Val-de-Travers is a municipality

Municipalities of Switzerland

Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...

 in the district of Val-de-Travers

Val-de-Travers (district)

Val-de-Travers District is a district in the canton of Neuchâtel, in Switzerland. It is famous for its clock industry. It is also famous for being the historical birthplace of absinthe which is now once again being distilled in the region...

 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 Neuchâtel 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....

. It was created on 1 January 2009, when the former municipalities of Boveresse

Boveresse

Boveresse was a municipality in the district of Val-de-Travers in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. On 1 January 2009, the former municipalities of Boveresse, Buttes, Couvet, Fleurier, Les Bayards, Môtiers, Noiraigue, Saint-Sulpice and Travers merged to form Val-de-Travers....

, Buttes

Buttes

Buttes was a municipality in the district of Val-de-Travers in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. On 1 January 2009, the former municipalities of Boveresse, Buttes, Couvet, Fleurier, Les Bayards, Môtiers, Noiraigue, Saint-Sulpice and Travers merged to form Val-de-Travers....

, Couvet

Couvet

Couvet was a municipality in the district of Val-de-Travers in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. It is claimed that Couvet was the birthplace of absinthe at the end of the 18th century and it is now the home of La Clandestine Absinthe. It was also the home to Edouard Dubied & Co...

, Fleurier

Fleurier

Fleurier was a municipality in the district of Val-de-Travers in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. On 1 January 2009, the former municipalities of Boveresse, Buttes, Couvet, Fleurier, Les Bayards, Môtiers, Noiraigue, Saint-Sulpice and Travers merged to form Val-de-Travers.The Nobel...

, Les Bayards

Les Bayards

Les Bayards was a municipality in the district of Val-de-Travers in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. On 1 January 2009, the former municipalities of Boveresse, Buttes, Couvet, Fleurier, Les Bayards, Môtiers, Noiraigue, Saint-Sulpice and Travers merged to form Val-de-Travers....

, Môtiers

Môtiers

Môtiers was a municipality in the district of Val-de-Travers in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. On 1 January 2009, the former municipalities of Boveresse, Buttes, Couvet, Fleurier, Les Bayards, Môtiers, Noiraigue, Saint-Sulpice and Travers merged to form Val-de-Travers.The old castle,...

, Noiraigue

Noiraigue

Noiraigue was a municipality in the district of Val-de-Travers in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. On 1 January 2009, the former municipalities of Boveresse, Buttes, Couvet, Fleurier, Les Bayards, Môtiers, Noiraigue, Saint-Sulpice and Travers merged to form Val-de-Travers....

, Saint-Sulpice

Saint-Sulpice, Neuchâtel

Saint-Sulpice was a municipality in the district of Val-de-Travers in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. On 1 January 2009, the former municipalities of Boveresse, Buttes, Couvet, Fleurier, Les Bayards, Môtiers, Noiraigue, Saint-Sulpice and Travers merged to form Val-de-Travers.-References:...

 and Travers

Travers, Switzerland

Travers was a municipality in the district of Val-de-Travers in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. On 1 January 2009, the former municipalities of Boveresse, Buttes, Couvet, Fleurier, Les Bayards, Môtiers, Noiraigue, Saint-Sulpice and Travers merged to form Val-de-Travers....

 merged to form Val-de-Travers.

The region is known for its production of absinthe

Absinthe

Absinthe is historically described as a distilled, highly alcoholic beverage. It is an anise-flavoured spirit derived from herbs, including the flowers and leaves of the herb Artemisia absinthium, commonly referred to as "grande wormwood", together with green anise and sweet fennel...

, which has status as a Protected Designation of Origin

Protected designation of origin

Protected Geographical Status is a legal framework defined in European Union law to protect the names of regional foods. Protected Designation of Origin , Protected Geographical Indication and Traditional Speciality Guaranteed are distinct regimes of geographical indications within the framework...

 (PDO).

Geography

Val-de-Travers has an area, , of 124.9 square kilometre. Of this area, 52.92 square kilometre or 42.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 63.24 square kilometre or 50.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 7.54 square kilometre or 6.0% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.59 square kilometre or 0.5% is either rivers or lakes and 0.39 square kilometre or 0.3% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.5%. Out of the forested land, 46.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 5.0% is used for growing crops and 23.9% is pastures and 13.4% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

The municipality is located in a valley in the Neuchâtel Jura

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...

. The valley provides a connection between the Swiss plateau

Swiss plateau

The Swiss Plateau or Central Plateau constitutes one of the three major landscapes in Switzerland alongside the Jura mountains and the Swiss Alps. It covers about 30% of the Swiss surface...

 and Franche-Comte

Franche-Comté

Franche-Comté the former "Free County" of Burgundy, as distinct from the neighbouring Duchy, is an administrative region and a traditional province of eastern France...

.

Demographics

Val-de-Travers has a population of . , 18.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of -2.5%. Migration accounted for -1.8%, while births and deaths accounted for -1.6%.

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...

 (88.9%) 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 (3.0%) 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 (2.7%).

, the population was 48.6% male and 51.4% female. The population was made up of 4,161 Swiss men (38.4% of the population) and 1,103 (10.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 4,677 Swiss women (43.2%) and 891 (8.2%) non-Swiss women.

, children and teenagers (0-19 years old) make up 25% of the population, while adults (20-64 years old) make up 55.9% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 19.1%.

, the construction rate of new housing units was 0.6 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.39%.

Heritage sites of national significance

The Farm House no. 1201 or Monlési, the Maison des Chats or Petitpierre, the Séchoir à absinthe, Ivernois Castle

Ivernois Castle

Ivernois Castle is a castle in the municipality of Val-de-Travers of the Canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.-References:...

 and the Maison Boy de la Tour, the Hôtel des Six-Communes, the medieval church of St-Pierre, the Temple in Môtiers and Areuse Bridge 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 villages of Buttes, Les Verrières, Môtiers, Couvet, Fleurier and Travers are all 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:...

.

Economy

, Val-de-Travers had an unemployment rate of 6.6%. , there were 322 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 139 businesses involved in this sector. 1,980 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 162 businesses in this sector. 2,188 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 374 businesses in this sector. There were residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity. Of the working population, 13.1% used public transportation to get to work, and 57.3% used a private car.

Education

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 10.5 kindergarten classes with a total of 198 students in Val-de-Travers. In the same year, there were 29 primary classes with a total of 528 students.