Grandfontaine () is a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
in the district of
Porrentruy
Porrentruy (; ; ) is a Swiss municipality and seat of the district of the same name located in the canton of Jura.
Porrentruy is home to National League team, HC Ajoie.
History
The first trace of human presence in Porrentruy is a Mesolit ...
in the
canton
Canton may refer to:
Administrative divisions
* Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries
* Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French
Arts and entertainment
* Canton (band), an It ...
of
Jura in Switzerland.
History
Grandfontaine is first mentioned in 1136 as ''Granfontana''.
[
]
Geography
Grandfontaine has an area of . Of this area, or 64.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 28.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 6.7% is settled (buildings or roads) and or 0.2% is unproductive land.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics]
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 3.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.7%. Out of the forested land, 25.7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 40.0% is used for growing crops and 23.1% is pastures, while 1.3% is used for orchards or vine crops.[
The municipality is located in the Porrentruy district, in a small valley near the ]Porrentruy
Porrentruy (; ; ) is a Swiss municipality and seat of the district of the same name located in the canton of Jura.
Porrentruy is home to National League team, HC Ajoie.
History
The first trace of human presence in Porrentruy is a Mesolit ...
to Besançon
Besançon (, ; , ; archaic ; ) is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerland.
Capi ...
road. The large fountain and the bath house, both from the 19th century, are located on the karst spring
A karst spring or karstic spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring (exsurgence, outflow of groundwater) that is part of a karst hydrological system.
Description
Because of their often conical or inverted bowl shape, karst springs are also known i ...
that gave this village its name.
Coat of arms
The 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 an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...
of the municipal coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
is ''Or a Cross Sable between 20 billets of the last.''
Demographics
Grandfontaine has a population () of . , 3.4% of the population are resident foreign nationals.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Superweb database - Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008]
accessed 19 June 2010 Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 0.6%. Migration accounted for 2.2%, while births and deaths accounted for 3.4%.
accessed 30-December-2011[
, the population was 47.9% male and 52.1% female. The population was made up of 165 Swiss men (46.0% of the population) and 7 (1.9%) non-Swiss men. There were 181 Swiss women (50.4%) and 6 (1.7%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 194 or about 58.8% were born in Grandfontaine and lived there in 2000. There were 57 or 17.3% who were born in the same canton, while 43 or 13.0% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 28 or 8.5% were born outside of Switzerland.][
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 27.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 56.7% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16.1%.][
, there were 140 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 156 married individuals, 24 widows or widowers and 10 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 126 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.5 persons per household.[ There were 38 households that consist of only one person and 18 households with five or more people. , a total of 121 apartments (69.5% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 46 apartments (26.4%) were seasonally occupied and 7 apartments (4.0%) were empty.][Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen]
accessed 28 January 2011 The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.54%.[
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
Politics
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 40.57% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS (31.13%), the SVP (13.21%) and the FDP (7.55%). In the federal election, a total of 106 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...
was 39.4%.
Economy
, Grandfontaine had an unemployment rate of 2.7%. , there were 44 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 16 businesses involved in this sector. 36 people were employed in the secondary sector
In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructi ...
and there were 9 businesses in this sector. 37 people were employed in the tertiary sector
The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the ...
, with 10 businesses in this sector.[ There were 154 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 39.6% of the workforce.
the total number of ]full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit of measurement that indicates the workload of an employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often use ...
jobs was 94. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 33, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 31 of which 10 or (32.3%) were in manufacturing and 21 (67.7%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 30. In the tertiary sector; 21 or 70.0% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 3 or 10.0% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 6.7% were in education.
, there were 32 workers who commuted into the municipality and 82 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.6 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 25.0% of the workforce coming into Grandfontaine are coming from outside Switzerland.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 5.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 57.1% used a private car.[
]
Religion
From the , 281 or 85.2% were Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
, while 19 or 5.8% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The P ...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 12 individuals (or about 3.64% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. 21 (or about 6.36% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...
or atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
, and 3 individuals (or about 0.91% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Grandfontaine about 110 or (33.3%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education
Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education.
Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...
, and 31 or (9.4%) have completed additional higher education (either university
A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
or a ''Fachhochschule
A (; plural ), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a Hochschule, German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts, such as engineering, te ...
''). Of the 31 who completed tertiary schooling, 54.8% were Swiss men, 38.7% were Swiss women.[
The Canton of Jura school system provides two year of non-obligatory ]Kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...
, 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 followed by some form of Tertiary school or they may enter an apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...
.[
]
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Municipalities of the canton of Jura