Sorens
Encyclopedia
Sorens is a municipality
in the district of Gruyère
in the canton
of Fribourg in Switzerland
.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 4.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.8%. Out of the forested land, 24.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 8.1% is used for growing crops and 49.0% is pastures and 7.1% is used for alpine pastures.
The municipality is located in the Gruyère district, near the Bulle
-Fribourg
road on the eastern slope of the Gibloux.
of the municipal coat of arms
is Pally of Six Argent and Gules overall a Roebuck salient proper.
Most of the population speaks French
(800 or 95.7%) as their first language, German
is the second most common (24 or 2.9%) and Portuguese
is the third (3 or 0.4%). There are 2 people who speak Italian
and 1 person who speaks Romansh.
, the population was 52.5% male and 47.5% female. The population was made up of 470 Swiss men (49.0% of the population) and 34 (3.5%) non-Swiss men. There were 429 Swiss women (44.7%) and 27 (2.8%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 317 or about 37.9% were born in Sorens and lived there in 2000. There were 297 or 35.5% who were born in the same canton, while 86 or 10.3% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 68 or 8.1% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0-19 years old) make up 25.4% of the population, while adults (20-64 years old) make up 55.6% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 19%.
, there were 360 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 373 married individuals, 60 widows or widowers and 43 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 310 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.5 persons per household. There were 84 households that consist of only one person and 32 households with five or more people. , a total of 293 apartments (85.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 41 apartments (12.0%) were seasonally occupied and 7 apartments (2.1%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.2 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.02%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
the most popular party was the FDP
which received 29.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP
(20.5%), the SP
(17.4%) and the SVP
(15.6%).
The FDP received about the same percentage of the vote as they did in the 2007 Federal election
(32.6% in 2007 vs 29.9% in 2011). The CVP retained about the same popularity (24.9% in 2007), the SPS moved from fourth in 2007 (with 15.5%) to third and the SVP moved from third in 2007 (with 17.0%) to fourth. A total of 390 votes were cast in this election, of which 4 or 1.0% were invalid.
the total number of full-time equivalent
jobs was 205. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 44, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 31 of which 22 or (71.0%) were in manufacturing and 9 (29.0%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 130. In the tertiary sector; 66 or 50.8% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 4 or 3.1% were in the movement and storage of goods, 14 or 10.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 1.5% were the insurance or financial industry, 1 was a technical professional or scientist, 5 or 3.8% were in education and 33 or 25.4% were in health care.
, there were 71 workers who commuted into the municipality and 272 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 3.8 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 2.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 74% used a private car.
. Of the rest of the population, there were 4 individuals (or about 0.48% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish
, and there was 1 individual who was Islam
ic. There were 2 individuals who were Buddhist
and 1 person who was Hindu
. 35 (or about 4.19% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 41 individuals (or about 4.90% of the population) did not answer the question.
). Of the 72 who completed tertiary schooling, 56.9% were Swiss men, 27.8% were Swiss women, 6.9% were non-Swiss men and 8.3% were non-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 82 students attending 4 classes in Sorens. A total of 166 students from the municipality attended any school, either in the municipality or outside of it. There was one kindergarten class with a total of 20 students in the municipality. The municipality had 3 primary classes and 62 students. During the same year, there were no lower secondary classes in the municipality, but 31 students attended lower secondary school in a neighboring municipality. There were no upper Secondary classes or vocational classes, but there were 14 upper Secondary students and 29 upper Secondary vocational students who attended classes in another municipality. The municipality had no non-university Tertiary classes, but there were 5 non-university Tertiary students and 4 specialized Tertiary students who attended classes in another municipality.
, there were 42 students from Sorens who 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 Gruyère
Gruyère (district)
Gruyère District is a district of the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. It has a population of . Its capital is Bulle.-Municipalities:-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
Sorens is first mentioned around 974-75 as Sotringus. The municipality was formerly known by its German name Soring, however, that name is no longer used.Geography
Sorens has an area, , of 8.7 square kilometre. Of this area, 5.64 square kilometre or 64.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 2.32 square kilometre or 26.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.78 square kilometre or 8.9% is settled (buildings or roads).Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 4.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.8%. Out of the forested land, 24.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 8.1% is used for growing crops and 49.0% is pastures and 7.1% is used for alpine pastures.
The municipality is located in the Gruyère district, near the Bulle
Bulle
Bulle is a municipality in the district of Gruyère in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. In January 2006 Bulle incorporated the formerly independent municipality of La Tour-de-Trême.-History:...
-Fribourg
Fribourg
Fribourg is the capital of the Swiss canton of Fribourg and the district of Sarine. It is located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss plateau, and is an important economic, administrative and educational center on the cultural border between German and French Switzerland...
road on the eastern slope of the Gibloux.
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 Pally of Six Argent and Gules overall a Roebuck salient proper.
Demographics
Sorens has a population of . , 6.6% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 19.5%. Migration accounted for 18.7%, while births and deaths accounted for 1.1%.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...
(800 or 95.7%) 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 (24 or 2.9%) and 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 third (3 or 0.4%). 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...
and 1 person who speaks Romansh.
, the population was 52.5% male and 47.5% female. The population was made up of 470 Swiss men (49.0% of the population) and 34 (3.5%) non-Swiss men. There were 429 Swiss women (44.7%) and 27 (2.8%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 317 or about 37.9% were born in Sorens and lived there in 2000. There were 297 or 35.5% who were born in the same canton, while 86 or 10.3% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 68 or 8.1% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0-19 years old) make up 25.4% of the population, while adults (20-64 years old) make up 55.6% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 19%.
, there were 360 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 373 married individuals, 60 widows or widowers and 43 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 310 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.5 persons per household. There were 84 households that consist of only one person and 32 households with five or more people. , a total of 293 apartments (85.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 41 apartments (12.0%) were seasonally occupied and 7 apartments (2.1%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.2 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.02%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
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 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....
which received 29.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were 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...
(20.5%), the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
(17.4%) 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...
(15.6%).
The FDP 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...
(32.6% in 2007 vs 29.9% in 2011). The CVP retained about the same popularity (24.9% in 2007), the SPS moved from fourth in 2007 (with 15.5%) to third and the SVP moved from third in 2007 (with 17.0%) to fourth. A total of 390 votes were cast in this election, of which 4 or 1.0% were invalid.
Economy
, Sorens had an unemployment rate of 2.8%. , there were 61 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 23 businesses involved in this sector. 40 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 7 businesses in this sector. 170 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 24 businesses in this sector. There were 396 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 41.4% 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 205. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 44, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 31 of which 22 or (71.0%) were in manufacturing and 9 (29.0%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 130. In the tertiary sector; 66 or 50.8% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 4 or 3.1% were in the movement and storage of goods, 14 or 10.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 1.5% were the insurance or financial industry, 1 was a technical professional or scientist, 5 or 3.8% were in education and 33 or 25.4% were in health care.
, there were 71 workers who commuted into the municipality and 272 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 3.8 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 2.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 74% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 720 or 86.1% were Roman Catholic, while 33 or 3.9% 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 4 individuals (or about 0.48% 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 there was 1 individual who was 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 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 1 person who was 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...
. 35 (or about 4.19% 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 41 individuals (or about 4.90% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
In Sorens about 230 or (27.5%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 72 or (8.6%) 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 72 who completed tertiary schooling, 56.9% were Swiss men, 27.8% were Swiss women, 6.9% were non-Swiss men and 8.3% were non-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 82 students attending 4 classes in Sorens. A total of 166 students from the municipality attended any school, either in the municipality or outside of it. There was one kindergarten class with a total of 20 students in the municipality. The municipality had 3 primary classes and 62 students. During the same year, there were no lower secondary classes in the municipality, but 31 students attended lower secondary school in a neighboring municipality. There were no upper Secondary classes or vocational classes, but there were 14 upper Secondary students and 29 upper Secondary vocational students who attended classes in another municipality. The municipality had no non-university Tertiary classes, but there were 5 non-university Tertiary students and 4 specialized Tertiary students who attended classes in another municipality.
, there were 42 students from Sorens who attended schools outside the municipality.