Les Verrières () 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 canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.

History

Les Verrières is first mentioned in 1344 as ''villa de Verreriis''. Jt was here that General

Charles-Denis Bourbaki Charles Denis Sauter Bourbaki (22 April 1816, Pau – 22 September 1897, Bayonne) was a French general. Career Bourbaki was born at Pau, the son of Greek colonel Constantin Denis Bourbaki, who died in the War of Independence in 1827. He wa ...

crossed the Swiss border with the remnants of the Armée de l'Est during the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71).

Geography

Les Verrières has an area, , of . Of this area, or 46.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 50.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 3.3% is settled (buildings or roads) and or 0.4% is unproductive land.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data . Retrieved 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 1.3% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.6%. Out of the forested land, 46.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 4.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 1.2% is used for growing crops and 22.8% is pastures and 22.0% is used for alpine pastures. The municipality was located in the district of Val-de-Travers, until the district level was eliminated on 1 January 2018. The main settlement is a

linear village Linearity is the property of a mathematical relationship ('' function'') that can be graphically represented as a straight line. Linearity is closely related to '' proportionality''. Examples in physics include rectilinear motion, the linear ...

that is about long and consists of the villages of Cret, Belle Perche, Grand Bourgeau, Croix-Blanche and Meudon. Outside the main village, there are the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...

of Cernets and Mont-des-Verrières and scattered settlements over an elevation of above sea level.

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 the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The vi ...

of the municipal

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

is ''Azure, on a bend Argent three Mullets f Sixof the first.''

Demographics

Les Verrières has a population () of . , 5.1% of the population are resident foreign nationals.Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Superweb database – Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008
. Retrieved 19 June 2010 Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of -10.1%. Migration accounted for -7.2%, while births and deaths accounted for -1.9%.
. Retrieved 3 November 2011 Most of the population () speaks French (661 or 89.9%) as their first language,

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 ...

is the second most common (32 or 4.4%) and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

is the third (7 or 1.0%). There are 4 people who speak

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 ...

and 3 people who speak Romansh. , the population was 50.1% male and 49.9% female. The population was made up of 307 Swiss men (46.0% of the population) and 27 (4.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 320 Swiss women (48.0%) and 13 (1.9%) non-Swiss women.Canton of Neuchatel Statistics
''République et canton de Neuchâtel – Recensement annuel de la population'' . Retrieved 13 October 2011 Of the population in the municipality, 246 or about 33.5% were born in Les Verrières and lived there in 2000. There were 171 or 23.3% who were born in the same canton, while 137 or 18.6% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 87 or 11.8% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 27.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 55% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 18%. , there were 313 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 344 married individuals, 46 widows or widowers and 32 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 – 2000
. Retrieved 2 February 2011 , there were 294 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.2 persons per household. There were 117 households that consist of only one person and 25 households with five or more people. , a total of 287 apartments (68.2% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 75 apartments (17.8%) were seasonally occupied and 59 apartments (14.0%) were empty.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB – Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 – Gebäude und Wohnungen
. Retrieved 28 January 2011 The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 3.55%. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:1080 height:210 PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:1900 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:400 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:80 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1664 from:start till:570 text:"570" bar:1818 from:start till:1420 text:"1,420" bar:1850 from:start till:1635 text:"1,635" bar:1860 from:start till:1850 text:"1,850" bar:1870 from:start till:1804 text:"1,804" bar:1880 from:start till:1757 text:"1,757" bar:1888 from:start till:1838 text:"1,838" bar:1900 from:start till:1765 text:"1,765" bar:1910 from:start till:1738 text:"1,738" bar:1920 from:start till:1444 text:"1,444" bar:1930 from:start till:1262 text:"1,262" bar:1941 from:start till:1191 text:"1,191" bar:1950 from:start till:1119 text:"1,119" bar:1960 from:start till:1084 text:"1,084" bar:1970 from:start till:898 text:"898" bar:1980 from:start till:744 text:"744" bar:1990 from:start till:789 text:"789" bar:2000 from:start till:735 text:"735"

Sights

The entire village of Les Verrières is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

Politics

In the

2007 federal election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not ...

the most popular party was the SVP which received 42.27% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (19.72%), the FDP (18.69%) and the LPS Party (7.81%). In the federal election, a total of 265 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 can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Univ ...

was 45.4%.

Economy

, Les Verrières had an unemployment rate of 4.4%. , there were 56 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 23 businesses involved in this sector. 56 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 6 businesses in this sector. 127 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 32 businesses in this sector. There were 311 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 42.1% of the workforce. the total number of

full-time equivalent Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit 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 used to measure a ...

jobs was 201. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 50, of which 49 were in agriculture and 1 was in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 52 of which 35 or (67.3%) were in manufacturing and 17 (32.7%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 99. In the tertiary sector; 24 or 24.2% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 8 or 8.1% were in the movement and storage of goods, 18 or 18.2% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was the insurance or financial industry, 5 or 5.1% were technical professionals or scientists, 4 or 4.0% were in education and 8 or 8.1% were in health care. , there were 109 workers who commuted into the municipality and 143 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.3 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 22.0% of the workforce coming into Les Verrières are coming from outside Switzerland.Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Statweb
. Retrieved 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 9.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 51.1% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 192 or 26.1% were

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

, while 371 or 50.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 11 individuals (or about 1.50% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 5 individuals (or about 0.68% of the population) who were

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, and 4 (or about 0.54% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 2 individuals who belonged to another church. 63 (or about 8.57% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 91 individuals (or about 12.38% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Les Verrières about 224 or (30.5%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 40 or (5.4%) have completed additional higher education (either

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

or a '' Fachhochschule''). Of the 40 who completed tertiary schooling, 55.0% were Swiss men, 35.0% were Swiss women. In the canton of Neuchâtel most municipalities provide two years of non-mandatory

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 ce ...

, followed by five years of mandatory primary education. The next four years of mandatory secondary education is provided at thirteen larger secondary schools, which many students travel out of their home municipality to attend. During the 2010–11 school year, there was one kindergarten class with a total of 14 students in Les Verrières. In the same year, there were 2 primary classes with a total of 34 students.Statistical Department of the Canton of Neuchâtel
Mémento de l'année scolaire 2010/2011 . Retrieved 17 October 2011 , there were 2 students in Les Verrières who came from another municipality, while 62 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Verrieres Les Municipalities of the canton of Neuchâtel