Moudon
Encyclopedia
Moudon 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 Vaud
Vaud
Vaud is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and is located in Romandy, the French-speaking southwestern part of the country. The capital is Lausanne. The name of the Canton in Switzerland's other languages are Vaud in Italian , Waadt in German , and Vad in Romansh.-History:Along the lakes,...

 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 the seat of the district of Moudon
Moudon (district)
Moudon was a district in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. The seat of the district was the town of Moudon.The district consisted of 32 municipalities and had an area of 119.61 km² with a population of 12273 inhabitants ....

 and is now in the Broye-Vully district.

History

Montmagny was known as Minnodunum or Minnidunum during the Roman era
Switzerland in the Roman era
The history of Switzerland in the Roman era encompasses the roughly six centuries during which the territory of modern Switzerland was a part of the Roman Republic and Empire...

. Around 1100, 1154 and 1180 it was mentioned as Meldun, in 1161 it was Moudon and in 1167 as Meldunum or Mildunum.

As ancient Minnodunum, during Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 times, the city was in the country of the Helvetii
Helvetii
The Helvetii were a Celtic tribe or tribal confederation occupying most of the Swiss plateau at the time of their contact with the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC...

, on a road from Viviscus (modern Vevey
Vevey
Vevey is a town in Switzerland in the canton Vaud, on the north shore of Lake Geneva, near Lausanne.It was the seat of the district of the same name until 2006, and is now part of the Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut District...

), on the Lake of Geneva, to Aventicum
Aventicum
Aventicum was the largest town and capital of Roman Switzerland . Its remains are beside the modern town of Avenches....

 (modern Avenches
Avenches
Avenches is a Swiss municipality in the canton of Vaud, located in the district of Broye-Vully.-History:The roots of Avenches go back to the Celts...

).

Geography

Moudon has an area, , of 15.69 square kilometres (6.1 sq mi). Of this area, 7.33 km² (2.8 sq mi) or 46.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 5.5 km² (2.1 sq mi) or 35.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.59 km² (1 sq mi) or 16.5% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.28 km² (0.10810860440591 sq mi) or 1.8% is either rivers or lakes and 0.01 km² (2.5 acre) or 0.1% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 2.9% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 6.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 5.5%. Out of the forested land, 32.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 27.9% is used for growing crops and 17.8% is pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 0.2% is in lakes and 1.6% is in rivers and streams.

The municipality was the capital of the Moudon District until it was dissolved on 31 August 2006, and Moudon became part of the new district of Broye-Vully.

The upper city is located at the confluence
Confluence
Confluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water.Confluence may also refer to:* Confluence , a property of term rewriting systems...

 of the Mérine and Broye
Broye
The Broye is a 68 km long river, in the cantons of Fribourg and Vaud, in Switzerland. It has a watershed area of 850 km².-Presentation:...

 rivers. The lower city stretches downstream along the Broye river. It lies on the intersection of two historically important roads, one from Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 to Burgundy and the other between Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

 and Bern. It consists of the village of Moudon 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 Plan and Villaret, the northern section of the hamlet of Bressonnaz-Dessous and numerous (mostly medieval) farm house settlements including ; Alliérens, Beauregard, Belflori, Chalabruz, Cornier, Frémont, La Baume, La Cerjaulaz, La Faye, Le Grand-Pré, Grange-Verney, Gréchon, Montsandon, Valacrêt).

The municipalities of Moudon and Rossenges
Rossenges
Rossenges is a municipality in the district of Broye-Vully of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.The municipality of Rossenges is considering a merger at a date in the future into the municipality of Moudon.-History:...

 are considering a merger at a date in the future into the new municipality of Moudon.

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 Per pale Gules and Vert, overall a capital M Or.

Demographics

Moudon has a population of . , 37.5% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 10.8%. It has changed at a rate of 7.2% due to migration and at a rate of 4.7% 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...

 (3,474 or 79.5%), 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 (197 or 4.5%) and Albanian
Albanian language
Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...

 being third (172 or 3.9%). There are 130 people who speak 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....

, 95 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 2 people who speak Romansh.

Of the population in the municipality 1,203 or about 27.5% were born in Moudon and lived there in 2000. There were 1,036 or 23.7% who were born in the same canton, while 592 or 13.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 1,308 or 29.9% were born outside of Switzerland.

In there were 30 live births to Swiss citizens and 27 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 30 deaths of Swiss citizens and 2 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens remained the same while the foreign population increased by 25. There were 41 Swiss men and 31 Swiss women who immigrated back to Switzerland. At the same time, there were 65 non-Swiss men and 57 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 130 and the non-Swiss population increased by 129 people. This represents a population growth rate of 5.9%.

The age distribution, , in Moudon is; 538 children or 11.3% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 692 teenagers or 14.5% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 649 people or 13.6% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 628 people or 13.2% are between 30 and 39, 771 people or 16.2% are between 40 and 49, and 588 people or 12.3% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 427 people or 8.9% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 269 people or 5.6% are between 70 and 79, there are 179 people or 3.8% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 31 people or 0.6% who are 90 and older.

, there were 1,791 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 2,128 married individuals, 265 widows or widowers and 187 individuals who are divorced.

the average number of residents per living room was 0.67 which is more people per room than the cantonal average of 0.61 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 24.5% 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 1,720 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. There were 570 households that consist of only one person and 145 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 1,764 households that answered this question, 32.3% were households made up of just one person and there were 9 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 429 married couples without children, 609 married couples with children There were 89 single parents with a child or children. There were 14 households that were made up of unrelated people and 44 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.

there were 296 single family homes (or 40.9% of the total) out of a total of 724 inhabited buildings. There were 189 multi-family buildings (26.1%), along with 124 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (17.1%) and 115 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (15.9%). Of the single family homes 67 were built before 1919, while 16 were built between 1990 and 2000. The most multi-family homes (66) were built before 1919 and the next most (36) were built between 1946 and 1960. There were 3 multi-family houses built between 1996 and 2000.

there were 2,000 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 712. There were 141 single room apartments and 348 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 1,676 apartments (83.8% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 204 apartments (10.2%) were seasonally occupied and 120 apartments (6.0%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 5.9 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.62%.

The historical population is given in the following chart:

Heritage sites of national significance

The Ancien Grenier, the Swiss Reformed
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...

 Church of Saint-Etienne, the Fountain de Moïse (Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...

 Fountain), the City Hall
City hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall or a municipal building or civic centre, is the chief administrative building of a city...

, the D’Arnay House, the Etats de Vaud House, the Loys de Villardin House, the De Rochefort House, the Tacheron House and the Castle Tower 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...

.

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 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 33.2% 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...

 (22.62%), the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (17.31%) 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:...

 (10.9%). In the federal election, a total of 904 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 41.4%.

Economy

, Moudon had an unemployment rate of 6.6%. , there were 64 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 21 businesses involved in this sector. 740 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 65 businesses in this sector. 1,619 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 210 businesses in this sector. There were 2,054 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 2,021. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 50, of which 45 were in agriculture and 5 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 701 of which 405 or (57.8%) were in manufacturing and 251 (35.8%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 1,270. In the tertiary sector; 358 or 28.2% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 174 or 13.7% were in the movement and storage of goods, 88 or 6.9% were in a hotel or restaurant, 8 or 0.6% were in the information industry, 33 or 2.6% were the insurance or financial industry, 72 or 5.7% were technical professionals or scientists, 158 or 12.4% were in education and 178 or 14.0% were in health care.

, there were 1,366 workers who commuted into the municipality and 875 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.6 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. Of the working population, 11.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 55.5% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 1,477 or 33.8% were Roman Catholic, while 1,471 or 33.7% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 21 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), there were 7 individuals (or about 0.16% 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 82 individuals (or about 1.88% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 3 individuals (or about 0.07% of the population) who were Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

, and 506 (or about 11.58% 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 5 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...

, 8 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 24 individuals who belonged to another church. 428 (or about 9.79% 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 339 individuals (or about 7.76% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Moudon about 1,318 or (30.2%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 341 or (7.8%) 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 341 who completed tertiary schooling, 55.7% were Swiss men, 23.5% were Swiss women, 14.4% were non-Swiss men and 6.5% were non-Swiss women.

In the 2009/2010 school year there were a total of 665 students in the Moudon school district. In the Vaud cantonal school system, two years of non-obligatory pre-school are provided by the political districts. During the school year, the political district provided pre-school care for a total of 155 children of which 83 children (53.5%) received subsidized pre-school care. The canton's primary school program requires students to attend for four years. There were 347 students in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 269 students in those schools. There were also 49 students who were home schooled or attended another non-traditional school.

, there were 514 students in Moudon who came from another municipality, while 136 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
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