City of Berne

Switzerland (Suisse)

Tuesday 1st July 2014

The City of Bern or Berne is the Bundesstadt (federal city, de facto capital) of Switzerland, and, with a population of 137,980 (end of 2013), is the fourth most populous city in Switzerland. The Bern agglomeration, which includes 36 municipalities, has a population of 328,616 in 2000. The metropolitan area had a population of 660,000 in 2000. Bern is also the capital of the Canton of Bern, the second most populous of Switzerland's cantons. The official language of Bern is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the Alemannic Swiss German dialect called Bernese German. In 1983 the historic old town in the centre of Bern became a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Bern is ranked among the world’s top ten cities for the best quality of life (2010).