Péry 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 Jura bernois administrative district 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....

. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura

Bernese Jura

Bernese Jura is the name for the French-speaking area of the Swiss canton of Bern, and from 2010 one of five administrative divisions of the canton....

 (Jura Bernois).

History

The first mention of Pery is in 884 where it is call villam Bedericam. In 1148 it was known as Peril.

Geography

Péry has an area of 15.7 km² (6.1 sq mi). Of this area, 22.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 67.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 9.8% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.6%) is non-productive (rivers or glaciers).

It lies on the eastern end of the Saint-Imier

Saint-Imier

Saint-Imier is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura .Observatoire Astronomique de Mont-Soleil is located above the village....

 valley and includes the villages of Rondchâtel and La Reuchenette.

Demographics

Péry has a population (as of ) of . , 11.3% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -0.2%. Most of the population speaks French (79.6%), with German being second most common (15.4%) and Italian being third ( 2.2%).

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 32.6% 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....

 (25.6%), 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....

 (24.6%) and the Green Party

Green Party of Switzerland

The Green Party of Switzerland is the fifth-largest party in the National Council of Switzerland, and the largest party that is not represented on the Federal Council.-History:...

 (8.9%).

The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 22.8% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 61% and the seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16.2%. In Péry about 69.6% 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...

).

Péry has an unemployment rate of 2.57%. , there were 19 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 7 businesses involved in this sector. 182 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 14 businesses in this sector. 138 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 27 businesses in this sector.

The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1813	310
1850	560
1900	983
1950	1,124
1970	1,486
2000	1,335