Les Verrières

Les Verrières is a municipality in the district of Val-de-Travers in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.

Les Verrières
Les Verrières village
Coat of arms
Location of Les Verrières
Les Verrières Show map of Switzerland Les Verrières Show map of Canton of Neuchâtel
Coordinates: 46°54′N 6°29′E
Country	Switzerland
Canton	Neuchâtel
District	Val-de-Travers
Area [1]
• Total	28.68 km^2 (11.07 sq mi)
Elevation	930 m (3,050 ft)
Population  (2018-12-31)[2]
• Total	668
• Density	23/km^2 (60/sq mi)
Postal code	2126
SFOS number	6511
Surrounded by	Buttes, La Côte-aux-Fées, Les Alliés (FR-25), Les Bayards, Pontarlier (FR-25), Verrières-de-Joux (FR-25)
Website	www.lesverrieres.ch SFSO statistics

History

Les Verrières is first mentioned in 1344 as villa de Verreriis.[3] Jt was here that General Charles-Denis Bourbaki crossed the Swiss border with the remnants of the Armée de l'Est during the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71).

Geography

A village in Les Verrières

Les Verrières has an area, as of 2009, of 28.7 square kilometers (11.1 sq mi). Of this area, 13.18 km² (5.09 sq mi) or 46.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 14.53 km² (5.61 sq mi) or 50.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.95 km² (0.37 sq mi) or 3.3% is settled (buildings or roads) and 0.12 km² (30 acres) or 0.4% is unproductive land.[4]

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 1.3% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.6%. Out of the forested land, 46.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 4.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 1.2% is used for growing crops and 22.8% is pastures and 22.0% is used for alpine pastures.[4]

The municipality is located in the Val-de-Travers district. The main settlement is a linear village that is about 3 km (1.9 mi) long and consists of the villages of Cret, Belle Perche, Grand Bourgeau, Croix-Blanche and Meudon. Outside the main village, there are the hamlets of Cernets and Mont-des-Verrières and scattered settlements over an elevation of 910 to 1,286 m (2,986 to 4,219 ft) above sea level.

Coat of arms

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure, on a bend Argent three Mullets [of Six] of the first.[5]

Demographics

Les Verrières has a population (as of December 2018) of 669.[6] As of 2008, 5.1% of the population are resident foreign nationals.[7] Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of -10.1%. Migration accounted for -7.2%, while births and deaths accounted for -1.9%.[8]

Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks French (661 or 89.9%) as their first language, German is the second most common (32 or 4.4%) and English is the third (7 or 1.0%). There are 4 people who speak Italian and 3 people who speak Romansh.[9]

As of 2008, the population was 50.1% male and 49.9% female. The population was made up of 307 Swiss men (46.0% of the population) and 27 (4.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 320 Swiss women (48.0%) and 13 (1.9%) non-Swiss women.[10] Of the population in the municipality, 246 or about 33.5% were born in Les Verrières and lived there in 2000. There were 171 or 23.3% who were born in the same canton, while 137 or 18.6% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 87 or 11.8% were born outside of Switzerland.[9]

As of 2000, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 27.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 55% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 18%.[8]

As of 2000, there were 313 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 344 married individuals, 46 widows or widowers and 32 individuals who are divorced.[9]

As of 2000, there were 294 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.2 persons per household.[8] There were 117 households that consist of only one person and 25 households with five or more people. In 2000, a total of 287 apartments (68.2% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 75 apartments (17.8%) were seasonally occupied and 59 apartments (14.0%) were empty.[11] The vacancy rate for the municipality, in 2010, was 3.55%.[8]

The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][12]

Sights

The entire village of Les Verrières is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites[13]

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 42.27% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (19.72%), the FDP (18.69%) and the LPS Party (7.81%). In the federal election, a total of 265 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 45.4%.[14]

Economy

As of  2010, Les Verrières had an unemployment rate of 4.4%. As of 2008, there were 56 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 23 businesses involved in this sector. 56 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 6 businesses in this sector. 127 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 32 businesses in this sector.[8] There were 311 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 42.1% of the workforce.

In 2008 the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 201. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 50, of which 49 were in agriculture and 1 was in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 52 of which 35 or (67.3%) were in manufacturing and 17 (32.7%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 99. In the tertiary sector; 24 or 24.2% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 8 or 8.1% were in the movement and storage of goods, 18 or 18.2% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was the insurance or financial industry, 5 or 5.1% were technical professionals or scientists, 4 or 4.0% were in education and 8 or 8.1% were in health care.[15]

In 2000, there were 109 workers who commuted into the municipality and 143 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.3 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 22.0% of the workforce coming into Les Verrières are coming from outside Switzerland.[16] Of the working population, 9.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 51.1% used a private car.[8]

Religion

From the 2000 census, 192 or 26.1% were Roman Catholic, while 371 or 50.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 11 individuals (or about 1.50% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 5 individuals (or about 0.68% of the population) who were Jewish, and 4 (or about 0.54% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 2 individuals who belonged to another church. 63 (or about 8.57% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 91 individuals (or about 12.38% of the population) did not answer the question.[9]

Education

In Les Verrières about 224 or (30.5%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 40 or (5.4%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 40 who completed tertiary schooling, 55.0% were Swiss men, 35.0% were Swiss women.[9]

In the canton of Neuchâtel most municipalities provide two years of non-mandatory kindergarten, followed by five years of mandatory primary education. The next four years of mandatory secondary education is provided at thirteen larger secondary schools, which many students travel out of their home municipality to attend.[17] During the 2010-11 school year, there was one kindergarten class with a total of 14 students in Les Verrières. In the same year, there were 2 primary classes with a total of 34 students.[18]

As of 2000, there were 2 students in Les Verrières who came from another municipality, while 62 residents attended schools outside the municipality.[16]

References

1. "Arealstatistik Standard - Gemeinden nach 4 Hauptbereichen". Federal Statistical Office. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
2. "Ständige Wohnbevölkerung nach Staatsangehörigkeitskategorie Geschlecht und Gemeinde; Provisorische Jahresergebnisse; 2018". Federal Statistical Office. 9 April 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
3. Les Verrières in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
4. Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics 2009 data (in German) accessed 25 March 2010
5. Flags of the World.com accessed 3 November 2011
6. Swiss Federal Statistical Office - STAT-TAB, online database – Ständige und nichtständige Wohnbevölkerung nach institutionellen Gliederungen, Geburtsort und Staatsangehörigkeit (in German) accessed 23 September 2019
7. Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Superweb database - Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008 Archived 28 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine (in German) accessed 19 June 2010
8. Swiss Federal Statistical Office Archived 5 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine accessed 3 November 2011
9. STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000 Archived 9 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine (in German) accessed 2 February 2011
10. Canton of Neuchatel Statistics, République et canton de Neuchâtel - Recensement annuel de la population (in German) accessed 13 October 2011
11. Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen Archived 7 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine (in German) accessed 28 January 2011
12. Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Bevölkerungsentwicklung nach Region, 1850-2000 Archived 30 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine (in German) accessed 29 January 2011
13. "Kantonsliste A-Objekte". KGS Inventar (in German). Federal Office of Civil Protection. 2009. Archived from the original on 28 June 2010. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
14. Swiss Federal Statistical Office, Nationalratswahlen 2007: Stärke der Parteien und Wahlbeteiligung, nach Gemeinden/Bezirk/Canton Archived 14 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine (in German) accessed 28 May 2010
15. Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Betriebszählung: Arbeitsstätten nach Gemeinde und NOGA 2008 (Abschnitte), Sektoren 1-3 Archived 25 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine (in German) accessed 28 January 2011
16. Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb (in German) accessed 24 June 2010
17. EDK/CDIP/IDES (2010). Kantonale Schulstrukturen in der Schweiz und im Fürstentum Liechtenstein / Structures Scolaires Cantonales en Suisse et Dans la Principauté du Liechtenstein (PDF) (Report). Retrieved 24 June 2010.
18. Statistical Department of the Canton of Neuchâtel Mémento de l'année scolaire 2010/2011 (in French) accessed 17 October 2011