Chézard-Saint-Martin
Encyclopedia
Chézard-Saint-Martin is a municipality
in the district of Val-de-Ruz
in the canton
of Neuchâtel in Switzerland
.
The municipalities of Boudevilliers
, Cernier
, Chézard-Saint-Martin, Coffrane
, Dombresson
, Engollon
, Fenin-Vilars-Saules
, Fontainemelon
, Fontaines
, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane
, Les Hauts-Geneveys
, Montmollin
, Le Pâquier
and Savagnier
are seeking approval from the voters to merge on 1 January 2013 into the new municipality of Val-de-Ruz.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 3.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.1%. Out of the forested land, 34.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 18.2% is used for growing crops and 28.9% is pastures and 9.0% is used for alpine pastures.
The municipality is located in the Val-de-Ruz district. It consists of the villages of Saint-Martin, Grand-Chézard and Petit-Chézard.
of the municipal coat of arms
is Per pale Or, a Cross couped Gules between four Hurts, and Azure, Saint Martin stantant holding a crosier Or.
Most of the population speaks French
(1,494 or 93.3%) as their first language, German
is the second most common (41 or 2.6%) and Italian
is the third (14 or 0.9%). There is 1 person who speaks Romansh.
, the population was 49.0% male and 51.0% female. The population was made up of 797 Swiss men (44.4% of the population) and 83 (4.6%) non-Swiss men. There were 849 Swiss women (47.3%) and 66 (3.7%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 395 or about 24.7% were born in Chézard-Saint-Martin and lived there in 2000. There were 617 or 38.5% who were born in the same canton, while 362 or 22.6% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 193 or 12.1% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0-19 years old) make up 28.4% of the population, while adults (20-64 years old) make up 59.6% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 12%.
, there were 658 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 773 married individuals, 75 widows or widowers and 95 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 608 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household. There were 151 households that consist of only one person and 69 households with five or more people. , a total of 591 apartments (89.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 53 apartments (8.0%) were seasonally occupied and 18 apartments (2.7%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 0.6 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.27%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
.
the most popular party was the SP
which received 20.62% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP
(20.56%), the LPS Party
(19.95%) and the FDP
(13.66%). In the federal election, a total of 708 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 60.9%.
the total number of full-time equivalent
jobs was 253. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 42, of which 41 were in agriculture and 1 was in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 64 of which 44 or (68.8%) were in manufacturing and 18 (28.1%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 147. In the tertiary sector; 37 or 25.2% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 27 or 18.4% were in the movement and storage of goods, 4 or 2.7% were in a hotel or restaurant, 5 or 3.4% were in the information industry, 1 was the insurance or financial industry, 10 or 6.8% were technical professionals or scientists, 9 or 6.1% were in education and 35 or 23.8% were in health care.
, there were 124 workers who commuted into the municipality and 608 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 4.9 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 3.2% of the workforce coming into Chézard-Saint-Martin are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 10.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 70.2% used a private car.
. Of the rest of the population, there were 11 members of an Orthodox church
(or about 0.69% of the population), there were 5 individuals (or about 0.31% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church
, and there were 125 individuals (or about 7.81% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish
, and 13 (or about 0.81% of the population) who were Islam
ic. There were 7 individuals who were Buddhist
and 5 individuals who belonged to another church. 325 (or about 20.30% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 59 individuals (or about 3.69% of the population) did not answer the question.
). Of the 253 who completed tertiary schooling, 57.7% were Swiss men, 30.0% were Swiss women, 7.5% were non-Swiss men and 4.7% were non-Swiss women.
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. During the 2010-11 school year, there were 2 kindergarten classes with a total of 44 students in Chézard-Saint-Martin. In the same year, there were 7 primary classes with a total of 135 students.
, there were 7 students in Chézard-Saint-Martin who came from another municipality, while 183 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 district of Val-de-Ruz
Val-de-Ruz (district)
Val-de-Ruz District is a district of the canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, consisting of the region of Val de Ruz and the surrounding Jura Mountains. The district capital is the town of Cernier...
in the canton
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
of Neuchâtel in 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....
.
The municipalities of Boudevilliers
Boudevilliers
Boudevilliers is a municipality in the district of Val-de-Ruz in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.-Geography:Boudevilliers has an area, , of . Of this area, or 61.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 32.2% is forested...
, Cernier
Cernier
Cernier is the capital of the district of Val-de-Ruz in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.The municipalities of Boudevilliers, Cernier, Chézard-Saint-Martin, Coffrane, Dombresson, Engollon, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Fontainemelon, Fontaines, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane, Les Hauts-Geneveys,...
, Chézard-Saint-Martin, Coffrane
Coffrane
Coffrane is a municipality in the district of Val-de-Ruz in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.The municipalities of Boudevilliers, Cernier, Chézard-Saint-Martin, Coffrane, Dombresson, Engollon, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Fontainemelon, Fontaines, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane, Les Hauts-Geneveys,...
, Dombresson
Dombresson
Dombresson is a municipality in the district of Val-de-Ruz in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.The municipalities of Boudevilliers, Cernier, Chézard-Saint-Martin, Coffrane, Dombresson, Engollon, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Fontainemelon, Fontaines, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane, Les Hauts-Geneveys,...
, Engollon
Engollon
Engollon is a municipality in the district of Val-de-Ruz in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.The municipalities of Boudevilliers, Cernier, Chézard-Saint-Martin, Coffrane, Dombresson, Engollon, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Fontainemelon, Fontaines, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane, Les Hauts-Geneveys,...
, Fenin-Vilars-Saules
Fenin-Vilars-Saules
Fenin-Vilars-Saules is a municipality in the district of Val-de-Ruz in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.The municipalities of Boudevilliers, Cernier, Chézard-Saint-Martin, Coffrane, Dombresson, Engollon, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Fontainemelon, Fontaines, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane, Les...
, Fontainemelon
Fontainemelon
Fontainemelon is a municipality in the district of Val-de-Ruz in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.The municipalities of Boudevilliers, Cernier, Chézard-Saint-Martin, Coffrane, Dombresson, Engollon, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Fontainemelon, Fontaines, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane, Les Hauts-Geneveys,...
, Fontaines
Fontaines, Switzerland
Fontaines is a municipality in the district of Val-de-Ruz in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.The municipalities of Boudevilliers, Cernier, Chézard-Saint-Martin, Coffrane, Dombresson, Engollon, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Fontainemelon, Fontaines, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane, Les Hauts-Geneveys,...
, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane
Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane
Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane is a municipality in the district of Val-de-Ruz in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.The municipalities of Boudevilliers, Cernier, Chézard-Saint-Martin, Coffrane, Dombresson, Engollon, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Fontainemelon, Fontaines, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane, Les...
, Les Hauts-Geneveys
Les Hauts-Geneveys
Les Hauts-Geneveys is a municipality in the district of Val-de-Ruz in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.The municipalities of Boudevilliers, Cernier, Chézard-Saint-Martin, Coffrane, Dombresson, Engollon, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Fontainemelon, Fontaines, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane, Les...
, Montmollin
Montmollin
Montmollin is a municipality in the district of Val-de-Ruz in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.The municipalities of Boudevilliers, Cernier, Chézard-Saint-Martin, Coffrane, Dombresson, Engollon, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Fontainemelon, Fontaines, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane, Les Hauts-Geneveys,...
, Le Pâquier
Le Pâquier, Neuchâtel
Le Pâquier is a municipality in the district of Val-de-Ruz in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.The municipalities of Boudevilliers, Cernier, Chézard-Saint-Martin, Coffrane, Dombresson, Engollon, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Fontainemelon, Fontaines, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane, Les Hauts-Geneveys,...
and Savagnier
Savagnier
Savagnier is a municipality in the district of Val-de-Ruz in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.The municipalities of Boudevilliers, Cernier, Chézard-Saint-Martin, Coffrane, Dombresson, Engollon, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Fontainemelon, Fontaines, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane, Les Hauts-Geneveys,...
are seeking approval from the voters to merge on 1 January 2013 into the new municipality of Val-de-Ruz.
History
Saint-Martin is first mentioned in 998 as Sancto Martino. Petit-Chézard was mentioned in 1143 as Esser, while Grand-Chézard was first mentioned in 1285 as Chesas.Geography
Chézard-Saint-Martin has an area, , of 13.1 square kilometre. Of this area, 7.36 square kilometre or 56.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 4.97 square kilometre or 38.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.69 square kilometre or 5.3% is settled (buildings or roads).Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 3.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.1%. Out of the forested land, 34.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 18.2% is used for growing crops and 28.9% is pastures and 9.0% is used for alpine pastures.
The municipality is located in the Val-de-Ruz district. It consists of the villages of Saint-Martin, Grand-Chézard and Petit-Chézard.
Coat of arms
The blazonBlazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...
of the municipal coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
is Per pale Or, a Cross couped Gules between four Hurts, and Azure, Saint Martin stantant holding a crosier Or.
Demographics
Chézard-Saint-Martin has a population of . , 9.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 12.4%. It has changed at a rate of 8.9% due to migration and at a rate of 5.3% 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...
(1,494 or 93.3%) as their first language, 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....
is the second most common (41 or 2.6%) 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...
is the third (14 or 0.9%). There is 1 person who speaks Romansh.
, the population was 49.0% male and 51.0% female. The population was made up of 797 Swiss men (44.4% of the population) and 83 (4.6%) non-Swiss men. There were 849 Swiss women (47.3%) and 66 (3.7%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 395 or about 24.7% were born in Chézard-Saint-Martin and lived there in 2000. There were 617 or 38.5% who were born in the same canton, while 362 or 22.6% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 193 or 12.1% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0-19 years old) make up 28.4% of the population, while adults (20-64 years old) make up 59.6% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 12%.
, there were 658 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 773 married individuals, 75 widows or widowers and 95 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 608 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household. There were 151 households that consist of only one person and 69 households with five or more people. , a total of 591 apartments (89.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 53 apartments (8.0%) were seasonally occupied and 18 apartments (2.7%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 0.6 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.27%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Heritage sites of national significance
The farm house at Rue Jean-Labran 4 and the farm house at Rue Jean-Labran 6 are listed as 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...
.
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 20.62% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were 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...
(20.56%), the LPS Party
Liberal Party of Switzerland
The Liberal Party of Switzerland was a party with economically liberal policies. It was known as a party of the upper class. On 1 January 2009 it merged with the larger Free Democratic Party to establish FDP.The Liberals....
(19.95%) 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....
(13.66%). In the federal election, a total of 708 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 60.9%.
Economy
, Chézard-Saint-Martin had an unemployment rate of 3.4%. , there were 50 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 20 businesses involved in this sector. 76 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 23 businesses in this sector. 196 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 42 businesses in this sector. There were 809 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 42.0% 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 253. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 42, of which 41 were in agriculture and 1 was in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 64 of which 44 or (68.8%) were in manufacturing and 18 (28.1%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 147. In the tertiary sector; 37 or 25.2% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 27 or 18.4% were in the movement and storage of goods, 4 or 2.7% were in a hotel or restaurant, 5 or 3.4% were in the information industry, 1 was the insurance or financial industry, 10 or 6.8% were technical professionals or scientists, 9 or 6.1% were in education and 35 or 23.8% were in health care.
, there were 124 workers who commuted into the municipality and 608 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 4.9 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 3.2% of the workforce coming into Chézard-Saint-Martin are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 10.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 70.2% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 321 or 20.0% were Roman Catholic, while 789 or 49.3% 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 11 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 0.69% of the population), there were 5 individuals (or about 0.31% 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 125 individuals (or about 7.81% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, and 13 (or about 0.81% 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 7 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...
and 5 individuals who belonged to another church. 325 (or about 20.30% 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 59 individuals (or about 3.69% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
In Chézard-Saint-Martin about 558 or (34.9%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 253 or (15.8%) 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 253 who completed tertiary schooling, 57.7% were Swiss men, 30.0% were Swiss women, 7.5% were non-Swiss men and 4.7% were non-Swiss women.
In the canton of Neuchâtel most municipalities provide 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...
, 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. During the 2010-11 school year, there were 2 kindergarten classes with a total of 44 students in Chézard-Saint-Martin. In the same year, there were 7 primary classes with a total of 135 students.
, there were 7 students in Chézard-Saint-Martin who came from another municipality, while 183 residents attended schools outside the municipality.