Bärschwil is a village and municipality in the district of Thierstein in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.

Initially, the gypsum was extracted on the surface but, subsequently, using underground mines accessed via adits.

[4] Bärschwil has an area, as of 2009[update], of 11.22 square kilometers (4.33 sq mi).

[5] The municipality is located in the Thierstein district, in a side valley off the Birs river.

It consists of the village of Bärschwil and the hamlets of Wiler and Schmelzi.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per fess Azure a Fish naiant Argent and of the last a Crozier Gules.

[9] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (831 or 95.3%), with French being second most common (9 or 1.0%) and English being third (9 or 1.0%).

At the same time, there was 1 non-Swiss woman who immigrated from another country to Switzerland.

[8] The age distribution, as of 2000[update], in Bärschwil is; 50 children or 5.7% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 176 teenagers or 20.2% are between 7 and 19.

[9] The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][14] In the 2007 federal election, the most popular party was the SVP which received 35.45% of the vote.

In the federal election, a total of 365 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 50.9%.

[9] There were 433 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 37.4% of the workforce.

The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 47 of which 19 or (40.4%) were in manufacturing and 28 (59.6%) were in construction.

In the tertiary sector; 2 or 11.1% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 4 or 22.2% were in the movement and storage of goods, 4 or 22.2% were in a hotel or restaurant, 6 or 33.3% were in education.

[9] From the 2000 census[update], 645 or 74.0% were Roman Catholic, while 81 or 9.3% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

The education system in the Canton of Solothurn allows young children to attend two years of non-obligatory Kindergarten.

All the lower secondary students from Bärschwil attend their school in a neighboring municipality.