Mézières, Fribourg
Encyclopedia
Mézières is a municipality
in the district of Glâne
in the canton
of Fribourg in Switzerland
.
On 1 January 2004 the former municipality of Berlens
merged into the municipality of Mézières.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 4.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.1%. Out of the forested land, 12.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.3% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 41.7% is used for growing crops and 36.7% is pastures, while 1.1% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
The municipality is located on the Romont-Bulle road.
of the municipal coat of arms
is Per pale, Argent three bars gemmel Gules and Gules a Grape slipped Or.
Most of the population speaks French
(635 or 94.2%) as their first language, Portuguese
is the second most common (16 or 2.4%) and German
is the third (11 or 1.6%). There are 2 people who speak Italian
.
, the population was 50.4% male and 49.6% female. The population was made up of 452 Swiss men (46.1% of the population) and 42 (4.3%) non-Swiss men. There were 449 Swiss women (45.8%) and 37 (3.8%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 271 or about 40.2% were born in Mézières and lived there in 2000. There were 259 or 38.4% who were born in the same canton, while 85 or 12.6% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 46 or 6.8% were born outside of Switzerland.
The age distribution, , in Mézières is; 153 children or 16.8% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 127 teenagers or 13.9% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 108 people or 11.9% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 138 people or 15.1% are between 30 and 39, 133 people or 14.6% are between 40 and 49, and 96 people or 10.5% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 78 people or 8.6% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 44 people or 4.8% are between 70 and 79, there are 32 people or 3.5% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 2 people or 0.2% who are 90 and older.
, there were 294 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 337 married individuals, 26 widows or widowers and 17 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 309 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.9 persons per household. There were 44 households that consist of only one person and 30 households with five or more people. , a total of 231 apartments (96.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 2 apartments (0.8%) were seasonally occupied and 6 apartments (2.5%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 7 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.11%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
and Saint-Pierre-au-Liens Church are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance
. The entire village of Mézières is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
.
the most popular party was the SVP
which received 30.7% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP
(21.5%), the CVP
(21.0%) and the FDP
(11.3%).
The SVP received about the same percentage of the vote as they did in the 2007 Federal election
(27.9% in 2007 vs 30.7% in 2011). The SPS moved from third in 2007 (with 21.7%) to second in 2011, the CVP moved from second in 2007 (with 25.4%) to third and the FDP retained about the same popularity (15.6% in 2007). A total of 335 votes were cast in this election, of which 1 or 0.3% was invalid.
the total number of full-time equivalent
jobs was 161. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 60, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 39 of which 11 or (28.2%) were in manufacturing and 28 (71.8%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 62. In the tertiary sector; 36 or 58.1% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 2 or 3.2% were in the movement and storage of goods, 8 or 12.9% were in a hotel or restaurant, 3 or 4.8% were the insurance or financial industry, 3 or 4.8% were technical professionals or scientists, 6 or 9.7% were in education.
, there were 42 workers who commuted into the municipality and 219 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 5.2 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 7.1% used public transportation to get to work, and 68.5% used a private car.
. Of the rest of the population, there was 1 member of an Orthodox church
, and there were 14 individuals (or about 2.08% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 8 (or about 1.19% of the population) who were Islam
ic. 22 (or about 3.26% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 8 individuals (or about 1.19% of the population) did not answer the question.
). Of the 40 who completed tertiary schooling, 67.5% were Swiss men, 25.0% were Swiss women.
The Canton of Fribourg school system provides one year of non-obligatory Kindergarten
, followed by six years of Primary school. This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude. Following the lower Secondary students may attend a three or four year optional upper Secondary school. The upper Secondary school is divided into gymnasium
(university preparatory) and vocational programs. After they finish the upper Secondary program, students may choose to attend a Tertiary school or continue their apprenticeship
.
During the 2010-11 school year, there were a total of 98 students attending 5 classes in Mézières. A total of 229 students from the municipality attended any school, either in the municipality or outside of it. There was one kindergarten class with a total of 21 students in the municipality. The municipality had 4 primary classes and 77 students. During the same year, there were no lower secondary classes in the municipality, but 56 students attended lower secondary school in a neighboring municipality. There were no upper Secondary classes or vocational classes, but there were 22 upper Secondary students and 45 upper Secondary vocational students who attended classes in another municipality. The municipality had no non-university Tertiary classes, but there were 3 non-university Tertiary students and 5 specialized Tertiary students who attended classes in another municipality.
, there was one student in Mézières who came from another municipality, while 52 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 Glâne
Glâne (district)
Glâne District is a one of seven districts in the Canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. It has a population of .-Mergers and name changes:...
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 Fribourg 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....
.
History
Mézières is first mentioned in 1179 as de Maseriis.On 1 January 2004 the former municipality of Berlens
Berlens
Berlens is a village and former municipality in the district of Glâne in the canton of Fribourg, Switzerland.It was first recorded in 1157 as Berlens, but has also been known as Berlingen....
merged into the municipality of Mézières.
Geography
Mézières has an area, , of 8.9 square kilometre. Of this area, 7.1 square kilometre or 79.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 1.23 square kilometre or 13.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.61 square kilometre or 6.8% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.01 km² (2.5 acre) or 0.1% is either rivers or lakes.Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 4.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.1%. Out of the forested land, 12.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.3% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 41.7% is used for growing crops and 36.7% is pastures, while 1.1% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
The municipality is located on the Romont-Bulle road.
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, Argent three bars gemmel Gules and Gules a Grape slipped Or.
Demographics
Mézières has a population of . , 7.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 7.8%. Migration accounted for 8.3%, while births and deaths accounted for 0.5%.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...
(635 or 94.2%) as their first language, 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...
is the second most common (16 or 2.4%) 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 (11 or 1.6%). There are 2 people who speak 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...
.
, the population was 50.4% male and 49.6% female. The population was made up of 452 Swiss men (46.1% of the population) and 42 (4.3%) non-Swiss men. There were 449 Swiss women (45.8%) and 37 (3.8%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 271 or about 40.2% were born in Mézières and lived there in 2000. There were 259 or 38.4% who were born in the same canton, while 85 or 12.6% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 46 or 6.8% were born outside of Switzerland.
The age distribution, , in Mézières is; 153 children or 16.8% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 127 teenagers or 13.9% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 108 people or 11.9% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 138 people or 15.1% are between 30 and 39, 133 people or 14.6% are between 40 and 49, and 96 people or 10.5% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 78 people or 8.6% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 44 people or 4.8% are between 70 and 79, there are 32 people or 3.5% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 2 people or 0.2% who are 90 and older.
, there were 294 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 337 married individuals, 26 widows or widowers and 17 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 309 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.9 persons per household. There were 44 households that consist of only one person and 30 households with five or more people. , a total of 231 apartments (96.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 2 apartments (0.8%) were seasonally occupied and 6 apartments (2.5%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 7 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.11%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Heritage sites of national significance
The CastleMézières Castle
Mézières Castle is a castle in the municipality of Mézières of the Canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.-References:...
and Saint-Pierre-au-Liens Church 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 Mézières 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 2011 federal electionSwiss federal election, 2011
Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 23 October 2011.All of the Federal Assembly were to be elected: all 200 seats in the National Council and all 46 seats in the Council of States....
the most popular party was 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...
which received 30.7% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
(21.5%), the CVP
Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland
The Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland is a Christian democratic political party in Switzerland. It is the fourth-largest party in the National Council, with 31 seats, and the largest in the Council of States, with 15 seats. It has one seat, that of Doris Leuthard, on the Swiss...
(21.0%) 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....
(11.3%).
The SVP received about the same percentage of the vote as they did 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...
(27.9% in 2007 vs 30.7% in 2011). The SPS moved from third in 2007 (with 21.7%) to second in 2011, the CVP moved from second in 2007 (with 25.4%) to third and the FDP retained about the same popularity (15.6% in 2007). A total of 335 votes were cast in this election, of which 1 or 0.3% was invalid.
Economy
, Mézières had an unemployment rate of 2.5%. , there were 84 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 32 businesses involved in this sector. 41 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 8 businesses in this sector. 72 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 17 businesses in this sector. There were 309 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.0% 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 161. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 60, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 39 of which 11 or (28.2%) were in manufacturing and 28 (71.8%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 62. In the tertiary sector; 36 or 58.1% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 2 or 3.2% were in the movement and storage of goods, 8 or 12.9% were in a hotel or restaurant, 3 or 4.8% were the insurance or financial industry, 3 or 4.8% were technical professionals or scientists, 6 or 9.7% were in education.
, there were 42 workers who commuted into the municipality and 219 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 5.2 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 7.1% used public transportation to get to work, and 68.5% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 600 or 89.0% were Roman Catholic, while 28 or 4.2% 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 was 1 member of an Orthodox church
Orthodox Christianity
The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...
, and there were 14 individuals (or about 2.08% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 8 (or about 1.19% 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. 22 (or about 3.26% 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 8 individuals (or about 1.19% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
In Mézières about 202 or (30.0%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 40 or (5.9%) 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 40 who completed tertiary schooling, 67.5% were Swiss men, 25.0% were Swiss women.
The Canton of Fribourg school system provides one year 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...
, followed by six years of Primary school. This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude. Following the lower Secondary students may attend a three or four year optional upper Secondary school. The upper Secondary school is divided into gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
(university preparatory) and vocational programs. After they finish the upper Secondary program, students may choose to attend a Tertiary school or continue their apprenticeship
Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...
.
During the 2010-11 school year, there were a total of 98 students attending 5 classes in Mézières. A total of 229 students from the municipality attended any school, either in the municipality or outside of it. There was one kindergarten class with a total of 21 students in the municipality. The municipality had 4 primary classes and 77 students. During the same year, there were no lower secondary classes in the municipality, but 56 students attended lower secondary school in a neighboring municipality. There were no upper Secondary classes or vocational classes, but there were 22 upper Secondary students and 45 upper Secondary vocational students who attended classes in another municipality. The municipality had no non-university Tertiary classes, but there were 3 non-university Tertiary students and 5 specialized Tertiary students who attended classes in another municipality.
, there was one student in Mézières who came from another municipality, while 52 residents attended schools outside the municipality.