[1] Comprising the three French-speaking districts in the northern part of the canton, it contains 40 municipalities with an area of 541.71 km2 (209.16 sq mi) and a population (as of December 2020[update]) of 53,715.

Additionally, Moutier, a municipality, voted to secede from Bern in a referendum in 2021 and join Jura, with the change expected to be implemented by 2026.

This led to acts of vandalism on 16 March 1974 and on 7 September 1975 an armed standoff at the Hôtel de la Gare in Moutier which was broken up by an elite team of Bernese police on the following day.

[4] On 18 June 2017 the municipality of Moutier voted to join the Canton of Jura by a small margin of 51.7% (2,067 for leaving and 1,930 for remaining part of Bern).

According to the canton's constitution, one of the seven members of the Executive Council of Bern has to be a French-speaking citizen of this area.