Massonnens (; frp, Massonens, or ) 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 district of Glâne in the canton of

Fribourg , neighboring_municipalities= Düdingen, Givisiez, Granges-Paccot, Marly, Pierrafortscha, Sankt Ursen, Tafers, Villars-sur-Glâne , twintowns = Rueil-Malmaison (France) , website = www.ville-fribourg.ch , Location of , Location of () () ...

in Switzerland.

History

Massonnens is first mentioned around 929-30 as ''Mansaningis'' or ''Massaningis''.

Geography

Massonnens has an area, , of . Of this area, or 72.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 20.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 6.1% is settled (buildings or roads).Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 3.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.4%. Out of the forested land, 19.1% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 35.5% is used for growing crops and 36.7% is pastures. The municipality is located on a terrace above the right bank of the Neirigue. It consists of the village of Massonnens 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 Ferlens.

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, Gules, a Bend Or cottised Argent and of the second a Cross bottony of the first.''

Demographics

Massonnens has a population () of . , 4.7% 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 4.1%. Migration accounted for -2.4%, while births and deaths accounted for 3.4%.
accessed 16-November-2011 Most of the population () speaks French (391 or 97.0%) 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 (7 or 1.7%) 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 (2 or 0.5%). , the population was 50.9% male and 49.1% female. The population was made up of 210 Swiss men (49.1% of the population) and 8 (1.9%) non-Swiss men. There were 205 Swiss women (47.9%) and 5 (1.2%) non-Swiss women.Canton of Fribourg Statistics
accessed 3 November 2011 Of the population in the municipality, 218 or about 54.1% were born in Massonnens and lived there in 2000. There were 137 or 34.0% who were born in the same canton, while 25 or 6.2% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 17 or 4.2% were born outside of Switzerland. The age distribution, , in Massonnens is; 54 children or 13.4% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 85 teenagers or 21.1% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 34 people or 8.4% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 65 people or 16.1% are between 30 and 39, 68 people or 16.9% are between 40 and 49, and 35 people or 8.7% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 28 people or 6.9% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 20 people or 5.0% are between 70 and 79, there are 14 people or 3.5% who are between 80 and 89. , there were 196 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 184 married individuals, 16 widows or widowers and 7 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 128 private households in the municipality, and an average of 3.1 persons per household. There were 24 households that consist of only one person and 31 households with five or more people. , a total of 127 apartments (90.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 8 apartments (5.7%) were seasonally occupied and 5 apartments (3.6%) 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 11.6 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:430 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:90 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:18 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1811 from:start till:282 text:"282" bar:1850 from:start till:344 text:"344" bar:1860 from:start till:352 text:"352" bar:1870 from:start till:406 text:"406" bar:1880 from:start till:391 text:"391" bar:1888 from:start till:410 text:"410" bar:1900 from:start till:377 text:"377" bar:1910 from:start till:390 text:"390" bar:1920 from:start till:419 text:"419" bar:1930 from:start till:421 text:"421" bar:1941 from:start till:401 text:"401" bar:1950 from:start till:413 text:"413" bar:1960 from:start till:377 text:"377" bar:1970 from:start till:307 text:"307" bar:1980 from:start till:316 text:"316" bar:1990 from:start till:382 text:"382" bar:2000 from:start till:403 text:"403"

Heritage sites of national significance

The Saint-Maurice Church is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

Politics

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 33.3% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (18.4%), the CVP (15.6%) and the FDP (14.0%).Canton of Fribourg National Council Election of 23 October 2011 Statistics
accessed 3 November 2011 The SVP received about the same percentage of the vote as they did 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 ...

(30.3% in 2007 vs 33.3% in 2011). The SPS moved from fourth in 2007 (with 14.9%) to second in 2011, the CVP retained about the same popularity (20.2% in 2007) and the FDP moved from second in 2007 (with 21.3%) to fourth. A total of 183 votes were cast in this election, of which 2 or 1.1% were invalid.

Economy

, Massonnens had an unemployment rate of 3%. , there were 47 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 21 businesses involved in this sector. 19 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 5 businesses in this sector. 25 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 9 businesses in this sector. There were 185 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 36.2% 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 65. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 34, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 15 of which 3 or (20.0%) were in manufacturing, 2 or (13.3%) were in mining and 10 (66.7%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 16. In the tertiary sector; 8 or 50.0% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 2 or 12.5% were in the movement and storage of goods, 3 or 18.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was a technical professional or scientist, 2 or 12.5% were in education. , there were 11 workers who commuted into the municipality and 119 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 10.8 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 3.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 62.2% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 355 or 88.1% 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 6 or 1.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 7 individuals (or about 1.74% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. 28 (or about 6.95% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 7 individuals (or about 1.74% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Massonnens about 125 or (31.0%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 23 or (5.7%) 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 23 who completed tertiary schooling, 73.9% were Swiss men, 17.4% 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 32 students attending 2 classes in Massonnens. A total of 74 students from the municipality attended any school, either in the municipality or outside of it. There was one kindergarten class with a total of 17 students in the municipality. The municipality had one primary class and 15 students. During the same year, there were no lower secondary classes in the municipality, but 15 students attended lower secondary school in a neighboring municipality. There were no upper Secondary classes or vocational classes, but there were 8 upper Secondary students and 15 upper Secondary vocational students who attended classes in another municipality. The municipality had no non-university Tertiary classes, but there were 3 non-university Tertiary students and 2 specialized Tertiary students who attended classes in another municipality. , there were 2 students in Massonnens who came from another municipality, while 52 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