Bardonnex
Encyclopedia
Bardonnex 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 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 Geneva 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....

.

Geography

Bardonnex has an area, , of 5 square kilometres (1.9 sq mi). Of this area, 3.68 km² (1.4 sq mi) or 73.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.17 km² (0.065637366960731 sq mi) or 3.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.18 km² (0.455600547139191 sq mi) or 23.6% is settled (buildings or roads).

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.6% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 9.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 7.4%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 3.8% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.2%. Out of the forested land, 0.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 54.8% is used for growing crops and 4.6% is pastures, while 14.2% is used for orchards or vine crops.

The municipality is located in the south of the Canton, on the Swiss-French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 border. It consists of the village of Bardonnex and the hamlets
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 Charrot, Croix-de-Rozon (Border Crossing), Compesières, Landecy, La Mure and Cugny. In 1851 the community of Compesières was divided by the municipalities of Bardonnex and Plan-les-Ouates
Plan-les-Ouates
Plan-les-Ouates is a municipality of the canton of Geneva in Switzerland.-History:Plan-les-Ouates is first mentioned in 1537 as Plan-des-Vuattes. In 1851 it became an independent municipality when the municipality of Compesières dissolved itself and the municipalities of Bardonnex and...

.

The municipality of Bardonnex consists of the sub-sections or villages of Ravières, Compesières, Surpierre, La Croix-de-Rozon, Landecy, Charrot and Bardonnex - village.

Coat of arms

The blazon
Blazon
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 Gules a Maltese Cross Argent. This comes from the Order of St John which had a commandery here starting in the 13th century.

Demographics

Bardonnex has a population of . , 21.8% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 5.8%. It has changed at a rate of -1.1% due to migration and at a rate of 6.1% 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...

 (1,788 or 85.4%), with 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 second most common (76 or 3.6%) and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 being third (63 or 3.0%). There is 1 person who speaks Romansh.

, the gender distribution of the population was 49.7% male and 50.3% female. The population was made up of 816 Swiss men (37.0% of the population) and 281 (12.7%) non-Swiss men. There were 857 Swiss women (38.8%) and 252 (11.4%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 477 or about 22.8% were born in Bardonnex and lived there in 2000. There were 650 or 31.0% who were born in the same canton, while 281 or 13.4% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 611 or 29.2% were born outside of Switzerland.

In there were 24 live births to Swiss citizens and 4 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 12 deaths of Swiss citizens and 3 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 12 while the foreign population increased by 1. There were 5 Swiss men and 10 Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there were 19 non-Swiss men and 6 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 17 and the non-Swiss population increased by 18 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 26% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 64.9% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 9.2%.

, there were 887 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,024 married individuals, 61 widows or widowers and 122 individuals who are divorced.

the average number of residents per living room was 0.61 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 34.7% 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 803 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.5 persons per household. There were 210 households that consist of only one person and 48 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 835 households that answered this question, 25.1% were households made up of just one person and there were 4 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 203 married couples without children, 305 married couples with children There were 69 single parents with a child or children. There were 12 households that were made up of unrelated people and 32 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.

there were 202 single family homes (or 55.8% of the total) out of a total of 362 inhabited buildings. There were 72 multi-family buildings (19.9%), along with 70 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (19.3%) and 18 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (5.0%). Of the single family homes 80 were built before 1919, while 25 were built between 1990 and 2000.

there were 846 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 262. There were 38 single room apartments and 255 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 749 apartments (88.5% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 72 apartments (8.5%) were seasonally occupied and 25 apartments (3.0%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.2 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.56%.

The historical population is given in the following chart:

Heritage sites of national significance

The Compesières
Compesières Commandry
The Compesières Commandry is the main Commandry of the Order of Malta in the Canton of Geneva in Switzerland. The Commandry is located in the municipality of Bardonnex.-History:...

Commandry
Commandry (feudalism)
Commandry , or commandery , was the smallest division of the European landed estate or manor under the control of a commendator, or commander, of an order of knights...

 and the museum of the Order of Malta and the Domaine Micheli in Landecy 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 village of Landecy and the Compesières site are 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 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 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...

 which received 23.48% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were 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...

 (18.26%), 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:...

 (16.03%) and the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (11.17%). In the federal election, a total of 740 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 56.8%.

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 1,320 registered voters of which 689 (52.2%) voted. The most popular party in the municipality for this election was the PDC
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...

 with 18.8% of the ballots. In the canton-wide election they received the fifth highest proportion of votes. The second most popular party was the MCG (with 18.6%), 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 13.5%), they were second in the canton-wide election.

For the 2009 Conseil d'Etat election, there were a total of 1,318 registered voters of which 772 (58.6%) voted.

In 2011, all the municipalities held local elections, and in Bardonnex there were 17 spots open on the municipal council. There were a total of 1,548 registered voters of which 865 (55.9%) voted. Out of the 865 votes, there were 11 blank votes, 1 null or unreadable votes and 91 votes with a name that was not on the list.

Economy

, Bardonnex had an unemployment rate of 4.7%. , there were 88 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 18 businesses involved in this sector. 139 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 20 businesses in this sector. 204 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 50 businesses in this sector. There were 1,122 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 45.0% 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 384. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 75, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 133 of which 88 or (66.2%) were in manufacturing and 45 (33.8%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 176. In the tertiary sector; 19 or 10.8% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 26 or 14.8% were in the movement and storage of goods, 23 or 13.1% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 1.1% were in the information industry, 1 was the insurance or financial industry, 22 or 12.5% were technical professionals or scientists, 11 or 6.3% were in education and 2 or 1.1% were in health care.

, there were 292 workers who commuted into the municipality and 929 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 3.2 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 15.1% of the workforce coming into Bardonnex are coming from outside Switzerland, while 0.2% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work. Of the working population, 16.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 63.6% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 937 or 44.7% were Roman Catholic, while 335 or 16.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
Swiss 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 10 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 0.48% of the population), and there were 46 individuals (or about 2.20% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 5 individuals (or about 0.24% of the population) who were Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

, and 26 (or about 1.24% 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 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 4 individuals who belonged to another church. 561 (or about 26.79% 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 168 individuals (or about 8.02% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Bardonnex about 643 or (30.7%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 435 or (20.8%) have completed additional higher education (either University or a Fachhochschule
Fachhochschule
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 435 who completed tertiary schooling, 41.4% were Swiss men, 38.2% were Swiss women, 13.1% were non-Swiss men and 7.4% were non-Swiss women.

During the 2009-2010 school year there were a total of 443 students in the Bardonnex 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 34 children who were in a pre-kindergarten class. The canton's school system provides 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...

 and requires students to attend six years of primary school, with some of the children attending smaller, specialized classes. In Bardonnex there were 66 students in kindergarten or primary school and 4 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 66 lower secondary students who attended school in Bardonnex. There were 119 upper secondary students from the municipality along with 11 students who were in a professional, non-university track program. An additional 58 students attended a private school.

, there were 13 students in Bardonnex who came from another municipality, while 206 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
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