Meikirch is a municipality in the administrative district of Bern-Mittelland in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

During the 16th century, it was owned by the hereditary Schultheiss family of Aarberg, the Aebischers.

[3] The village church was first mentioned in 1275, but was built in the 7th and 8th century on top of the ruins of a Roman villa.

The municipality was on the old Bern-Frienisberg-Aarberg road and during the 18th and 19th centuries was part of the postal route between those towns.

The decline stopped with improved transport infrastructure, including the 1948 Postauto route to Bern.

Of the rest of the land, 1.02 km2 (0.39 sq mi) or 9.4% is settled (buildings or roads).

[5] The municipality is a distant part of the agglomeration of Bern on the south-eastern edge of the Frienisberg plateau.

It consists of the villages of Meikirch, Ortschwaben (first mentioned in 1185 as Nortsuaben) and Wahlendorf, the hamlets of Grächwil, Weissenstein and Äzikofen as well as scattered farms.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure a Church Argent roofed Gules in chief sinister a Mullet of the second.

[9] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (2,368 or 95.4%) as their first language, French is the second most common (24 or 1.0%) and Italian is the third (19 or 0.8%).

[9] The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][12] In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 24.6% of the vote.

In the tertiary sector; 24 or 13.1% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 45 or 24.6% were in the movement and storage of goods, 19 or 10.4% were in a hotel or restaurant, 22 or 12.0% were in the information industry, 12 or 6.6% were technical professionals or scientists, 28 or 15.3% were in education and 9 or 4.9% were in health care.

[9] From the 2000 census[update], 314 or 12.7% were Roman Catholic, while 1,749 or 70.5% 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.

Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an apprenticeship.

[16] During the 2009–10 school year, there were a total of 214 students attending classes in Meikirch.