Vallon 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 ...

located in the district of Broye, in the canton of Fribourg, Switzerland.

History

Vallon is first mentioned in 1200 as ''Valum''.

Geography

Vallon has an area, , of . Of this area, or 88.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 3.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 8.8% is settled (buildings or roads).Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data . Retrieved 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 4.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.3%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 2.3% of the area Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 78.6% is used for growing crops and 8.0% is pastures, while 1.4% is used for orchards or vine crops. The municipality is located in the Broye district, in the Vully foothills. It consists of the village of Vallon and the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of Carignan.

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 ''Argent, on a Fess Gules three Ogresses.''

Demographics

Vallon has a population () of . , 11.7% 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 11.3%. Migration accounted for 8.8%, while births and deaths accounted for 5.6%.
Retrieved 9 November 2011 Most of the population () speaks French (233 or 87.3%) 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 (29 or 10.9%) and

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

is the third (4 or 1.5%). There is 1 person who speaks

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 ...

. , the population was 50.2% male and 49.8% female. The population was made up of 143 Swiss men (45.1% of the population) and 16 (5.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 133 Swiss women (42.0%) and 25 (7.9%) non-Swiss women.Canton of Fribourg Statistics
. Retrieved 3 November 2011 Of the population in the municipality, 88 or about 33.0% were born in Vallon and lived there in 2000. There were 54 or 20.2% who were born in the same canton, while 95 or 35.6% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 20 or 7.5% were born outside of Switzerland. The age distribution, , in Vallon is; 39 children or 14.6% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 35 teenagers or 13.1% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 37 people or 13.9% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 41 people or 15.4% are between 30 and 39, 31 people or 11.6% are between 40 and 49, and 40 people or 15.0% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 14 people or 5.2% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 17 people or 6.4% are between 70 and 79, there are 11 people or 4.1% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 2 people or 0.7% who are 90 and older. , there were 105 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 128 married individuals, 16 widows or widowers and 18 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 – 2000
. Retrieved 2 February 2011 , there were 108 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. There were 29 households that consist of only one person and 9 households with five or more people. , a total of 104 apartments (92.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 7 apartments (6.3%) were seasonally occupied and one apartment was empty.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB – Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 – Gebäude und Wohnungen
. Retrieved 28 January 2011 , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.2 new units per 1000 residents. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:1020 height:210 PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:270 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:50 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:10 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1811 from:start till:129 text:"129" bar:1850 from:start till:150 text:"150" bar:1860 from:start till:178 text:"178" bar:1870 from:start till:152 text:"152" bar:1880 from:start till:186 text:"186" bar:1888 from:start till:172 text:"172" bar:1900 from:start till:175 text:"175" bar:1910 from:start till:207 text:"207" bar:1920 from:start till:235 text:"235" bar:1930 from:start till:194 text:"194" bar:1941 from:start till:223 text:"223" bar:1950 from:start till:212 text:"212" bar:1960 from:start till:200 text:"200" bar:1970 from:start till:166 text:"166" bar:1980 from:start till:204 text:"204" bar:1990 from:start till:240 text:"240" bar:2000 from:start till:267 text:"267"

Heritage sites of national significance

The Saint-Pierre Church and Sur Dompierre,

Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, language, morals and way of life in a uniquely Gaulish context ...

Villa are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance.

Politics

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the SP which received 31.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (19.6%), the CVP (18.3%) and the FDP (10.4%).Canton of Fribourg National Council Election of 23 October 2011 Statistics
. Retrieved 3 November 2011 The SPS improved their position in Vallon rising to first, from third in 2007 (with 23.8%) The SVP lost popularity (24.9% in 2007), the CVP moved from first in 2007 (with 28.9%) to third and the FDP moved from below fourth place in 2007 to fourth. A total of 88 votes were cast in this election, of which 4 or 4.5% were invalid.

Economy

, Vallon had an unemployment rate of 2.4%. , there were 22 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 8 businesses involved in this sector. 4 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 3 businesses in this sector. 18 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 6 businesses in this sector. There were 135 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.0% 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 34. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 18, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 3, all of which were in manufacturing. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 13. In the tertiary sector; 5 or 38.5% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 8 or 61.5% were in education. , there were 15 workers who commuted into the municipality and 95 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 6.3 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Statweb
. Retrieved 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 5.9% used public transportation to get to work, and 68.1% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 177 or 66.3% 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 55 or 20.6% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there was 1 member of an Orthodox church, and there was 1 individual who belongs to another Christian church. 25 (or about 9.36% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 8 individuals (or about 3.00% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Vallon about 97 or (36.3%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 25 or (9.4%) 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 25 who completed tertiary schooling, 80.0% were Swiss men, 16.0% were Swiss women. The Canton of Fribourg school system provides one 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 ce ...

, 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. The upper Secondary school is divided into gymnasium (university preparatory) and vocational programs. After they finish the upper Secondary program, students may choose to attend a Tertiary school or continue their

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

.Chart of the education system in Canton Fribourg
During the 2010–11 school year, there were a total of 46 students attending 3 classes in Vallon. A total of 66 students from the municipality attended any school, either in the municipality or outside of it. There were 3 kindergarten classes with a total of 46 students in the municipality. The municipality had no primary school classes, but 29 students attended primary school in a neighboring municipality. During the same year, there were no lower secondary classes in the municipality, but 17 students attended lower secondary school in a neighboring municipality. There were no upper Secondary classes or vocational classes, but there were 10 upper Secondary vocational students who attended classes in another municipality. The municipality had no non-university Tertiary classes, but there was one specialized Tertiary student who attended classes in another municipality. , there were 22 students in Vallon who came from another municipality, while 30 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Fribourg Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Fribourg