Bellevue is a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
of the
Canton of Geneva
The Canton of Geneva, officially the Republic and Canton of Geneva, is one of the Cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons of the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of forty-five Municipality, municipalities, and the seat of the governme ...
,
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
.
History
The village of Colovrex is first mentioned in 1257 as ''Colovray''.
[ In 1855, the municipality of Bellevue separated from the municipality of Collex-Bossy][Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz]
published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 18 February 2011 Bellevue was mostly inhabited by urban, Protestant citizens of Geneva, while the farming municipality of Collex-Bossy was mostly Catholic.[
]
Geography
Bellevue has an area, , of . Of this area, or 40.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 15.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 43.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and or 1.4% is unproductive land.
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010[
It is situated along the northern shores of ]Lake Geneva
Lake Geneva is a deep lake on the north side of the Alps, shared between Switzerland and France. It is one of the List of largest lakes of Europe, largest lakes in Western Europe and the largest on the course of the Rhône. Sixty percent () ...
and has grown substantially within the past two decades due to the housing shortage in Geneva proper. Mainly families have moved to Bellevue. A local state school and short distances to several international schools and the airport have made it the location of choice for a high share of expatriates.
It consists of the village of Bellevue and the hamlets
A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...
of Vengeron, Les Tuileries, Valavran and Colovrex.
The municipality of Bellevue consists of the sub-sections or villages of Le Gobé, Bellevue - Grands-Bois, Les Grands-Champs, Bellevue - Rives-du-Lac and L'Ermitage.
Demographics
Bellevue has a population () of . , 39.8% 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 75.9%. It has changed at a rate of 60.3% due to migration and at a rate of 16.2% due to births and deaths.
accessed 22-April-2011[
, the gender distribution of the population was 49.1% male and 50.9% female. The population was made up of 923 Swiss men (28.8% of the population) and 651 (20.3%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,010 Swiss women (31.5%) and 620 (19.4%) non-Swiss women.][Canton of Geneva Statistical Office]
''Population résidante du canton de Genève, selon l'origine et le sexe, par commune, en mars 2011'' accessed 18 April 2011 Of the population in the municipality 223 or about 12.4% were born in Bellevue and lived there in 2000. There were 406 or 22.5% who were born in the same canton, while 257 or 14.3% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 661 or 36.7% were born outside of Switzerland.[
In there were 33 live births to Swiss citizens and 10 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 8 deaths of Swiss citizens and 3 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 25 while the foreign population increased by 7. There were 10 Swiss men and 3 Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there were 28 non-Swiss men and 24 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 117 and the non-Swiss population increased by 68 people. This represents a population growth rate of 6.2%.][ The age distribution of the population () is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 28.8% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 63.5% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 7.7%.][
, there were 786 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 892 married individuals, 42 widows or widowers and 81 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 561 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.8 persons per household.[ There were 129 households that consist of only one person and 61 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 597 households that answered this question, 21.6% were households made up of just one person and there were 4 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 133 married couples without children, 254 married couples with children There were 39 single parents with a child or children. There were 2 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 381 single family homes (or 79.4% of the total) out of a total of 480 inhabited buildings. There were 42 multi-family buildings (8.8%), along with 31 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (6.5%) and 26 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (5.4%). Of the single family homes 34 were built before 1919, while 34 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (141) were built between 1981 and 1990.][Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen]
accessed 28 January 2011
there were 610 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 5 rooms of which there were 183. There were 53 single room apartments and 318 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 536 apartments (87.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 65 apartments (10.7%) were seasonally occupied and 9 apartments (1.5%) were empty.[ , the construction rate of new housing units was 0 new units per 1000 residents.][ The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.18%.][
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
Politics
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 23.08% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the LPS Party (17.01%), the SP (16.63%) and the Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice.
Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...
(14.78%). In the federal election, a total of 595 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 is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...
was 46.6%.
In the 2009 Grand Conseil election, there were a total of 1,388 registered voters of which 542 (39.0%) voted. The most popular party in the municipality for this election was the Libéral with 24.7% of the ballots. In the canton-wide election they received the highest proportion of votes. The second most popular party was the Les Verts (with 13.7%), they were also second in the canton-wide election, while the third most popular party was the Les Socialistes (with 11.9%), they were fourth in the canton-wide election.[Canton of Geneva Statistical Office]
Election Results from multiple spreadsheets accessed 18 April 2011
For the 2009 Conseil d'État election, there were a total of 1,387 registered voters of which 636 (45.9%) voted.[
In 2011, all the municipalities held local elections, and in Bellevue there were 19 spots open on the municipal council. There were a total of 1,791 registered voters of which 760 (42.4%) voted. Out of the 760 votes, there were 7 blank votes, 15 null or unreadable votes and 79 votes with a name that was not on the list.][
]
Economy
Bellevue is home to the recently (2006) opened headquarters of luxury brand conglomerate Richemont
Compagnie Financière Richemont S.A., commonly known as Richemont, is a Switzerland-based luxury goods holding company founded in 1988 by South African businessman Johann Rupert. Through its various subsidiaries, Richemont produces and sells jew ...
and Webster University Geneva (since 1983).
, Bellevue had an unemployment rate of 8.6%. , there were 8 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 5 businesses involved in this sector. 128 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 18 businesses in this sector. 1,062 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 ...
, with 74 businesses in this sector.[ There were 908 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 45.2% of the workforce.
the total number of ]full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit of measurement 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 use ...
jobs was 1,063. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 7, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 123 of which 5 or (4.1%) were in manufacturing and 119 (96.7%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 933. In the tertiary sector; 92 or 9.9% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 12 or 1.3% were in the movement and storage of goods, 304 or 32.6% were in a hotel or restaurant, 7 or 0.8% were in the information industry, 7 or 0.8% were the insurance or financial industry, 357 or 38.3% were technical professionals or scientists, 65 or 7.0% were in education and 19 or 2.0% were in health care.
, there were 527 workers who commuted into the municipality and 748 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.4 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 13.3% of the workforce coming into Bellevue are coming from outside Switzerland, while 0.0% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 15.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 68.1% used a private car.[
]
Religion
From the , 552 or 30.6% were Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
, while 348 or 19.3% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The P ...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 30 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.67% of the population), and there were 40 individuals (or about 2.22% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 16 individuals (or about 0.89% of the population) who were Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
, and 50 (or about 2.78% of the population) who were Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
ic. There were 3 individuals who were Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
, 5 individuals who were Hindu
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
and 2 individuals who belonged to another church. 411 (or about 22.82% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic 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 344 individuals (or about 19.10% of the population) did not answer the question.[
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Education
In Bellevue about 414 or (23.0%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 480 or (26.7%) have completed additional higher education (either university
A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
or a ''Fachhochschule
A (; plural ), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a Hochschule, German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts, such as engineering, te ...
''). Of the 480 who completed tertiary schooling, 32.5% were Swiss men, 25.2% were Swiss women, 23.1% were non-Swiss men and 19.2% were non-Swiss women.[
During the 2009-2010 school year there were a total of 711 students in the Bellevue school system. The education system in the Canton of Geneva allows young children to attend two years 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 cen ...
. During that school year, there were 71 children who were in a pre-kindergarten class. The canton's school system provides two years of non-mandatory kindergarten and requires students to attend six years of primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
, with some of the children attending smaller, specialized classes. In Bellevue there were 105 students in kindergarten or primary school and 9 students were in the special, smaller classes. The secondary school
A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...
program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling, followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. There were 105 lower secondary students who attended school in Bellevue. There were 130 upper secondary students from the municipality along with 12 students who were in a professional, non-university track program. An additional 86 students attended a private school.Canton of Geneva Statistical Office
Elèves résidant dans le canton de Genève, selon le niveau d'enseignement, par commune de domicile accessed 18 April 2011
, there were 205 students in Bellevue who came from another municipality, while 303 residents attended schools outside the municipality.[
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References
External links
Official Website
{{Authority control
Populated places on Lake Geneva
Municipalities of the canton of Geneva