Valangin

Valangin () is a former municipality in the district of Val-de-Ruz in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. On 1 January 2021 the former municipalities of Corcelles-Cormondrèche, Peseux and Valangin merged into the municipality of Neuchâtel.

History

Valangin is first mentioned in 1241 as ''de Valengiz''.

Geography

Valangin had an area, , of . Of this area, or 39.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 49.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 9.0% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.3% is either rivers or lakes.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data . Retrieved 25 March 2010

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 5.3%. Out of the forested land, 46.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.9% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 22.3% is used for growing crops and 17.0% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

The former municipality is located at the northern entrance of the Seyon canyon. It consists of the village of Valangin, the hamlet of La Borcaderie and the agricultural areas of Bussy and Sorgereux.

The Valanginian Age of the Cretaceous Period of geological time is named for Valangin.

Coat of arms

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is ''Gules, on a pale Or three Chevrons Sable.''

Demographics

Valangin had a population (as of 2019) of 507. , 22.4% 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 1.7%. It has changed at a rate of -5.4% due to migration and at a rate of 7.3% due to births and deaths.
Retrieved 3 November 2011

Most of the population () speaks French (348 or 87.0%) as their first language, Portuguese is the second most common (22 or 5.5%) and German is the third (14 or 3.5%). There are 10 people who speak Italian.

, the population was 52.0% male and 48.0% female. The population was made up of 163 Swiss men (39.8% of the population) and 50 (12.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 156 Swiss women (38.0%) and 41 (10.0%) 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, 104 or about 26.0% were born in Valangin and lived there in 2000. There were 141 or 35.3% who were born in the same canton, while 73 or 18.3% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 69 or 17.3% were born outside of Switzerland.

, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 21.5% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 62.3% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16.3%.

, there were 164 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 201 married individuals, 20 widows or widowers and 15 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 – 2000
. Retrieved 2 February 2011

, there were 167 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household. There were 55 households that consist of only one person and 9 households with five or more people. , a total of 165 apartments (92.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 8 apartments (4.5%) were seasonally occupied and 5 apartments (2.8%) were empty.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB – Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 – Gebäude und Wohnungen
. Retrieved 28 January 2011

The historical population is given in the following chart:

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bar:1750 from:start till:186 text:"186"
bar:1850 from:start till:418 text:"418"
bar:1860 from:start till:535 text:"535"
bar:1870 from:start till:487 text:"487"
bar:1880 from:start till:435 text:"435"
bar:1888 from:start till:455 text:"455"
bar:1900 from:start till:476 text:"476"
bar:1910 from:start till:502 text:"502"
bar:1920 from:start till:480 text:"480"
bar:1930 from:start till:461 text:"461"
bar:1941 from:start till:389 text:"389"
bar:1950 from:start till:427 text:"427"
bar:1960 from:start till:409 text:"409"
bar:1970 from:start till:409 text:"409"
bar:1980 from:start till:406 text:"406"
bar:1990 from:start till:416 text:"416"
bar:2000 from:start till:400 text:"400"

Notable people

* Rosa Ramseyer (1841 in Valangin – 1906) wife of Basel missionary to Ghana Fritz Ramseyer
* Robert Comtesse (1847 in Valangin – 1922) a Swiss politician, member of the Swiss Federal Council 1899-1912
* Edmond Bille (1878 in Valangin – 1959) a Swiss artist, painter, engraver, stained glass artist, journalist, writer and politician
* Jean-François Balmer (born 1946 in Valangin) a Swiss actor, works in French cinema, television and stage productions

Heritage sites of national significance

Valangin Castle and the Collégiale (Collegiate church) are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The small city of Valangin, the Bussy/Le Sorgereux region and the La Borcarderie region are all part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

File:Chateau de valangin.jpg , Valangin Castle
File:Valangin Collégiale temple 20110907 1928.jpg, Collegiate church

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SP which received 25.45% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (19.77%), the SVP (16.8%) and the LPS Party (16.02%). In the federal election, a total of 158 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 58.3%.

Economy

, Valangin had an unemployment rate of 5.1%. , there were 14 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 4 businesses involved in this sector. 12 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 3 businesses in this sector. 49 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 12 businesses in this sector. There were 204 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 41.7% of the workforce.

the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 58. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 11, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 11, all of which were in manufacturing. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 36. In the tertiary sector; 16 or 44.4% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 2 or 5.6% were in the movement and storage of goods, 3 or 8.3% were in a hotel or restaurant, 4 or 11.1% were in education and 5 or 13.9% were in health care.

, there were 51 workers who commuted into the municipality and 139 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.7 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Statweb
. Retrieved 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 12.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 59.8% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 108 or 27.0% were Roman Catholic, while 164 or 41.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 25 individuals (or about 6.25% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Islamic. There were 1 individual who belonged to another church. 93 (or about 23.25% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 20 individuals (or about 5.00% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Valangin about 158 or (39.5%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 61 or (15.3%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a ''Fachhochschule''). Of the 61 who completed tertiary schooling, 50.8% were Swiss men, 31.1% were Swiss women, 13.1% were non-Swiss men.

In the canton of Neuchâtel most municipalities provide two years of non-mandatory kindergarten, 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 15 students in Valangin. In the same year, there were 2 primary classes with a total of 37 students.Statistical Department of the Canton of Neuchâtel
Mémento de l'année scolaire 2010/2011 . Retrieved 17 October 2011

, there were 26 students in Valangin who came from another municipality, while 49 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

References

{{Authority control

Cities in Switzerland
Former municipalities of the canton of Neuchâtel
Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Neuchâtel