Confignon
Encyclopedia
Confignon is a 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...

 of 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....

.

History

Confignon is first mentioned in 1153 as Cofiniacum. The current, independent municipality was created in 1851 when the former municipality of Onex-Confignon divided into the municipalities of Onex
Onex, Switzerland
Onex is a municipality in the canton of Geneva in Switzerland.-History:Onex is first mentioned in 1292 as Onay. It became an independent municipality in 1851 when the municipality of Onex-Confignon split into the two municipalities of Onex and Confignon.-Geography:Onex has an area, , of...

 and Confignon.

Geography

Confignon has an area, , of 2.77 square kilometres (1.1 sq mi). Of this area, 1.3 km² (0.501932806170296 sq mi) or 46.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.23 km² (0.0888034964762831 sq mi) or 8.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.19 km² (0.459461568725117 sq mi) or 43.0% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.03 km² (7.4 acre) or 1.1% is either rivers or lakes.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 25.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 7.9%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 2.2% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 6.9%. Out of the forested land, 5.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.9% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 28.2% is used for growing crops and 5.8% is pastures, while 13.0% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
The municipality is located along the left side 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...

 river.

The municipality of Confignon consists of the sub-sections or villages of Le Coteau, Confignon - village, Cressy - Evaux, Cressy - Sur-le-Beau, Narly - Lécherette, Plaine-de-l'Aire - Les Charrotons and Plaine-de-l'Aire - Champs-Blancs.

Demographics

Confignon has a population of . , 16.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 37.8%. It has changed at a rate of 33.5% due to migration and at a rate of 4.5% 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...

 (2,650 or 87.4%), with 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....

 being second most common (137 or 4.5%) and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 being third (79 or 2.6%).

, the gender distribution of the population was 49.1% male and 50.9% female. The population was made up of 1,682 Swiss men (39.8% of the population) and 393 (9.3%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,794 Swiss women (42.5%) and 354 (8.4%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 491 or about 16.2% were born in Confignon and lived there in 2000. There were 1,148 or 37.9% who were born in the same canton, while 563 or 18.6% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 715 or 23.6% were born outside of Switzerland.

In there were 31 live births to Swiss citizens and 7 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 26 deaths of Swiss citizens and 4 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 5 while the foreign population increased by 3. There were 5 Swiss men and 12 Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there were 12 non-Swiss men and 18 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 4 and the non-Swiss population increased by 59 people. This represents a population growth rate of 1.6%.

The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 25.6% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 61% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.5%.

, there were 1,230 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,497 married individuals, 129 widows or widowers and 177 individuals who are divorced.

the average number of residents per living room was 0.6 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 56.9% 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 1,114 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household. There were 258 households that consist of only one person and 93 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 1,149 households that answered this question, 22.5% were households made up of just one person and there were 5 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 327 married couples without children, 427 married couples with children There were 83 single parents with a child or children. There were 14 households that were made up of unrelated people and 35 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.

there were 473 single family homes (or 73.7% of the total) out of a total of 642 inhabited buildings. There were 89 multi-family buildings (13.9%), along with 59 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (9.2%) and 21 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (3.3%). Of the single family homes 46 were built before 1919, while 86 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (109) were built between 1961 and 1970.

there were 1,162 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 306. There were 37 single room apartments and 422 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 1,062 apartments (91.4% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 85 apartments (7.3%) were seasonally occupied and 15 apartments (1.3%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 0 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.13%.

The historical population is given in the following chart:

Politics

In the 2007 federal election
Swiss 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 19.51% 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:...

 (18.08%), 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....

 (17.83%) and 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...

 (17.19%). In the federal election, a total of 1,300 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 53.1%.

In the 2009 Grand Conseil
Grand Council of Geneva
The Grand Council of Geneva is the legislature of the canton of Geneva, in Switzerland. Geneva, styled as a 'Republic and Canton', has a unicameral legislature. The Grand Council has 100 seats, with members elected every four years...

 election, there were a total of 2,511 registered voters of which 1,212 (48.3%) voted. The most popular party in the municipality for this election was the Libéral
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....

 with 18.9% of the ballots. In the canton-wide election they received the highest proportion of votes. The second most popular party was the Les Verts
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:...

 (with 16.2%), they were also second in the canton-wide election, while the third most popular party was the MCG (with 13.8%), they were also third in the canton-wide election.

For the 2009 Conseil d'Etat election, there were a total of 2,513 registered voters of which 1,401 (55.8%) voted.

In 2011, all the municipalities held local elections, and in Confignon there were 19 spots open on the municipal council. There were a total of 2,910 registered voters of which 1,395 (47.9%) voted. Out of the 1,395 votes, there were 5 blank votes, 13 null or unreadable votes and 118 votes with a name that was not on the list.

Economy

, Confignon had an unemployment rate of 5%. , there were 21 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 5 businesses involved in this sector. 50 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 15 businesses in this sector. 615 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 83 businesses in this sector. There were 1,481 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 42.9% 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 557. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 18, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 42 of which 23 or (54.8%) were in manufacturing and 19 (45.2%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 497. In the tertiary sector; 53 or 10.7% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 5 or 1.0% were in the movement and storage of goods, 19 or 3.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 14 or 2.8% were in the information industry, 16 or 3.2% were the insurance or financial industry, 23 or 4.6% were technical professionals or scientists, 167 or 33.6% were in education and 120 or 24.1% were in health care.

, there were 424 workers who commuted into the municipality and 1,309 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 3.1 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 9.9% of the workforce coming into Confignon are coming from outside Switzerland, while 0.3% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work. Of the working population, 18.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 63.9% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 1,199 or 39.5% were Roman Catholic, while 731 or 24.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
Swiss 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 26 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 0.86% of the population), there were 7 individuals (or about 0.23% 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 79 individuals (or about 2.60% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 15 individuals (or about 0.49% of the population) who were Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

, and 28 (or about 0.92% 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 4 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...

, 11 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 5 individuals who belonged to another church. 762 (or about 25.12% 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 166 individuals (or about 5.47% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Confignon about 979 or (32.3%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 796 or (26.2%) have completed additional higher education (either University or a Fachhochschule
Fachhochschule
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 796 who completed tertiary schooling, 47.1% were Swiss men, 35.2% were Swiss women, 10.7% were non-Swiss men and 7.0% were non-Swiss women.

During the 2009-2010 school year there were a total of 1,065 students in the Confignon 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 114 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 Confignon there were 169 students in kindergarten or primary school and 23 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 169 lower secondary students who attended school in Confignon. There were 228 upper secondary students from the municipality along with 35 students who were in a professional, non-university track program. An additional 81 students attended a private school.

, there were 716 students in Confignon who came from another municipality, while 291 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
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