the Biel–Täuffelen–Ins line

The Swiss painter and illustrator Albert Anker lived in Ins until his death in 1910.