Cressier, Neuchâtel
Encyclopedia
Cressier is a municipality
in the district of Neuchâtel
in the Swiss
canton
of Neuchâtel.
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 7.0% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 4.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.1%. Out of the forested land, 53.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 14.2% is used for growing crops and 7.6% is pastures, while 6.3% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
The municipality is located in the Neuchâtel district, at the foot of the Jura Mountains
and near the, flood-prone, Thielle
river. It consists of the village of Cressier and the hamlet
of Frochaux.
of the municipal coat of arms
is Per fess, Or on a pale Gules three Chevrons Argent and Azure a Letter C Argent.
Most of the population speaks French
(1,537 or 79.9%) as their first language, Italian
is the second most common (105 or 5.5%) and German
is the third (99 or 5.1%). There are 2 people who speak Romansh.
, the population was 50.3% male and 49.7% female. The population was made up of 676 Swiss men (35.6% of the population) and 279 (14.7%) non-Swiss men. There were 724 Swiss women (38.1%) and 219 (11.5%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 489 or about 25.4% were born in Cressier and lived there in 2000. There were 467 or 24.3% who were born in the same canton, while 390 or 20.3% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 512 or 26.6% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0-19 years old) make up 26.3% of the population, while adults (20-64 years old) make up 59.9% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.8%.
, there were 790 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 943 married individuals, 110 widows or widowers and 80 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 699 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household. There were 178 households that consist of only one person and 52 households with five or more people. , a total of 689 apartments (92.0% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 38 apartments (5.1%) were seasonally occupied and 22 apartments (2.9%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 1 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.12%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
and the collection of neolithic
and Roman
sites at the Ensemble de la Vieille Thielle are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance
. The entire village of Cressier is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
.
the most popular party was the SP
which received 26.22% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP
(22.2%), the SVP
(17.07%) and the LPS Party
(11.86%). In the federal election, a total of 505 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 48.9%.
the total number of full-time equivalent
jobs was 983. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 27, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 704 of which 636 or (90.3%) were in manufacturing and 68 (9.7%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 252. In the tertiary sector; 99 or 39.3% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 6 or 2.4% were in the movement and storage of goods, 13 or 5.2% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was in the information industry, 6 or 2.4% were technical professionals or scientists, 11 or 4.4% were in education and 100 or 39.7% were in health care.
, there were 685 workers who commuted into the municipality and 604 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.1 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. Of the working population, 10% used public transportation to get to work, and 60.6% used a private car.
. Of the rest of the population, there were 9 members of an Orthodox church
(or about 0.47% of the population), there was 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic Church
, and there were 80 individuals (or about 4.16% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 39 (or about 2.03% of the population) who were Islam
ic. There were 2 individuals who were Hindu
and 1 individual who belonged to another church. 343 (or about 17.84% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 89 individuals (or about 4.63% of the population) did not answer the question.
). Of the 189 who completed tertiary schooling, 55.6% were Swiss men, 24.9% were Swiss women, 12.7% were non-Swiss men and 6.9% 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 2.5 kindergarten classes with a total of 44 students in Cressier. In the same year, there were 7 primary classes with a total of 122 students.
, there were 18 students in Cressier who came from another municipality, while 150 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 Neuchâtel
Neuchâtel (district)
Neuchâtel District is one of the six districts of the largely French-speaking canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, lying in the Le Littoral Region. The district capital is the town of Neuchâtel...
in the Swiss
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....
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.
Geography
Cressier has an area, , of 8.6 square kilometre. Of this area, 2.4 square kilometre or 28.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 4.67 square kilometre or 54.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.37 square kilometre or 16.0% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.1 km² (24.7 acre) or 1.2% is either rivers or lakes and 0.06 km² (14.8 acre) or 0.7% is unproductive land.Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 7.0% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 4.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.1%. Out of the forested land, 53.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 14.2% is used for growing crops and 7.6% is pastures, while 6.3% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
The municipality is located in the Neuchâtel district, at the foot of the Jura Mountains
Jura mountains
The Jura Mountains are a small mountain range located north of the Alps, separating the Rhine and Rhone rivers and forming part of the watershed of each...
and near the, flood-prone, Thielle
Thielle
The River La Thielle is a tributary to the Aare River, in the Swiss Seeland."La Thielle" results of the merging of the river Orbe and river Talent, Northeast of the little city of Orbe in the Swiss Canton of Vaud...
river. It consists of the village of Cressier and the hamlet
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
of Frochaux.
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 fess, Or on a pale Gules three Chevrons Argent and Azure a Letter C Argent.
Demographics
Cressier has a population of . , 28.1% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 3.4%. It has changed at a rate of 0.4% due to migration and at a rate of 3.6% 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...
(1,537 or 79.9%) as their first language, 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 second most common (105 or 5.5%) and 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 third (99 or 5.1%). There are 2 people who speak Romansh.
, the population was 50.3% male and 49.7% female. The population was made up of 676 Swiss men (35.6% of the population) and 279 (14.7%) non-Swiss men. There were 724 Swiss women (38.1%) and 219 (11.5%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 489 or about 25.4% were born in Cressier and lived there in 2000. There were 467 or 24.3% who were born in the same canton, while 390 or 20.3% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 512 or 26.6% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0-19 years old) make up 26.3% of the population, while adults (20-64 years old) make up 59.9% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.8%.
, there were 790 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 943 married individuals, 110 widows or widowers and 80 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 699 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household. There were 178 households that consist of only one person and 52 households with five or more people. , a total of 689 apartments (92.0% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 38 apartments (5.1%) were seasonally occupied and 22 apartments (2.9%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 1 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.12%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Heritage sites of national significance
The Former Church of St-Martin and Jeanjaquet CastleJeanjaquet Castle
Jeanjaquet Castle is a castle in the municipality of Cressier of the Canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.-References:...
and the collection of neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
and Roman
Switzerland in the Roman era
The history of Switzerland in the Roman era encompasses the roughly six centuries during which the territory of modern Switzerland was a part of the Roman Republic and Empire...
sites at the Ensemble de la Vieille Thielle are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance
Swiss 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 Cressier is part of 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 26.22% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were 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....
(22.2%), 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...
(17.07%) and 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....
(11.86%). In the federal election, a total of 505 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 48.9%.
Economy
, Cressier had an unemployment rate of 5%. , there were 33 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 11 businesses involved in this sector. 750 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 14 businesses in this sector. 303 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 37 businesses in this sector. There were 987 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 42.6% 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 983. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 27, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 704 of which 636 or (90.3%) were in manufacturing and 68 (9.7%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 252. In the tertiary sector; 99 or 39.3% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 6 or 2.4% were in the movement and storage of goods, 13 or 5.2% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was in the information industry, 6 or 2.4% were technical professionals or scientists, 11 or 4.4% were in education and 100 or 39.7% were in health care.
, there were 685 workers who commuted into the municipality and 604 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.1 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. Of the working population, 10% used public transportation to get to work, and 60.6% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 895 or 46.5% were Roman Catholic, while 501 or 26.1% 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 9 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 0.47% of the population), there was 1 individual who belongs 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 80 individuals (or about 4.16% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 39 (or about 2.03% 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 2 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 1 individual who belonged to another church. 343 (or about 17.84% 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 89 individuals (or about 4.63% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
In Cressier about 659 or (34.3%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 189 or (9.8%) 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 189 who completed tertiary schooling, 55.6% were Swiss men, 24.9% were Swiss women, 12.7% were non-Swiss men and 6.9% 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 2.5 kindergarten classes with a total of 44 students in Cressier. In the same year, there were 7 primary classes with a total of 122 students.
, there were 18 students in Cressier who came from another municipality, while 150 residents attended schools outside the municipality.