Broc (; , locally ) 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' ...
in the district of
Gruyère in the
canton of
Fribourg
or is the capital of the Cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Canton of Fribourg, Fribourg and district of Sarine (district), La Sarine. Located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss Plateau, it is a major economic, adminis ...
in
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
Broc is first mentioned in 1115 as ''Broc'' and ''Broch''. The municipality was formerly known by its German name ''Bruck'', but that name is no longer used.
[
In 1898, the ]Cailler
Cailler is a Swiss chocolate brand and production factory based in Broc. It was founded in Vevey by François-Louis Cailler in 1819 and remained independent until the early 20th century, when it associated with other producers. Shortly before, ...
chocolate factory was opened. As a consequence, the population of Broc tripled. The factory hydroelectrical plant on the Jogne enabled the electrification of the entire village.
Geography
Broc has an area, , of . Of this area, or 41.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 44.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 9.1% is settled (buildings or roads), or 2.9% is either rivers or lakes and or 2.2% is unproductive land.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics]
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010
Of the built-up area, housing and buildings made up 4.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.6%. Of the forested land, 42.2% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.0% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 6.2% is used for growing crops, 20.6% is pastures and 14.8% is used for alpine pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 1.4% is in lakes and 1.5% is in rivers and streams.[
The municipality is located in the Greyerz district, on the Bulle-Boltigen road near the ]Jaun Pass
Jaun Pass (German: ''Jaunpass'', French: ''col de Bellegarde'') is a high mountain pass (el. 1508 m.) in the Swiss Alps linking Charmey and Jaun in the canton of Fribourg with Reidenbach (part of the municipality of Boltigen) in the canton of ...
.
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 an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...
of the municipal coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
is ''Gules, a Crane Argent rising from a chevron-like Bridge Or and in chief dexter a Mullet of Five of the last.''
Demographics
Broc has a population () of . , 25.4% 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 8%. Migration accounted for 10%, while births and deaths accounted for 0.4%.
accessed 21-November-2011
Most of the population () speaks French (1,826 or 88.3%) as their first language, Portuguese is the second most common (60 or 2.9%) and German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
is the third (54 or 2.6%). There are 18 people who speak Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
.[
, the population was 50.8% male and 49.2% female. The population was made up of 783 Swiss men (34.9% of the population) and 355 (15.8%) non-Swiss men. There were 845 Swiss women (37.7%) and 259 (11.6%) non-Swiss women.][Canton of Fribourg Statistics]
accessed 3 November 2011 Of the population in the municipality, 659 (31.9%) were born in Broc and lived there in 2000. There were 746 (36.1%) who were born in the same canton, while 215 (10.4%) were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 336 (16.2%) were born outside of Switzerland.[
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 24.8% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 57.7% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 17.5%.][
, 821 people were single and never married in the municipality, 1,000 married individuals, 159 widows or widowers, and 88 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 826 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household.[ 288 households consist of only one person and 59 households with five or more people. , a total of 819 apartments (85.1% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 73 apartments (7.6%) were seasonally occupied and 70 apartments (7.3%) 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 5.4 new units per 1000 residents.[ The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.29%.][
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
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bar:1811 from:start till:364 text:"364"
bar:1850 from:start till:406 text:"406"
bar:1860 from:start till:400 text:"400"
bar:1870 from:start till:435 text:"435"
bar:1880 from:start till:461 text:"461"
bar:1888 from:start till:438 text:"438"
bar:1900 from:start till:628 text:"628"
bar:1910 from:start till:1708 text:"1,708"
bar:1920 from:start till:2163 text:"2,163"
bar:1930 from:start till:1784 text:"1,784"
bar:1941 from:start till:1553 text:"1,553"
bar:1950 from:start till:1552 text:"1,552"
bar:1960 from:start till:1653 text:"1,653"
bar:1970 from:start till:1842 text:"1,842"
bar:1980 from:start till:1773 text:"1,773"
bar:1990 from:start till:2039 text:"2,039"
bar:2000 from:start till:2068 text:"2,068"
Heritage sites of national significance
The Barrage De Montsalvens (shared with Châtel-sur-Montsalvens
Châtel-sur-Montsalvens (; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Gruyère (district), Gruyère in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Fribourg (canton), Fribourg in Switzerland.
History
Châtel-sur-Montsalvens i ...
), and the Notre-Dame des Marches Chapel are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance. The Broc-Fabrique and Broc-Vieille Cure areas are both part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
The Federal Inventory of Heritage Sites (ISOS) is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage.
Sites of national importance
Types
The types are based on t ...
.
File:Lac Montsalvens.jpg, Barrage De Montsalvens
File:ND des marches full.jpg, Notre-Dame des Marches Chapel
Politics
In the 2011 federal election, the most popular party was the SP, which received 29.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (21.0%), the CVP (20.7%) and the FDP (15.8%).[Canton of Fribourg National Council Election of 23 October 2011 Statistics]
accessed 3 November 2011
The SPS received about the same percentage of the vote as they did in the 2007 Federal election (28.6% in 2007 vs 29.9% in 2011). The SVP moved from fourth in 2007 (with 18.6%) to second in 2011, the CVP moved from second in 2007 (with 24.9%) to third and the FDP moved from third in 2007 (with 19.5%) to fourth. A total of 615 votes were cast in this election, of which 13 or 2.1% were invalid.
Economy
, Broc had an unemployment rate of 4.5%. ; there were 23 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 9 businesses involved in this sector; 481 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 19 businesses in this sector. 292 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 48 businesses in this sector.[ 970 residents of the municipality were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 42.2% 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 698. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 18, of which 15 were in agriculture and 3 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 465 of which 415 or (89.2%) were in manufacturing and 19 (4.1%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 215. In the tertiary sector; 55 or 25.6% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 8 or 3.7% were in the movement and storage of goods, 38 or 17.7% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was in the information industry, 1 was the insurance or financial industry, 16 or 7.4% were in education and 56 or 26.0% were in health care.
, 592 workers commuted into the municipality and 592 workers commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.0 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 9.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 67.6% used a private car.[
]
Transport
Broc has two stations on the Bulle–Broc railway line: and . RER Fribourg
RER Fribourg or RER Fribourg , Freiburg (, ) is an S-Bahn network in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. The network has two hubs, Bulle and Fribourg, and began operating in .
History
The RER Fribourg network began operation with the 11 D ...
services operate from Broc to via . Transports publics Fribourgeois
The Transports Publics Fribourgeois (TPF) is a renaming of the former Chemins de fer Fribourgeois Gruyère-Fribourg-Morat when the municipal Transport en commun de Fribourg (TF) was absorbed in 2000.
Lines
The company is a railway operator ...
operates bus services as well.
Religion
From the , 1,662 or 80.4% 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 86 or 4.2% 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 9 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.44% of the population), there was 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 36 individuals (or about 1.74% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 67 (or about 3.24% 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. 13 individuals 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 ...
, 3 individuals 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 3 individuals belonged to another church. 73 (or about 3.53% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...
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 131 individuals (or about 6.33% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Broc about 615 or (29.7%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 150 or (7.3%) 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 150 who completed tertiary schooling, 65.3% were Swiss men, 22.7% were Swiss women, 8.0% were non-Swiss men and 4.0% were non-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 cen ...
, 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 potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...
.
During the 2010-11 school year, there were a total of 274 students attending 14 classes in Broc. A total of 426 students from the municipality attended any school, either in the municipality or outside of it. There were 4 kindergarten classes with a total of 79 students in the municipality. The municipality had 10 primary classes and 195 students. During the same year, there were no lower secondary classes in the municipality, but 84 students attended lower secondary school in a neighboring municipality. There were no upper Secondary classes or vocational classes, but there were 29 upper Secondary students and 69 upper Secondary vocational students who attended classes in another municipality. The municipality had no non-university Tertiary classes, but there were 5 non-university Tertiary students and 10 specialized Tertiary students who attended classes in another municipality.[
, 40 students in Broc came from another municipality, while 160 residents attended schools outside the municipality.][
]
Notable people
* Gjon's Tears
Gjon Muharremaj (; born 29 June 1998), known professionally as Gjon's Tears or Kev Bush due to his performance style being similar to "Kate Bush", is a Swiss singer and songwriter. He was scheduled to represent Switzerland in the Eurovision Son ...
(born 1998), singer
References
External links
{{Authority control
Municipalities of the canton of Fribourg
Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Fribourg