Carouge
Encyclopedia
Carouge is a municipality
in the Canton of Geneva
, Switzerland
, with a population of 19,114 (2007).
as Quadruvium and Quatruvio. In 1248 it was mentioned as Carrogium while in the 14th Century it was known as Quarrouiz or Quarroggi. In 1445 it was mentioned as Quaroggio. The current city was built from the ground up, by Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia
, King of Sardinia
and Duke of Savoy, starting on 31 January 1786.
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 18.5% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 31.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 20.7%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 4.1% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 8.1%. Out of the forested land, 6.3% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 3.3% is used for growing crops and 1.5% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
The municipality is located south of the Rhone
and Arve
rivers.
Most of the population speaks French
(13,700 or 77.9%), with Portuguese
being second most common (921 or 5.2%) and Italian
being third (846 or 4.8%). There are 567 people who speak German
and 9 people who speak Romansh.
, the gender distribution of the population was 47.9% male and 52.1% female. The population was made up of 5,775 Swiss men (28.7% of the population) and 3,868 (19.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 6,887 Swiss women (34.2%) and 3,586 (17.8%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 3,489 or about 19.8% were born in Carouge and lived there in 2000. There were 3,845 or 21.9% who were born in the same canton, while 2,653 or 15.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 6,668 or 37.9% were born outside of Switzerland.
In there were 134 live births to Swiss citizens and 68 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 91 deaths of Swiss citizens and 33 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 43 while the foreign population increased by 35. There were 49 Swiss men and 46 Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there were 231 non-Swiss men and 224 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 195 and the non-Swiss population increased by 427 people. This represents a population growth rate of 3.3%.
The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 21.4% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 65.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.4%. , there were 7,867 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 7,452 married individuals, 881 widows or widowers and 1,390 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.69 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.64 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43.1 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 5.7% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage
or a rent-to-own agreement).
, there were 8,121 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2. persons per household. There were 3,619 households that consist of only one person and 268 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 8,366 households that answered this question, 43.3% were households made up of just one person and there were 38 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 1,731 married couples without children, 1,958 married couples with children There were 625 single parents with a child or children. There were 150 households that were made up of unrelated people and 245 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 145 single family homes (or 14.6% of the total) out of a total of 995 inhabited buildings. There were 349 multi-family buildings (35.1%), along with 384 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (38.6%) and 117 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (11.8%). Of the single family homes 57 were built before 1919, while 11 were built between 1990 and 2000.
there were 8,925 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 2,810. There were 1,587 single room apartments and 815 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 7,927 apartments (88.8% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 873 apartments (9.8%) were seasonally occupied and 125 apartments (1.4%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 4.7 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.13%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
. The entire village of Carouge is listed in the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
.
the most popular party was the SP
which received 20.5% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Green Party
(18.77%), the SVP
(18.09%) and the FDP
(10.49%). In the federal election, a total of 4,482 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 46.6%.
For the 2009 Conseil d'Etat election, there were a total of 9,805 registered voters of which 4,612 (47.0%) voted.
the total number of full-time equivalent
jobs was 18,636. The number of jobs in the primary sector was , all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 3,272 of which 1,612 or (49.3%) were in manufacturing and 1,599 (48.9%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 15,364. In the tertiary sector; 2,536 or 16.5% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 594 or 3.9% were in the movement and storage of goods, 590 or 3.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 903 or 5.9% were in the information industry, 3,319 or 21.6% were the insurance or financial industry, 2,859 or 18.6% were technical professionals or scientists, 723 or 4.7% were in education and 1,219 or 7.9% were in health care.
, there were 18,589 workers who commuted into the municipality and 6,612 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 2.8 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 16.7% of the workforce coming into Carouge are coming from outside Switzerland, while 0.1% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work. Of the working population, 32.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 36.2% used a private car.
. Of the rest of the population, there were 221 members of an Orthodox church
(or about 1.26% of the population), there were 57 individuals (or about 0.32% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church
, and there were 244 individuals (or about 1.39% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 75 individuals (or about 0.43% of the population) who were Jewish
, and 643 (or about 3.66% of the population) who were Islam
ic. There were 52 individuals who were Buddhist
, 16 individuals who were Hindu
and 37 individuals who belonged to another church. 4,306 (or about 24.48% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 1,742 individuals (or about 9.90% of the population) did not answer the question.
). Of the 3,244 who completed tertiary schooling, 37.3% were Swiss men, 33.7% were Swiss women, 16.3% were non-Swiss men and 12.8% were non-Swiss women.
During the 2009-2010 school year there were a total of 3,816 students in the Carouge school system. The education system
in the Canton of Geneva allows young children to attend two years of non-obligatory Kindergarten
. During that school year, there were 377 children who were in a pre-kindergarten class. The canton's school system provides two years of non-mandatory kindergarten
and requires students to attend six years of primary school, with some of the children attending smaller, specialized classes. In Carouge there were 619 students in kindergarten or primary school and 83 students were in the special, smaller classes. The secondary school
program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling, followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. There were 619 lower secondary students who attended school in Carouge. There were 866 upper secondary students from the municipality along with 217 students who were in a professional, non-university track program. An additional 135 students attended a private school.
, there were 1,577 students in Carouge who came from another municipality, while 1,012 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
Municipalities of Switzerland
Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...
in the Canton of Geneva
Canton of Geneva
The Republic and Canton of Geneva is the French speaking westernmost canton or state of Switzerland, surrounded on almost all sides by France. As is the case in several other Swiss cantons The Republic and Canton of Geneva is the French speaking westernmost canton or state of Switzerland,...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, with a population of 19,114 (2007).
History
Carouge is first mentioned in the Early Middle AgesEarly Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from the 5th century to approximately 1000. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages...
as Quadruvium and Quatruvio. In 1248 it was mentioned as Carrogium while in the 14th Century it was known as Quarrouiz or Quarroggi. In 1445 it was mentioned as Quaroggio. The current city was built from the ground up, by Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia
Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia
Victor Amadeus III was King of Sardinia from 1773 until his death. Although he was politically conservative, he carried out numerous administrative reforms until declaring war on revolutionary France in 1792...
, King of Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
and Duke of Savoy, starting on 31 January 1786.
Geography
Carouge has an area, , of 2.7 square kilometres (1 sq mi). Of this area, 0.13 km² (0.0501932806170296 sq mi) or 4.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.23 km² (0.0888034964762831 sq mi) or 8.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.25 km² (0.868729856833204 sq mi) or 83.3% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.04 km² (9.9 acre) or 1.5% is either rivers or lakes.Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 18.5% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 31.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 20.7%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 4.1% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 8.1%. Out of the forested land, 6.3% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 3.3% is used for growing crops and 1.5% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
The municipality is located south of the Rhone
Rhône
Rhone can refer to:* Rhone, one of the major rivers of Europe, running through Switzerland and France* Rhône Glacier, the source of the Rhone River and one of the primary contributors to Lake Geneva in the far eastern end of the canton of Valais in Switzerland...
and Arve
Arve
The Arve river flows for approximately 100 km through France, in the département of Haute-Savoie, and in Switzerland...
rivers.
Demographics
Carouge has a population of . , 37.7% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 21%. It has changed at a rate of 15.6% due to migration and at a rate of 5.1% due to births and deaths.Most of the population speaks French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
(13,700 or 77.9%), with Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
being second most common (921 or 5.2%) and Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
being third (846 or 4.8%). There are 567 people who speak German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and 9 people who speak Romansh.
, the gender distribution of the population was 47.9% male and 52.1% female. The population was made up of 5,775 Swiss men (28.7% of the population) and 3,868 (19.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 6,887 Swiss women (34.2%) and 3,586 (17.8%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 3,489 or about 19.8% were born in Carouge and lived there in 2000. There were 3,845 or 21.9% who were born in the same canton, while 2,653 or 15.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 6,668 or 37.9% were born outside of Switzerland.
In there were 134 live births to Swiss citizens and 68 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 91 deaths of Swiss citizens and 33 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 43 while the foreign population increased by 35. There were 49 Swiss men and 46 Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there were 231 non-Swiss men and 224 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 195 and the non-Swiss population increased by 427 people. This represents a population growth rate of 3.3%.
The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 21.4% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 65.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.4%. , there were 7,867 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 7,452 married individuals, 881 widows or widowers and 1,390 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.69 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.64 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43.1 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 5.7% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...
or a rent-to-own agreement).
, there were 8,121 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2. persons per household. There were 3,619 households that consist of only one person and 268 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 8,366 households that answered this question, 43.3% were households made up of just one person and there were 38 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 1,731 married couples without children, 1,958 married couples with children There were 625 single parents with a child or children. There were 150 households that were made up of unrelated people and 245 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 145 single family homes (or 14.6% of the total) out of a total of 995 inhabited buildings. There were 349 multi-family buildings (35.1%), along with 384 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (38.6%) and 117 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (11.8%). Of the single family homes 57 were built before 1919, while 11 were built between 1990 and 2000.
there were 8,925 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 2,810. There were 1,587 single room apartments and 815 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 7,927 apartments (88.8% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 873 apartments (9.8%) were seasonally occupied and 125 apartments (1.4%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 4.7 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.13%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Heritage sites of national significance
The Archives of Carouge is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significanceSwiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance
The Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance is a register of some 8,300 items of cultural property in Switzerland...
. The entire village of Carouge is listed in the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
The Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage.-Sites of national importance:-Types:...
.
Politics
In the 2007 federal electionSwiss federal election, 2007
Elections to the Swiss Federal Assembly, the federal parliament of Switzerland, were held on Sunday, 21 October 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, and 25 November 2007...
the most popular party was the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
which received 20.5% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Green Party
Green Party of Switzerland
The Green Party of Switzerland is the fifth-largest party in the National Council of Switzerland, and the largest party that is not represented on the Federal Council.-History:...
(18.77%), the SVP
Swiss People's Party
The Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...
(18.09%) and the FDP
FDP.The Liberals
FDP.The Liberals is a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It is the joint-largest party in the Federal Council, third-largest party in the National Council, and second-largest in the Council of States....
(10.49%). In the federal election, a total of 4,482 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
Voter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...
was 46.6%.
For the 2009 Conseil d'Etat election, there were a total of 9,805 registered voters of which 4,612 (47.0%) voted.
Economy
, Carouge had an unemployment rate of 9.3%. , there were people employed in the primary economic sector and about businesses involved in this sector. 3,414 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 320 businesses in this sector. 18,003 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 1,492 businesses in this sector. There were 9,073 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 46.5% of the workforce.the total number of full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent , is a unit to measure employed persons or students in a way that makes them comparable although they may work or study a different number of hours per week. FTE is often used to measure a worker's involvement in a project, or to track cost reductions in an organization...
jobs was 18,636. The number of jobs in the primary sector was , all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 3,272 of which 1,612 or (49.3%) were in manufacturing and 1,599 (48.9%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 15,364. In the tertiary sector; 2,536 or 16.5% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 594 or 3.9% were in the movement and storage of goods, 590 or 3.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 903 or 5.9% were in the information industry, 3,319 or 21.6% were the insurance or financial industry, 2,859 or 18.6% were technical professionals or scientists, 723 or 4.7% were in education and 1,219 or 7.9% were in health care.
, there were 18,589 workers who commuted into the municipality and 6,612 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 2.8 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 16.7% of the workforce coming into Carouge are coming from outside Switzerland, while 0.1% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work. Of the working population, 32.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 36.2% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 7,816 or 44.4% were Roman Catholic, while 2,381 or 13.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed ChurchSwiss Reformed Church
The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 221 members of an Orthodox church
Orthodox Christianity
The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...
(or about 1.26% of the population), there were 57 individuals (or about 0.32% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church
Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland
The Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland is the Swiss member church of the Union of Utrecht, also known as Old Catholic Church, originally founded by the jansenists, with a later influx of discontented Catholics following their disappointment with the First Vatican Council. It has 14,000...
, and there were 244 individuals (or about 1.39% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 75 individuals (or about 0.43% of the population) who were Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, and 643 (or about 3.66% of the population) who were Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic. There were 52 individuals who were Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, 16 individuals who were Hindu
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
and 37 individuals who belonged to another church. 4,306 (or about 24.48% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....
or atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
, and 1,742 individuals (or about 9.90% of the population) did not answer the question.
Sport
Etoile Carouge is the football club and they currently play in the Swiss Challenge League.Education
In Carouge about 5,230 or (29.7%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 3,244 or (18.4%) have completed additional higher education (either University or a FachhochschuleFachhochschule
A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...
). Of the 3,244 who completed tertiary schooling, 37.3% were Swiss men, 33.7% were Swiss women, 16.3% were non-Swiss men and 12.8% were non-Swiss women.
During the 2009-2010 school year there were a total of 3,816 students in the Carouge school system. The education system
Education in Switzerland
The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system mainly to the cantons...
in the Canton of Geneva allows young children to attend two years of non-obligatory Kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
. During that school year, there were 377 children who were in a pre-kindergarten class. The canton's school system provides two years of non-mandatory kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
and requires students to attend six years of primary school, with some of the children attending smaller, specialized classes. In Carouge there were 619 students in kindergarten or primary school and 83 students were in the special, smaller classes. The secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling, followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. There were 619 lower secondary students who attended school in Carouge. There were 866 upper secondary students from the municipality along with 217 students who were in a professional, non-university track program. An additional 135 students attended a private school.
, there were 1,577 students in Carouge who came from another municipality, while 1,012 residents attended schools outside the municipality.