Châtel-sur-Montsalvens
Encyclopedia
Châtel-sur-Montsalvens is a municipality
Municipalities of Switzerland
Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...

 in the district of Gruyère
Gruyère (district)
Gruyère District is a district of the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. It has a population of . Its capital is Bulle.-Municipalities:-Mergers and name changes:...

 in the canton
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...

 of Fribourg in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

.

Geography

Châtel-sur-Montsalvens has an area, , of 2 square kilometre. Of this area, 0.94 square kilometre or 46.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.85 square kilometre or 41.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.16 square kilometre or 7.8% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.05 km² (12.4 acre) or 2.5% is either rivers or lakes.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 3.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.4%. Out of the forested land, 36.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 4.9% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 28.9% is pastures and 17.2% is used for alpine pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 2.0% is in lakes and 0.5% is in rivers and streams.

The municipality is located in the Gruyère district.

Coat of arms

The blazon
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...

 of the municipal coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

 is Gules, in base issuant a Wall embattled Argent on it a Crane of the same passant and in chief dexter a Mullet of Five Or.

Demographics

Châtel-sur-Montsalvens has a population of . , 22.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 34.4%. Migration accounted for 22.6%, while births and deaths accounted for 5.4%.

Most of the population speaks French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 (171 or 83.4%) as their first language, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 is the second most common (18 or 8.8%) and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 is the third (7 or 3.4%).

, the population was 51.4% male and 48.6% female. The population was made up of 103 Swiss men (40.1% of the population) and 29 (11.3%) non-Swiss men. There were 93 Swiss women (36.2%) and 32 (12.5%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 35 or about 17.1% were born in Châtel-sur-Montsalvens and lived there in 2000. There were 80 or 39.0% who were born in the same canton, while 49 or 23.9% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 39 or 19.0% were born outside of Switzerland.

, children and teenagers (0-19 years old) make up 23.4% of the population, while adults (20-64 years old) make up 62% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 14.6%.

, there were 87 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 99 married individuals, 6 widows or widowers and 13 individuals who are divorced.

, there were 84 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household. There were 22 households that consist of only one person and 4 households with five or more people. , a total of 74 apartments (56.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 47 apartments (36.2%) were seasonally occupied and 9 apartments (6.9%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 24 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 2.78%.

The historical population is given in the following chart:

Heritage sites of national significance

The Monstalvens Dam (Barrage De Montsalvens) which is shared with Broc
Broc
Broc is a municipality in the district of Gruyère in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland.-History:Broc is first mentioned in 1115 as Broc and Broch. The municipality was formerly known by its German name Bruck, however, that name is no longer used.-Geography:Broc has an area, , of...

 is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance
Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance
The Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance is a register of some 8,300 items of cultural property in Switzerland...

.

Politics

In the 2011 federal election
Swiss federal election, 2011
Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 23 October 2011.All of the Federal Assembly were to be elected: all 200 seats in the National Council and all 46 seats in the Council of States....

 the most popular party was the SVP
Swiss People's Party
The Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...

 which received 31.5% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (30.1%), the CVP
Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland
The Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland is a Christian democratic political party in Switzerland. It is the fourth-largest party in the National Council, with 31 seats, and the largest in the Council of States, with 15 seats. It has one seat, that of Doris Leuthard, on the Swiss...

 (11.8%) and the FDP
FDP.The Liberals
FDP.The Liberals is a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It is the joint-largest party in the Federal Council, third-largest party in the National Council, and second-largest in the Council of States....

 (8.5%).

The SVP improved their position in Châtel-sur-Montsalvens rising to first, from second in 2007 (with 26.5%) The SPS moved from third in 2007 (with 22.0%) to second in 2011, the CVP moved from first in 2007 (with 29.7%) to third and the FDP retained about the same popularity (9.3% in 2007). A total of 93 votes were cast in this election, of which 2 or 2.2% were invalid.

Economy

, Châtel-sur-Montsalvens had an unemployment rate of 1.7%. , there were 7 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 3 businesses involved in this sector. 5 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 3 businesses in this sector. 8 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 3 businesses in this sector. There were 104 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 41.3% of the workforce.

the total number of full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent , is a unit to measure employed persons or students in a way that makes them comparable although they may work or study a different number of hours per week. FTE is often used to measure a worker's involvement in a project, or to track cost reductions in an organization...

 jobs was 16. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 5, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 5 of which 2 or (40.0%) were in manufacturing and 3 (60.0%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 6. In the tertiary sector; 5 or 83.3% were in a hotel or restaurant, .

, there were 7 workers who commuted into the municipality and 88 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 12.6 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 11.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 72.1% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 135 or 65.9% were Roman Catholic, while 20 or 9.8% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
Swiss Reformed Church
The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...

. Of the rest of the population, there were 10 individuals (or about 4.88% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

, and 6 (or about 2.93% of the population) who were Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic. 32 (or about 15.61% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....

 or atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...

, and 6 individuals (or about 2.93% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Châtel-sur-Montsalvens about 78 or (38.0%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 25 or (12.2%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule
Fachhochschule
A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...

). Of the 25 who completed tertiary schooling, 52.0% were Swiss men, 24.0% were Swiss women.

The Canton of Fribourg school system provides one year of non-obligatory Kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...

, 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
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...

 (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
Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...

.

During the 2010-11 school year, there were no students attending school in Châtel-sur-Montsalvens, but a total of 39 students attended school in other municipalities. Of these students, 4 were in kindergarten, 16 were in a primary school, 6 were in a mandatory secondary school, one was in an upper secondary school and 10 were in a vocational secondary program. There were a total of 2 tertiary students from Châtel-sur-Montsalvens.

, there were 31 students from Châtel-sur-Montsalvens who attended schools outside the municipality.
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