La Tène (; frp, La Tena) is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel. On 1 January 2009, the former municipalities of Marin-Epagnier and Thielle-Wavre merged to form the new municipality of La Tène.Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 14 January 2010 The La Tène toponym was originally applied to the lakeside area near Epagnier, notable as the eponymous site of the Iron Age archaeological of the

La Tène culture The La Tène culture (; ) was a European Iron Age culture. It developed and flourished during the late Iron Age (from about 450 BC to the Roman conquest in the 1st century BC), succeeding the early Iron Age Hallstatt culture without any defi ...

Geography

La Tène has an area, , of . Of this area, or 48.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 8.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 36.8% is settled (buildings or roads), or 3.9% is either rivers or lakes and or 2.4% is unproductive land.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 6.1% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 14.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 11.9%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 3.9%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 41.9% is used for growing crops and 3.3% is pastures, while 3.5% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 0.2% is in lakes and 3.7% is in rivers and streams. It is located at the northeastern tip of

Lake Neuchâtel Lake Neuchâtel (french: Lac de Neuchâtel ; frp, Lèc de Nôchâtél; german: Neuenburgersee) is a lake primarily in Romandy, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. The lake lies mainly in the canton of Neuchâtel, but is also shared by t ...

at an elevation of 455 meters. It lies close to

Biel/Bienne , french: Biennois(e) , neighboring_municipalities= Brügg, Ipsach, Leubringen/Magglingen (''Evilard/Macolin''), Nidau, Orpund, Orvin, Pieterlen, Port, Safnern, Tüscherz-Alfermée, Vauffelin , twintowns = Iserlohn (Germany) ...

, at the boundary between French- and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

-speaking regions, and at a knot of highways. It was part of the district of Neuchâtel, until the district level was eliminated on 1 January 2018.

Demographics

La Tène has a population () of . , 26.0% 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 16.7%. It has changed at a rate of 12.1% due to migration and at a rate of 3.2% due to births and deaths.
accessed 24-October-2011 Most of the population () speaks French (81.6%) as their first language,

is the second most common (7.2%) and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

is the third (3.8%). , the population was 49.2% male and 50.8% female. The population was made up of 1,740 Swiss men (36.1% of the population) and 634 (13.1%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,871 Swiss women (38.8%) and 578 (12.0%) non-Swiss women.Canton of Neuchâtel Statistics
, ''République et canton de Neuchâtel - Recensement annuel de la population'' accessed 13 October 2011 , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 24.4% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 64.2% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 11.4%. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.1%.

Heritage sites of national significance

The Clinique De Préfargier, Maison De Santé and Les Bourguignonnes-les-Perveuils in Marin-Epagnier, the

settlement and the Les marais d‘Epagnier prehistoric and medieval sites are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The Préfargier, Montmirail and Cité Martini areas are part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

Economy

, La Tène had an unemployment rate of 5.6%. , there were 47 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 14 businesses involved in this sector. 1,167 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 60 businesses in this sector. 2,867 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 second ...

, with 198 businesses in this sector. Of the working population, 15.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 55.2% used a private car.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:La Tene, Neuchatel Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Neuchâtel Populated places on Lake Neuchâtel La Tène culture