The city of Bern or Berne is the Bundesstadt (federal city, de facto capital) of Switzerland, and, with (as of December 2011) a population of 125,681, the fourth most populous city in Switzerland. The Bern agglomeration, which includes 43 municipalities, has a population of 353,300. 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 German, but the main spoken language is theAlemannic 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).
Of the built up area, 3.6% consists of industrial buildings, 21.7% housing and other buildings, and 12.6% is devoted to transport infrastructure. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.1% of the city, while another 6.0% consists of parks, green belts and sports fields. 32.8% of the total land area is heavily forested. Of the agricultural land, 14.3% is used for growing crops and 4.0% is designated to be used as pastures. The rivers and streams provide all the water in the municipality.
