Thônex
Encyclopedia
Thônex is a municipality
of the Canton of Geneva
, Switzerland
. It is situated in the east of the canton and shares a border with the French town of Ambilly.
and Thônex.
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 2.3% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 53.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 11.5%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 3.6%. Out of the forested land, 2.3% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.1% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 18.2% is used for growing crops and 3.1% is pastures, while 1.3% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
The municipality of Thônex consists of the sub-sections or villages of Belle-Idée, Les Sillons, Communaux d'Ambilly, Le Foron, Pierre-à-Bochet, Moillesulaz, Deux-Communes, Adrien-JEANDIN, Sous-Moulin - Les Verchères, Thônex - église, Villette.
Most of the population speaks French
(9,626 or 79.3%), with German
being second most common (483 or 4.0%) and Portuguese
being third (474 or 3.9%). There are 405 people who speak Italian
and 7 people who speak Romansh.
, the gender distribution of the population was 47.9% male and 52.1% female. The population was made up of 4,170 Swiss men (30.6% of the population) and 2,346 (17.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 4,884 Swiss women (35.9%) and 2,212 (16.3%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 1,683 or about 13.9% were born in Thônex and lived there in 2000. There were 3,364 or 27.7% who were born in the same canton, while 1,837 or 15.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 4,690 or 38.6% were born outside of Switzerland.
In there were 71 live births to Swiss citizens and 53 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 57 deaths of Swiss citizens and 16 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 14 while the foreign population increased by 37. There were 17 Swiss men and 31 Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there were 56 non-Swiss men and 83 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 134 and the non-Swiss population increased by 82 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 25.2% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 59.9% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 14.9%.
, there were 4,849 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 5,766 married individuals, 642 widows or widowers and 884 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.65 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 34.9% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage
or a rent-to-own agreement).
, there were 5,153 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household. There were 1,868 households that consist of only one person and 294 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 5,246 households that answered this question, 35.6% were households made up of just one person and there were 20 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 1,179 married couples without children, 1,620 married couples with children There were 404 single parents with a child or children. There were 62 households that were made up of unrelated people and 93 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 1,042 single family homes (or 71.5% of the total) out of a total of 1,457 inhabited buildings. There were 250 multi-family buildings (17.2%), along with 139 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (9.5%) and 26 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (1.8%). Of the single family homes 70 were built before 1919, while 144 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (225) were built between 1971 and 1980. The most multi-family homes (62) were built between 1981 and 1990 and the next most (50) were built between 1961 and 1970. There were 12 multi-family houses built between 1996 and 2000.
there were 5,860 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 1,361. There were 1,196 single room apartments and 1,204 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 5,043 apartments (86.1% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 707 apartments (12.1%) were seasonally occupied and 110 apartments (1.9%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 5.5 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.23%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
In the 2007 federal election
the most popular party was the SVP
which received 24.02% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP
(17.6%), the LPS Party
(17.51%) and the Green Party
(14.06%). In the federal election, a total of 3,391 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 49.1%.
In the 2009 Grand Conseil
election, there were a total of 7,039 registered voters of which 2,932 (41.7%) voted. The most popular party in the municipality for this election was the Libéral
with 21.3% of the ballots. In the canton-wide election they received the highest proportion of votes. The second most popular party was the MCG (with 17.2%), they were third in the canton-wide election, while the third most popular party was the Les Verts
(with 12.9%), they were second in the canton-wide election.
For the 2009 Conseil d'Etat election, there were a total of 7,013 registered voters of which 3,376 (48.1%) voted.
In 2011, all the municipalities held local elections, and in Thônex there were 27 spots open on the municipal council. There were a total of 9,409 registered voters of which 3,831 (40.7%) voted. Out of the 3,831 votes, there were 13 blank votes, 12 null or unreadable votes and 223 votes with a name that was not on the list.
the total number of full-time equivalent
jobs was 4,316. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 4, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 1,237 of which 831 or (67.2%) were in manufacturing and 396 (32.0%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 3,075. In the tertiary sector; 280 or 9.1% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 42 or 1.4% were in the movement and storage of goods, 110 or 3.6% were in a hotel or restaurant, 57 or 1.9% were in the information industry, 43 or 1.4% were the insurance or financial industry, 248 or 8.1% were technical professionals or scientists, 231 or 7.5% were in education and 1,688 or 54.9% were in health care.
, there were 4,372 workers who commuted into the municipality and 4,616 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.1 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 25.3% of the workforce coming into Thônex are coming from outside Switzerland, while 0.1% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work. Of the working population, 29.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 50% used a private car.
. Of the rest of the population, there were 153 members of an Orthodox church
(or about 1.26% of the population), there were 33 individuals (or about 0.27% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church
, and there were 219 individuals (or about 1.80% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 110 individuals (or about 0.91% of the population) who were Jewish
, and 464 (or about 3.82% of the population) who were Islam
ic. There were 39 individuals who were Buddhist
, 2 individuals who were Hindu
and 26 individuals who belonged to another church. 2,759 (or about 22.72% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 1,026 individuals (or about 8.45% of the population) did not answer the question.
). Of the 2,281 who completed tertiary schooling, 40.0% were Swiss men, 33.4% were Swiss women, 15.4% were non-Swiss men and 11.2% were non-Swiss women.
During the 2009-2010 school year there were a total of 2,816 students in the Thônex school system. The education system
in the Canton of Geneva allows young children to attend two years of non-obligatory Kindergarten
. During that school year, there were 131 children who were in a pre-kindergarten class. The canton's school system provides two years of non-mandatory kindergarten and requires students to attend six years of primary school, with some of the children attending smaller, specialized classes. In Thônex there were 487 students in kindergarten or primary school and 50 students were in the special, smaller classes. The secondary school
program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling, followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. There were 487 lower secondary students who attended school in Thônex. There were 708 upper secondary students from the municipality along with 132 students who were in a professional, non-university track program. An additional 293 students attended a private school.
, there were 431 students in Thônex who came from another municipality, while 1,022 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...
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....
. It is situated in the east of the canton and shares a border with the French town of Ambilly.
History
In 1869 the municipality was created when Chêne-Thônex split into two independent municipalities Chêne-BourgChêne-Bourg
Chêne-Bourg is a municipality in the canton of Geneva, Switzerland.-History:Chêne-Bourg is first mentioned in 1270 as Quercus. In 1869 it became an independent municipality when Chêne-Thônex divided into the municipalities of Chêne-Bourg and Thônex....
and Thônex.
Geography
Thônex has an area, , of 3.84 square kilometres (1.5 sq mi). Of this area, 0.87 km² (0.335908877975505 sq mi) or 22.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.17 km² (0.065637366960731 sq mi) or 4.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.74 km² (1.1 sq mi) or 71.4% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.05 km² (12.4 acre) or 1.3% is either rivers or lakes.Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 2.3% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 53.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 11.5%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 3.6%. Out of the forested land, 2.3% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.1% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 18.2% is used for growing crops and 3.1% is pastures, while 1.3% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
The municipality of Thônex consists of the sub-sections or villages of Belle-Idée, Les Sillons, Communaux d'Ambilly, Le Foron, Pierre-à-Bochet, Moillesulaz, Deux-Communes, Adrien-JEANDIN, Sous-Moulin - Les Verchères, Thônex - église, Villette.
Demographics
Thônex has a population of . , 32.6% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 14.6%. It has changed at a rate of 10.8% due to migration and at a rate of 3.9% 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...
(9,626 or 79.3%), 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 (483 or 4.0%) 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...
being third (474 or 3.9%). There are 405 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 7 people who speak Romansh.
, the gender distribution of the population was 47.9% male and 52.1% female. The population was made up of 4,170 Swiss men (30.6% of the population) and 2,346 (17.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 4,884 Swiss women (35.9%) and 2,212 (16.3%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 1,683 or about 13.9% were born in Thônex and lived there in 2000. There were 3,364 or 27.7% who were born in the same canton, while 1,837 or 15.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 4,690 or 38.6% were born outside of Switzerland.
In there were 71 live births to Swiss citizens and 53 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 57 deaths of Swiss citizens and 16 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 14 while the foreign population increased by 37. There were 17 Swiss men and 31 Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there were 56 non-Swiss men and 83 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 134 and the non-Swiss population increased by 82 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 25.2% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 59.9% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 14.9%.
, there were 4,849 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 5,766 married individuals, 642 widows or widowers and 884 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.65 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 34.9% 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 5,153 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household. There were 1,868 households that consist of only one person and 294 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 5,246 households that answered this question, 35.6% were households made up of just one person and there were 20 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 1,179 married couples without children, 1,620 married couples with children There were 404 single parents with a child or children. There were 62 households that were made up of unrelated people and 93 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 1,042 single family homes (or 71.5% of the total) out of a total of 1,457 inhabited buildings. There were 250 multi-family buildings (17.2%), along with 139 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (9.5%) and 26 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (1.8%). Of the single family homes 70 were built before 1919, while 144 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (225) were built between 1971 and 1980. The most multi-family homes (62) were built between 1981 and 1990 and the next most (50) were built between 1961 and 1970. There were 12 multi-family houses built between 1996 and 2000.
there were 5,860 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 1,361. There were 1,196 single room apartments and 1,204 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 5,043 apartments (86.1% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 707 apartments (12.1%) were seasonally occupied and 110 apartments (1.9%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 5.5 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.23%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Politics
Like all municipalities in the canton of Geneva, the political authorities of Thônex consist of an Administrative Council (Conseil administratif) and a Municipal Council (Conseil municipal), composed of three and twenty-seven citizens respectively, elected for four years. At the last municipal elections which took place in the spring of 2007, foreigners residing in the Canton of Geneva for eight years or more could vote.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 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 24.02% 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....
(17.6%), 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....
(17.51%) and 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:...
(14.06%). In the federal election, a total of 3,391 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 49.1%.
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 7,039 registered voters of which 2,932 (41.7%) 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 21.3% of the ballots. In the canton-wide election they received the highest proportion of votes. The second most popular party was the MCG (with 17.2%), they were third in the canton-wide election, while the third 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 12.9%), they were second in the canton-wide election.
For the 2009 Conseil d'Etat election, there were a total of 7,013 registered voters of which 3,376 (48.1%) voted.
In 2011, all the municipalities held local elections, and in Thônex there were 27 spots open on the municipal council. There were a total of 9,409 registered voters of which 3,831 (40.7%) voted. Out of the 3,831 votes, there were 13 blank votes, 12 null or unreadable votes and 223 votes with a name that was not on the list.
Economy
, Thônex had an unemployment rate of 6.9%. , there were 8 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 4 businesses involved in this sector. 1,282 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 88 businesses in this sector. 3,633 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 328 businesses in this sector. There were 5,675 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 45.8% 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 4,316. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 4, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 1,237 of which 831 or (67.2%) were in manufacturing and 396 (32.0%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 3,075. In the tertiary sector; 280 or 9.1% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 42 or 1.4% were in the movement and storage of goods, 110 or 3.6% were in a hotel or restaurant, 57 or 1.9% were in the information industry, 43 or 1.4% were the insurance or financial industry, 248 or 8.1% were technical professionals or scientists, 231 or 7.5% were in education and 1,688 or 54.9% were in health care.
, there were 4,372 workers who commuted into the municipality and 4,616 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.1 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 25.3% of the workforce coming into Thônex are coming from outside Switzerland, while 0.1% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work. Of the working population, 29.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 50% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 5,154 or 42.5% were Roman Catholic, while 2,156 or 17.8% 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 153 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 1.26% of the population), there were 33 individuals (or about 0.27% 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 219 individuals (or about 1.80% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 110 individuals (or about 0.91% of the population) who were Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, and 464 (or about 3.82% 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 39 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...
, 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 26 individuals who belonged to another church. 2,759 (or about 22.72% 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 1,026 individuals (or about 8.45% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
In Thônex about 3,546 or (29.2%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 2,281 or (18.8%) 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 2,281 who completed tertiary schooling, 40.0% were Swiss men, 33.4% were Swiss women, 15.4% were non-Swiss men and 11.2% were non-Swiss women.
During the 2009-2010 school year there were a total of 2,816 students in the Thônex 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 131 children who were in a pre-kindergarten class. The canton's school system provides two years of non-mandatory kindergarten and requires students to attend six years of primary school, with some of the children attending smaller, specialized classes. In Thônex there were 487 students in kindergarten or primary school and 50 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 487 lower secondary students who attended school in Thônex. There were 708 upper secondary students from the municipality along with 132 students who were in a professional, non-university track program. An additional 293 students attended a private school.
, there were 431 students in Thônex who came from another municipality, while 1,022 residents attended schools outside the municipality.