Saint-Prex () 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
Swiss may refer to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
*Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
*Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports
*Swiss Internation ...
canton of
Vaud
Vaud ( ; french: (Canton de) Vaud, ; german: (Kanton) Waadt, or ), more formally the canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts and its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms b ...
, located in the district of
Morges
Morges (; la, Morgiis, plural, probably ablative, else dative; frp, Môrges) is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud and the seat of the district of Morges. It is located on Lake Geneva.
History
Morges is first mentioned in 1288 as ' ...
.
In 1973, St-Prex was awarded the
Wakker Prize
The Wakker Prize (German: ''Wakkerpreis'', French: ''Prix Wakker'', Italian: ''Premio Wakker'') is awarded annually by the Swiss Heritage Society to a Municipality of Switzerland for the development and preservation of its architectural herita ...
for the development and preservation of its architectural heritage.
History
![St-Prex-Schloss](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/St-Prex-Schloss.jpg)
Saint-Prex is first mentioned in 885 as ''Sanctus Prothasius''.
[
The town was founded with the construction of the chateau in 1234AD. The bourg (old town) forms a peninsula extending from the north shore of ]Lake Geneva
, image = Lake Geneva by Sentinel-2.jpg
, caption = Satellite image
, image_bathymetry =
, caption_bathymetry =
, location = Switzerland, France
, coords =
, lake_type = Glacial lak ...
. In recent years the commerce of the town has mostly moved to outer areas. St-Prex is a port for the CGN lake steamers in summer.
Geography
Saint-Prex has an area, , of . Of this area, or 52.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 8.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 38.4% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.4% is either rivers or lakes.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics]
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 2.9% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 20.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 9.2%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 2.5% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 2.9%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 36.2% is used for growing crops and 2.5% is pastures, while 13.8% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is in lakes.[
The municipality was part of the ]Morges District
Morges District is a district in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. The seat of the district is the city of Morges.
Geography
Morges has an area, , of . Of this area, or 55.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 33.9% is forested. O ...
until it was dissolved on 31 August 2006, and Saint-Prex became part of the new district of Morges.[Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz]
accessed 4 April 2011
The municipality is located along Lake Geneva. It consists of the village of Saint-Prex and 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 Les Iles, Beaufort, Senaugin and Fraidaigue. The currently abandoned villages of Dracy and Marcy are also in the municipal area.
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 vis ...
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 latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...
is ''Gules, a Fleur-de-lys Argent.''
Demographics
Saint-Prex has a population () of . , 32.8% 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 (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 25%. It has changed at a rate of 16.3% due to migration and at a rate of 9.1% due to births and deaths.
accessed 12-July-2011
Most of the population () speaks French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
(3,472 or 82.5%), with 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
**Ger ...
being second most common (212 or 5.0%) 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 ...
being third (137 or 3.3%).[
Of the population in the municipality 848 or about 20.1% were born in Saint-Prex and lived there in 2000. There were 1,266 or 30.1% who were born in the same canton, while 773 or 18.4% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 1,213 or 28.8% were born outside of Switzerland.][
In there were 43 live births to Swiss citizens and 21 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 22 deaths of Swiss citizens and 3 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 21 while the foreign population increased by 18. There were 2 Swiss men and 1 Swiss woman who immigrated back to Switzerland. At the same time, there were 59 non-Swiss men and 66 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 45 and the non-Swiss population increased by 106 people. This represents a ]population growth rate
Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 83 million annually, or 1.1% per year. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to ...
of 3.1%.[
The age distribution, , in Saint-Prex is; 629 children or 12.5% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 562 teenagers or 11.2% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 578 people or 11.5% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 842 people or 16.7% are between 30 and 39, 864 people or 17.1% are between 40 and 49, and 652 people or 12.9% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 510 people or 10.1% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 247 people or 4.9% are between 70 and 79, there are 129 people or 2.6% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 27 people or 0.5% who are 90 and older.][Canton of Vaud Statistical Office]
accessed 29 April 2011
, there were 1,750 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 2,008 married individuals, 175 widows or widowers and 277 individuals who are divorced.[STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 1,799 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.2 persons per household.[ There were 613 households that consist of only one person and 84 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 1,835 households that answered this question, 33.4% were households made up of just one person and there were 7 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 529 married couples without children, 527 married couples with children There were 94 single parents with a child or children. There were 29 households that were made up of unrelated people and 36 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.][
there were 373 single family homes (or 52.5% of the total) out of a total of 710 inhabited buildings. There were 216 multi-family buildings (30.4%), along with 72 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (10.1%) and 49 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (6.9%). Of the single family homes 66 were built before 1919, while 46 were built between 1990 and 2000. The most multi-family homes (63) were built before 1919 and the next most (28) were built between 1961 and 1970. There were 12 multi-family houses built between 1996 and 2000.][Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen]
accessed 28 January 2011
there were 1,983 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 604. There were 129 single room apartments and 411 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 1,753 apartments (88.4% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 190 apartments (9.6%) were seasonally occupied and 40 apartments (2.0%) were empty.[ , the construction rate of new housing units was 1.8 new units per 1000 residents.][ The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.34%.][
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
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id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8)
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Period = from:0 till:5400
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color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center
bar:1764 from:start till:295 text:"295"
bar:1800 from:start till:162 text:"162"
bar:1850 from:start till:528 text:"528"
bar:1860 from:start till:556 text:"556"
bar:1870 from:start till:710 text:"710"
bar:1880 from:start till:734 text:"734"
bar:1888 from:start till:845 text:"845"
bar:1900 from:start till:882 text:"882"
bar:1910 from:start till:883 text:"883"
bar:1920 from:start till:1364 text:"1,364"
bar:1930 from:start till:1347 text:"1,347"
bar:1941 from:start till:1378 text:"1,378"
bar:1950 from:start till:1507 text:"1,507"
bar:1960 from:start till:1897 text:"1,897"
bar:1970 from:start till:2306 text:"2,306"
bar:1980 from:start till:2937 text:"2,937"
bar:1990 from:start till:3793 text:"3,793"
bar:2000 from:start till:4210 text:"4,210"
bar:2010 from:start till:5338 text:"5,338"
Heritage sites of national significance
The Swiss Reformed Church of Notre-Dame is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire old city of Saint-Prex is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
The Federal Inventory of Heritage Sites (ISOS) is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage.
Sites of national importance
Types
The types are based on t ...
.
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 i ...
the most popular party was the SVP which received 26.04% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (19.35%), the Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
(14.13%) and the FDP (14.06%). In the federal election, a total of 1,188 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 Unive ...
was 46.5%.
Economy
, Saint-Prex had an unemployment rate of 4.5%. , there were 51 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 15 businesses involved in this sector. 740 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 construction. ...
and there were 31 businesses in this sector. 966 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 126 businesses in this sector.[ There were 2,321 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 44.6% 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 employee, employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often used to me ...
jobs was 1,481. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 36, of which 35 were in agriculture and 1 was in fishing or fisheries. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 718 of which 669 or (93.2%) were in manufacturing and 48 (6.7%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 727. In the tertiary sector; 167 or 23.0% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 24 or 3.3% were in the movement and storage of goods, 25 or 3.4% were in a hotel or restaurant, 15 or 2.1% were in the information industry, 9 or 1.2% were the insurance or financial industry, 21 or 2.9% were technical professionals or scientists, 137 or 18.8% were in education and 228 or 31.4% were in health care.
, there were 533 workers who commuted into the municipality and 1,697 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 3.2 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 2.3% of the workforce coming into Saint-Prex are coming from outside Switzerland, while 0.1% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 13.9% used public transportation to get to work, and 66% used a private car.[
]Ferring Pharmaceuticals
Ferring Pharmaceuticals is a Swiss multinational biopharmaceutical company specialising in areas such as reproductive health, maternal health, gastroenterology and urology. Ferring has been developing treatments for mothers and babies for over 50 ...
, a multinational pharmaceutal company, is headquartered in Saint-Prex.
Vale
A vale is a type of valley.
Vale may also refer to:
Places Georgia
* Vale, Georgia, a town in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region
Norway
* Våle, a historic municipality
Portugal
* Vale (Santa Maria da Feira), a former civil parish in the municipali ...
, a Brazilian mining company, has a regional office in Saint-Prex.
Religion
From the , 1,638 or 38.9% 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 lette ...
, while 1,521 or 36.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 48 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.14% of the population), there was 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 220 individuals (or about 5.23% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 9 individuals (or about 0.21% 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 124 (or about 2.95% of the population) who were Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
ic. There were 8 individuals who were Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
and 12 individuals who belonged to another church. 538 (or about 12.78% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...
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 180 individuals (or about 4.28% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Saint-Prex about 1,436 or (34.1%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 775 or (18.4%) 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, t ...
or a ''Fachhochschule
A ''Fachhochschule'' (; plural ''Fachhochschulen''), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts ...
''). Of the 775 who completed tertiary schooling, 50.8% were Swiss men, 22.8% were Swiss women, 13.5% were non-Swiss men and 12.8% were non-Swiss women.[
In the 2009/2010 school year there were a total of 632 students in the Saint-Prex school district. In the Vaud cantonal school system, two years of non-obligatory pre-school are provided by the political districts.Organigramme de l'école vaudoise, année scolaire 2009-2010]
accessed 2 May 2011 During the school year, the political district provided pre-school care for a total of 631 children of which 203 children (32.2%) received subsidized pre-school care. The canton's primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
program requires students to attend for four years. There were 336 students in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 289 students in those schools. There were also 7 students who were home schooled or attended another non-traditional school.[Canton of Vaud Statistical Office - Scol. obligatoire/filières de transition]
accessed 2 May 2011
, there were 120 students in Saint-Prex who came from another municipality, while 227 residents attended schools outside the municipality.[
]
Transportation
The municipality has a railway station, , on the Lausanne–Geneva line. It has regular service to , , and .
Notable people
* Annie Leuch-Reineck
Annie Leuch-Reineck (born Annie Reineck: 26 November 1880 - 21 December 1978) was a Swiss mathematician and women's rights activist. She was one of the most influential participants in the Swiss women's movement during the 1920s and 1930s.
L ...
(1880 - 1978 in Saint-Prex) a Swiss mathematician and women's rights activist
* André Bugnon (born 1947) politician, mayor of Saint-Prex 1990 to 2002, member of the Swiss National Council
References
External links
Official website
CGN Compagnie Générale de Navigation sur le lac Léman
{{DEFAULTSORT:S Prex
Cities in Switzerland
Populated places on Lake Geneva
Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Vaud