Alterswil is a former municipality in the district of Sense in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland.

It is one of the municipalities with a large majority of German speakers in the mostly French speaking Canton of Fribourg.

[6] The former municipality is located in the Sense district, about 10 km (6.2 mi) east of Fribourg.

It consists of the linear village of Alterswil and the surrounding settlements of Äckerli, Bennewil, Galtern, Gerewil, Heimberg, Wengliswil, Wilersgut, Wolgiswil, Zumholz and Zitterli.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules, a fleur de lis Argent.

[9] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (1,765 or 93.8%) as their first language, Albanian is the second most common (49 or 2.6%) and French is the third (43 or 2.3%).

[9] The historical population is given in the following chart:[4][13] In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 23.8% of the vote.

[9] There were 989 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 41.5% of the workforce.

In the tertiary sector; 52 or 36.1% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 12 or 8.3% were in the movement and storage of goods, 15 or 10.4% were in a hotel or restaurant, 9 or 6.3% were the insurance or financial industry, 21 or 14.6% were technical professionals or scientists, 9 or 6.3% were in education and 4 or 2.8% were in health care.

[9] From the 2000 census[update], 1,352 or 71.9% were Roman Catholic, while 310 or 16.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude.

The upper Secondary school is divided into gymnasium (university preparatory) and vocational programs.

After they finish the upper Secondary program, students may choose to attend a Tertiary school or continue their apprenticeship.

[18] During the 2010-11 school year, there were a total of 132 students attending 8 classes in Alterswil.