Font, Switzerland
Encyclopedia
Font is a municipality
in the district of Broye
, in the canton of Fribourg
, Switzerland.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 6.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 8.0%. Out of the forested land, 24.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.0% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 39.2% is used for growing crops and 10.4% is pastures, while 2.4% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is in lakes.
The municipality is located in the Broye district, in the Estavayer-le-Lac exclave. It lies on the southern shore area of Lake Neuchâtel
, and borders the municipalities of Châtillon
coming from center onto the west, Châbles
to the west, Estavayer-le-Lac
to the east, and Lully
to the south and southeast. The town's main road is the Yverdon-les-Bains
Route and the A1
motorway which travels south of the city through Châtillon.
The municipality of Font is seeking approval from the Canton to merge on 1 January 2012 into the municipality of Estavayer-le-Lac
.
of the municipal coat of arms
is Gules, a Mullet Argent pierced.
Most of the population speaks French
(253 or 94.8%) as their first language, German
is the second most common (13 or 4.9%) and Italian
is the third (1 or 0.4%).
, the population was 52.8% male and 47.2% female. The population was made up of 168 Swiss men (49.6% of the population) and 11 (3.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 150 Swiss women (44.2%) and 10 (2.9%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 99 or about 37.1% were born in Font and lived there in 2000. There were 93 or 34.8% who were born in the same canton, while 63 or 23.6% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 7 or 2.6% were born outside of Switzerland.
The age distribution, , in Font is; 38 children or 14.2% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 26 teenagers or 9.7% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 25 people or 9.4% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 45 people or 16.9% are between 30 and 39, 50 people or 18.7% are between 40 and 49, and 33 people or 12.4% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 22 people or 8.2% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 19 people or 7.1% are between 70 and 79, there are 8 people or 3.0% who are between 80 and 89, and there is 1 person who is 90 and older.
, there were 90 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 147 married individuals, 18 widows or widowers and 12 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 103 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household. There were 26 households that consist of only one person and 9 households with five or more people. , a total of 96 apartments (55.8% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 64 apartments (37.2%) were seasonally occupied and 12 apartments (7.0%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 2.8 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.52%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
villa at La Vuardaz is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance
. The entire Font area (shared between Châbles and Font) is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
.
the most popular party was the SP
which received 36.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP
(32.2%), the SVP
(19.0%) and the FDP
(3.8%).
The SPS gained an additional 8.0% of the vote from the 2007 Federal election
. The CVP retained about the same popularity (28.7% in 2007), the SVP retained about the same popularity (20.0% in 2007) and the FDP lost popularity (10.2% in 2007). A total of 164 votes were cast in this election, of which 1 or 0.6% was invalid.
the total number of full-time equivalent
jobs was 31. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 7, of which 6 were in agriculture and 1 was in fishing or fisheries. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 3, all of which were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 21. In the tertiary sector; 2 or 9.5% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 2 or 9.5% were in a hotel or restaurant, 5 or 23.8% were in the information industry, 2 or 9.5% were in education.
, there were 8 workers who commuted into the municipality and 109 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 13.6 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 3.6% used public transportation to get to work, and 75.4% used a private car.
. Of the rest of the population, there was 1 individual who belongs to another Christian church. 25 (or about 9.36% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 8 individuals (or about 3.00% of the population) did not answer the question.
). Of the 39 who completed tertiary schooling, 64.1% were Swiss men, 35.9% 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 46 students attending 2 classes in Font. A total of 62 students from the municipality attended any school, either in the municipality or outside of it. There were no kindergarten classes in the municipality, but 10 students attended kindergarten in a neighboring municipality. The municipality had 2 primary classes and 46 students. During the same year, there were no lower secondary classes in the municipality, but 14 students attended lower secondary school in a neighboring municipality. There were no upper Secondary classes or vocational classes, but there was one upper Secondary student and 4 upper Secondary vocational students who attended classes in another municipality. The municipality had no non-university Tertiary classes, but there was one specialized Tertiary student who attended classes in another municipality.
, there were 38 students in Font who came from another municipality, while 34 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 Broye
Broye (district)
Broye District is a one of the seven districts of the Canton of Fribourg, Switzerland, lying in the vicinity of Lake Neuchâtel. Its territory is non-contiguous and Broye is fragmented into four parts, three of which exist as exclaves from the canton of Fribourg...
, in the canton of Fribourg
Canton of Fribourg
The Canton of Fribourg is a canton of Switzerland. It is located in the west of the country. The capital of the canton is Fribourg. The name Fribourg is French, whereas is the German name for both the canton and the town.-History:...
, Switzerland.
Geography
Font has an area, , of 2.5 square kilometre. Of this area, 1.3 square kilometre or 52.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.67 square kilometre or 26.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.37 square kilometre or 14.8% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.01 km² (2.5 acre) or 0.4% is either rivers or lakes and 0.16 square kilometre or 6.4% is unproductive land.Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 6.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 8.0%. Out of the forested land, 24.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.0% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 39.2% is used for growing crops and 10.4% is pastures, while 2.4% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is in lakes.
The municipality is located in the Broye district, in the Estavayer-le-Lac exclave. It lies on the southern shore area of Lake Neuchâtel
Lake Neuchâtel
Lake Neuchâtel is a lake in Romandy, Switzerland . The lake lies mainly in the canton of Neuchâtel, but is also shared by the cantons of Vaud, of Fribourg, and of Bern....
, and borders the municipalities of Châtillon
Châtillon, Fribourg
Châtillon is a municipality in the district of Broye in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland.-Geography:Châtillon has an area, , of . Of this area, or 55.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 27.5% is forested...
coming from center onto the west, Châbles
Châbles
Châbles is a municipality in the district of Broye in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland.-Geography:Châbles has an area, , of . Of this area, or 52.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 28.3% is forested...
to the west, Estavayer-le-Lac
Estavayer-le-Lac
Estavayer-le-Lac is a municipality of the canton of Fribourg, situated on the south shore of Lake Neuchâtel. Estavayer-le-Lac is located between Yverdon and Bern. It is the capital of the district of Broye.-History:...
to the east, and Lully
Lully
-Places:*Switzerland**Lully, Fribourg, a municipality**Lully, Vaud, a municipality**Lully, Geneva, a village in the municipality of Bernex*France**Lully, Haute-Savoie-People:*Jean-Baptiste Lully , an Italian-born Baroque composer of French opera...
to the south and southeast. The town's main road is the Yverdon-les-Bains
Yverdon-les-Bains
Yverdon-les-Bains is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is the seat of the district...
Route and the A1
A1 (Switzerland)
The A1 is a motorway in Switzerland. It follows Switzerland's main east-west axis, from St. Margrethen in northeastern Switzerland's canton of St. Gallen through to Geneva in southwestern Switzerland...
motorway which travels south of the city through Châtillon.
The municipality of Font is seeking approval from the Canton to merge on 1 January 2012 into the municipality of Estavayer-le-Lac
Estavayer-le-Lac
Estavayer-le-Lac is a municipality of the canton of Fribourg, situated on the south shore of Lake Neuchâtel. Estavayer-le-Lac is located between Yverdon and Bern. It is the capital of the district of Broye.-History:...
.
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 Gules, a Mullet Argent pierced.
Demographics
Font has a population of . , 7.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 31%. Migration accounted for 23.5%, while births and deaths accounted for 5.6%.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...
(253 or 94.8%) 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 (13 or 4.9%) and 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 third (1 or 0.4%).
, the population was 52.8% male and 47.2% female. The population was made up of 168 Swiss men (49.6% of the population) and 11 (3.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 150 Swiss women (44.2%) and 10 (2.9%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 99 or about 37.1% were born in Font and lived there in 2000. There were 93 or 34.8% who were born in the same canton, while 63 or 23.6% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 7 or 2.6% were born outside of Switzerland.
The age distribution, , in Font is; 38 children or 14.2% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 26 teenagers or 9.7% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 25 people or 9.4% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 45 people or 16.9% are between 30 and 39, 50 people or 18.7% are between 40 and 49, and 33 people or 12.4% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 22 people or 8.2% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 19 people or 7.1% are between 70 and 79, there are 8 people or 3.0% who are between 80 and 89, and there is 1 person who is 90 and older.
, there were 90 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 147 married individuals, 18 widows or widowers and 12 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 103 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household. There were 26 households that consist of only one person and 9 households with five or more people. , a total of 96 apartments (55.8% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 64 apartments (37.2%) were seasonally occupied and 12 apartments (7.0%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 2.8 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.52%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Heritage sites of national significance
The gallo-romanGallo-Roman culture
The term Gallo-Roman describes the Romanized culture of Gaul under the rule of the Roman Empire. This was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman mores and way of life in a uniquely Gaulish context...
villa at La Vuardaz is listed as a 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 Font area (shared between Châbles and Font) 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 SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
which received 36.9% 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...
(32.2%), 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...
(19.0%) 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....
(3.8%).
The SPS gained an additional 8.0% of the vote from 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 CVP retained about the same popularity (28.7% in 2007), the SVP retained about the same popularity (20.0% in 2007) and the FDP lost popularity (10.2% in 2007). A total of 164 votes were cast in this election, of which 1 or 0.6% was invalid.
Economy
, Font had an unemployment rate of 1.6%. , there were 11 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 5 businesses involved in this sector. 3 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 2 businesses in this sector. 30 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 9 businesses in this sector. There were 138 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 40.6% 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 31. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 7, of which 6 were in agriculture and 1 was in fishing or fisheries. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 3, all of which were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 21. In the tertiary sector; 2 or 9.5% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 2 or 9.5% were in a hotel or restaurant, 5 or 23.8% were in the information industry, 2 or 9.5% were in education.
, there were 8 workers who commuted into the municipality and 109 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 13.6 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 3.6% used public transportation to get to work, and 75.4% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 198 or 74.2% were Roman Catholic, while 35 or 13.1% 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 individual who belongs to another Christian church. 25 (or about 9.36% 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 3.00% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
In Font about 99 or (37.1%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 39 or (14.6%) 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 39 who completed tertiary schooling, 64.1% were Swiss men, 35.9% 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 46 students attending 2 classes in Font. A total of 62 students from the municipality attended any school, either in the municipality or outside of it. There were no kindergarten classes in the municipality, but 10 students attended kindergarten in a neighboring municipality. The municipality had 2 primary classes and 46 students. During the same year, there were no lower secondary classes in the municipality, but 14 students attended lower secondary school in a neighboring municipality. There were no upper Secondary classes or vocational classes, but there was one upper Secondary student and 4 upper Secondary vocational students who attended classes in another municipality. The municipality had no non-university Tertiary classes, but there was one specialized Tertiary student who attended classes in another municipality.
, there were 38 students in Font who came from another municipality, while 34 residents attended schools outside the municipality.