Safnern 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 Biel/Bienne administrative district

Biel/Bienne (administrative district)

Biel/Bienne District is an administrative district in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland. It is located along both shores of the northeastern half of Lake Biel and is part of the Seeland administrative region, and its capital is Biel/Bienne. It contains 19 municipalities with an area of and a...

 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....

.

Geography

Safnern has an area of 5.6 km² (2.2 sq mi). Of this area, 43.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 35.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 16.7% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (4.1%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

Safnern lies in the Bernese Seeland

Seeland (Switzerland)

Seeland is a region in Switzerland, at the foot of the first mountain range of the Jura Mountains containing the 3 lakes of Morat , Neuchâtel and Bienne . In previous aeras, it was the floodplain of the Aare and is thus swampy. After the huge hydrological works Jura water correction, the area...

 at the foot of the Bütten Mountains. It is also along the Nidau-Büren channel

Nidau-Büren channel

Nidau-Büren Channel is a long channel that drains the waters of the Aare River out of the Lake of Biel/Bienne toward Solothurn. It was dug as an important part of the first Jura water correction.- Regulating dam :...

 as well as the old river bed of the Zihl River and Aare River.

Demographics

Safnern has a population (as of ) of . , 5.8% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 1.2%. Most of the population speaks German (92.9%), with French being second most common ( 4.6%) and Italian being third ( 0.8%).

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 39.8% 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....

 (22.5%), 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....

 (13.8%) 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:...

 (7.2%).

The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 24.8% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 60.7% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 14.5%. In Safnern about 82.1% 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...

).

Safnern has an unemployment rate of 0.89%. , there were 62 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 20 businesses involved in this sector. 312 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 33 businesses in this sector. 145 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 32 businesses in this sector.
The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1764	255
1850	504
1900	605
1950	712
2000	1,779