Saint-Barthélemy, Switzerland
Encyclopedia
Saint-Barthélemy 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 Gros-de-Vaud 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....

.

Geography

Saint-Barthélemy is just 10 minutes northeast of Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...

, the capital of the canton, and 3 km (1.9 mi) west of Echallens
Echallens
Echallens is a municipality in the district of Gros-de-Vaud in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.-History:The territory of the municipality was already settled very early. There are remains of a Bronze Age foundry....

, the capital of the district. It is situated in the bread-basket agricultural district known as the Gros-de-Vaud. It is traversed by the river Talent.

The landscape is a hilly high plateau between the watersheds of Lake Geneva
Lake Geneva
Lake Geneva or Lake Léman is a lake in Switzerland and France. It is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe. 59.53 % of it comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland , and 40.47 % under France...

 to the south and 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....

 to the north.

Saint-Barthélemy has an area, , of 4.12 square kilometres (1.6 sq mi). Of this area, 3.34 km² (1.3 sq mi) or 81.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.49 km² (0.189190057710342 sq mi) or 11.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.3 km² (0.115830647577761 sq mi) or 7.3% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.01 km² (2.5 acre) or 0.2% is either rivers or lakes.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 4.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.4%. Out of the forested land, 10.2% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 66.5% is used for growing crops and 14.1% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

The municipality was part of the Echallens District until it was dissolved on 31 August 2006, and Saint-Barthélemy became part of the new district of Gros-de-Vaud.

The municipality is located in the Gros-de-Vaud region, on the Echallens-Cossonay
Cossonay
Cossonay is a municipality in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is the seat of the district of Morges.-History:Cossonay has both Roman ruins and medieval graves. The first documentation of the settlement dates from 1096 under the name Cochoniacum...

 road. It consists of the village of Saint-Barthélemy and the hamlet
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 Bretigny.

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 Argent and Gules a Castle surrounded with four Escallops 1-2-1 counterchanged.

Demographics

Saint-Barthélemy has a population of . , 10.4% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 14.9%. It has changed at a rate of 7.7% due to migration and at a rate of 6.9% 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...

 (593 or 94.3%), 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 (22 or 3.5%) 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...

 being third (6 or 1.0%).

Of the population in the municipality 188 or about 29.9% were born in Saint-Barthélemy and lived there in 2000. There were 246 or 39.1% who were born in the same canton, while 90 or 14.3% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 86 or 13.7% were born outside of Switzerland.

In there were 4 live births to Swiss citizens and were 3 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 1 while the foreign population remained the same. There was 1 Swiss woman who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there was 1 non-Swiss man and 4 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 14 and the non-Swiss population increased by 6 people. This represents a population growth rate of 3.0%.

The age distribution, , in Saint-Barthélemy is; 83 children or 11.9% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 103 teenagers or 14.7% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 77 people or 11.0% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 107 people or 15.3% are between 30 and 39, 132 people or 18.9% are between 40 and 49, and 87 people or 12.4% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 60 people or 8.6% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 32 people or 4.6% are between 70 and 79, there are 17 people or 2.4% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 2 people or 0.3% who are 90 and older.

, there were 322 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 283 married individuals, 12 widows or widowers and 12 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 55.9% 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 200 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.9 persons per household. There were 37 households that consist of only one person and 27 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 207 households that answered this question, 17.9% were households made up of just one person and there were 2 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 50 married couples without children, 99 married couples with children There were 7 single parents with a child or children. There were 5 households that were made up of unrelated people and 7 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.

there were 54 single family homes (or 47.0% of the total) out of a total of 115 inhabited buildings. There were 32 multi-family buildings (27.8%), along with 19 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (16.5%) and 10 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (8.7%). Of the single family homes 10 were built before 1919, while 16 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (16) were built between 1981 and 1990. The most multi-family homes (9) were built before 1919 and the next most (5) were built between 1981 and 1990. There were 3 multi-family houses built between 1996 and 2000.

there were 200 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 66. There were 2 single room apartments and 80 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 188 apartments (94.0% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 10 apartments (5.0%) were seasonally occupied and 2 apartments (1.0%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 20 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0%.

The historical population is given in the following chart:

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 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 22.38% 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....

 (20.34%), 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...

 (17.74%) 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....

 (10.15%). In the federal election, a total of 188 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 43.4%.

Economy

, Saint-Barthélemy had an unemployment rate of 3.4%. , there were 32 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 16 businesses involved in this sector. 28 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 8 businesses in this sector. 170 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 16 businesses in this sector. There were 303 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 46.2% 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 165. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 20, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 25 of which 17 or (68.0%) were in manufacturing and 8 (32.0%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 120. In the tertiary sector; 8 or 6.7% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 1 was in the movement and storage of goods, 5 or 4.2% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 1.7% were technical professionals or scientists and 95 or 79.2% were in health care.

, there were 95 workers who commuted into the municipality and 235 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.5 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 10.9% used public transportation to get to work, and 66.3% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 334 or 53.1% were Roman Catholic, while 173 or 27.5% 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 was 1 member of an Orthodox church
Orthodox Christianity
The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...

, and there were 17 individuals (or about 2.70% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 4 (or about 0.64% 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 was 1 person who was 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...

. 86 (or about 13.67% 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 21 individuals (or about 3.34% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Saint-Barthélemy about 223 or (35.5%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 56 or (8.9%) 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 56 who completed tertiary schooling, 51.8% were Swiss men, 37.5% were Swiss women.

, there was one student in Saint-Barthélemy who came from another municipality, while 104 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Personalities

It is the residence of the tennis player Stanislas Wawrinka
Stanislas Wawrinka
Stanislas Wawrinka is a Swiss professional tennis player. He also holds German citizenship as his father is German. His career ranking high is no. 9, achieved on 9 June 2008. He considers clay his best surface and his backhand his best shot...

, who won a gold medal in mens doubles, partnering with Roger Federer
Roger Federer
Roger Federer is a Swiss professional tennis player who held the ATP no. 1 position for a record 237 consecutive weeks, and 285 weeks overall. As of 28 November 2011, he is ranked World No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals . Federer has won a men's record 16 Grand Slam singles titles...

 at the 2008 Olympics.
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