Kirchenthurnen is a municipality

Municipalities of Switzerland

Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...

 in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district

Bern-Mittelland (administrative district)

Bern-Mittelland District in the Canton of Bern was created on 1 January 2010. It is part of the Bern-Mittelland administrative region, and is the only district in the region...

 in the canton

Cantons of Switzerland

The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...

 of Bern in Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

.

History

Kirchenthurnen is first mentioned in 1228 as Tornes. Until 1860 it was known as Thurnen. The name was changed to prevent confusion with the municipality of Mühlethurnen.

Geography

Kirchenthurnen has an area, , of 1.25 km² (0.482627698240669 sq mi). Of this area, 0.97 km² (0.374519093834759 sq mi) or 77.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.13 km² (32.1 acre) or 10.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.15 km² (37.1 acre) or 12.0% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.01 km² (2.5 acre) or 0.8% is either rivers or lakes.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 8.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.2%. 9.6% of the total land area is heavily forested. Of the agricultural land, 46.4% is used for growing crops and 30.4% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams.

It is located in the Gürbetal

Gürbetal

Gürbetal in Switzerland lies between the cities of Bern and Thun, west of the Aare river. It contains the municipality of Seftigen and those that surround it. The valley is named after the Gürbe river which flows through it. The largest town in the Gürbe valley is Belp...

 (Gürbe valley) on the eastern slope of the Längenberg. The parish

Parish

A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

 of Kirchenthurnen includes Burgistein

Burgistein

Burgistein is a municipality in the administrative district of Thun in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.-Geography:Burgistein has an area, , of . Of this area, or 76.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 13.0% is forested...

, Kaufdorf

Kaufdorf

Kaufdorf is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.-Geography:Kaufdorf has an area, , of . Of this area, or 65.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 14.6% is forested...

, Lohnstorf

Lohnstorf

Lohnstorf is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.-History:Lohnstorf is first mentioned in 1148 as Lonestrof. In 1279 it was mentioned as Lonstorf.-Geography:...

, Mühlethurnen

Mühlethurnen

Mühlethurnen is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.-Geography:Mühlethurnen has an area of . Of this area, 74.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 6.5% is forested...

 and Rümligen

Rümligen

Rümligen is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.-Geography:Rümligen has an area of . Of this area, 77% is used for agricultural purposes, while 16.3% is forested...

.

Demographics

Kirchenthurnen has a population (as of ) of . , 2.2% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -2.5%. Most of the population speaks German (97.3%), with French being second most common ( 1.0%) and Portuguese being third ( 0.3%).

In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP

Swiss People's Party

The Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...

 which received 51.2% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS

Social Democratic Party of Switzerland

The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (15.4%), the FDP

Free Democratic Party of Switzerland

The Free Democratic Party was a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It was one of the major parties in Switzerland until its merger with the smaller classical liberal Liberal Party, to form FDP.The Liberals on 1 January 2009....

 (10%) and the CSP

Christian Social Party (Switzerland)

The Christian Social Party is a political party in Switzerland. The CSP is more social democratic than the CVP. With the moderate Christian left as its background, the CSP commits itself to social democratic and environmentalist political solutions...

 (8.7%).

The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 17.5% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 61.3% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 21.2%. The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Kirchenthurnen about 75.8% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule

Fachhochschule

A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...

).

Kirchenthurnen has an unemployment rate of 0.8%. , there were 30 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 11 businesses involved in this sector. 22 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 2 businesses in this sector. 8 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 3 businesses in this sector.
The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1764	96
1850	284
1880	306
1900	277
1950	199
1970	375
2000	292