Cressier 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.
History
Cressier is first mentioned in 1180 as ''Crisciaco''.
[
]
Geography
Cressier has an area, , of . Of this area, or 28.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 54.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 16.0% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.2% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.7% 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 7.0% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 4.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.1%. Out of the forested land, 53.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 14.2% is used for growing crops and 7.6% is pastures, while 6.3% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.[
The municipality was located in the Neuchâtel district until the district level was eliminated on 1 January 2018. It is at the foot of the Jura Mountains and near the, flood-prone, ]Thielle
The river Thielle (french: La Thielle, or La Thièle, german: Zihl), is a tributary to the Aare, in the Swiss Seeland.
The Thielle results from the merging of the Orbe and Talent, northeast of the little city of Orbe in the Swiss canton of Vaud ...
river. It consists of the village of Cressier 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 Frochaux.
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 ''Per fess, Or on a pale Gules three Chevrons Argent and Azure a Letter C Argent.''
Demographics
Cressier has a population () of . , 28.1% 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 3.4%. It has changed at a rate of 0.4% due to migration and at a rate of 3.6% due to births and deaths.
accessed 24-October-2011Italian
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 second most common (105 or 5.5%) 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 ...
is the third (99 or 5.1%). There are 2 people who speak Romansh.[
, the population was 50.3% male and 49.7% female. The population was made up of 676 Swiss men (35.6% of the population) and 279 (14.7%) non-Swiss men. There were 724 Swiss women (38.1%) and 219 (11.5%) non-Swiss women.][Canton of Neuchatel Statistics](_blank)
''République et canton de Neuchâtel - Recensement annuel de la population'' accessed 13 October 2011 Of the population in the municipality, 489 or about 25.4% were born in Cressier and lived there in 2000. There were 467 or 24.3% who were born in the same canton, while 390 or 20.3% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 512 or 26.6% were born outside of Switzerland.[
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 26.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 59.9% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.8%.][
, there were 790 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 943 married individuals, 110 widows or widowers and 80 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 699 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household.[ There were 178 households that consist of only one person and 52 households with five or more people. , a total of 689 apartments (92.0% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 38 apartments (5.1%) were seasonally occupied and 22 apartments (2.9%) were empty.][Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen]
accessed 28 January 2011 , the construction rate of new housing units was 1 new units per 1000 residents.[ The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.12%.][
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
Heritage sites of national significance
The Former Church of St-Martin and Jeanjaquet Castle and the collection of neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...
and Roman
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 ...
sites at the Ensemble de la Vieille Thielle are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire village of Cressier is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.
File:Le Landeron Vieille Thielle 2.JPG, La Vieille Thielle, archeological site
File:Cressier château Jeanjaquet.JPG, Jeanjaquet Castle
File:Ancienne église St-Martin 1.JPG, Former Church of St-Martin
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 SP which received 26.22% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (22.2%), the SVP (17.07%) and the LPS Party (11.86%). In the federal election, a total of 505 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 48.9%.
Economy
, Cressier had an unemployment rate of 5%. , there were 33 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 11 businesses involved in this sector. 750 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 14 businesses in this sector. 303 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 37 businesses in this sector.[ There were 987 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 42.6% 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 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 983. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 27, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 704 of which 636 or (90.3%) were in manufacturing and 68 (9.7%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 252. In the tertiary sector; 99 or 39.3% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 6 or 2.4% were in the movement and storage of goods, 13 or 5.2% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was in the information industry, 6 or 2.4% were technical professionals or scientists, 11 or 4.4% were in education and 100 or 39.7% were in health care.
, there were 685 workers who commuted into the municipality and 604 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.1 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 10% used public transportation to get to work, and 60.6% used a private car.[
]
Religion
From the , 895 or 46.5% 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 501 or 26.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 9 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.47% of the population), there was 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 80 individuals (or about 4.16% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 39 (or about 2.03% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 2 individuals who were Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
and 1 individual who belonged to another church. 343 (or about 17.84% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 89 individuals (or about 4.63% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Cressier about 659 or (34.3%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 189 or (9.8%) 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 189 who completed tertiary schooling, 55.6% were Swiss men, 24.9% were Swiss women, 12.7% were non-Swiss men and 6.9% were non-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 were 2.5 kindergarten classes with a total of 44 students in Cressier. In the same year, there were 7 primary classes with a total of 122 students.Statistical Department of the Canton of Neuchâtel
Mémento de l'année scolaire 2010/2011 accessed 17 October 2011
, there were 18 students in Cressier who came from another municipality, while 150 residents attended schools outside the municipality.[
]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cressier, Neuchatel
Municipalities of the canton of Neuchâtel
Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Neuchâtel