Lotzwil is a municipality in the district of Oberaargau in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.
History
thumb|left|Aerial view (1970)
Lotzwil is first mentioned in 1194 as Locewillare.
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.8% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 8.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.9%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 32.0% is used for growing crops and 13.5% is pastures, while 1.9% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
Transport
Lotzwil has a railway station, served by lines S6 and S7 of the Lucerne S-Bahn (Langenthal - Lucerne). The nearest motorway exits are in Wangen an der Aare (A1 motorway) and Reiden (A2 motorway).
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Argent a Lion rampant Azure langued and viriled Gules.
Demographics
thumb|Market in Lotzwil
thumb|[[Half timbered house in Lotzwil]]
Lotzwil has a population () of . , 16.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000-2010) the population has changed at a rate of 6%. Migration accounted for 10.5%, while births and deaths accounted for -1.3%.
Most of the population () speaks German (2,109 or 90.4%) as their first language, Albanian is the second most common (87 or 3.7%) and Italian is the third (42 or 1.8%). There are 11 people who speak French and 1 person who speaks Romansh.
, there were 329 households that consist of only one person and 77 households with five or more people. , a total of 943 apartments (88.1% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 55 apartments (5.1%) were seasonally occupied and 72 apartments (6.7%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 4.4 new units per 1000 residents.
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bar:1880 from:start till:1280 text:"1,280"
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bar:1910 from:start till:1511 text:"1,511"
bar:1920 from:start till:1605 text:"1,605"
bar:1930 from:start till:1799 text:"1,799"
bar:1941 from:start till:1931 text:"1,931"
bar:1950 from:start till:2121 text:"2,121"
bar:1960 from:start till:2199 text:"2,199"
bar:1970 from:start till:2323 text:"2,323"
bar:1980 from:start till:2107 text:"2,107"
bar:1990 from:start till:2282 text:"2,282"
bar:2000 from:start till:2334 text:"2,334"
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Heritage sites of national significance
The Farm House Ingold-Hof and village church's rectory are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance.
<gallery>
File:Lotzwil Ingoldhof4.jpg|Farm House Ingold-Hof
File:Lotzwil Pfarrhaus2.jpg| Rectory of Lotzwil
</gallery>
Politics
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 32% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS (18.1%), the BDP Party (14.2%) and the FDP (9%). In the federal election, a total of 862 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 52.0%.
Economy
, Lotzwil had an unemployment rate of 2.29%. , there were a total of 873 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 39 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 15 businesses involved in this sector. 510 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 30 businesses in this sector. 324 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 63 businesses in this sector.
, there were 490 workers who commuted into the municipality and 866 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.8 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 10.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 53.3% used a private car.
During the 2009–10 school year, there were a total of 263 students attending classes in Lotzwil. There were 2 kindergarten classes with a total of 42 students in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 26.2% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 19.0% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality had 8 primary classes and 161 students. Of the primary students, 19.3% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 16.8% have a different mother language than the classroom language. During the same year, there were 3 lower secondary classes with a total of 60 students. There were 23.3% who were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 21.7% have a different mother language than the classroom language.
, there were 10 students in Lotzwil who came from another municipality, while 102 residents attended schools outside the municipality.