La Chaux (Cossonay)
Encyclopedia
La Chaux 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...

 of 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 Vaud
Vaud
Vaud is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and is located in Romandy, the French-speaking southwestern part of the country. The capital is Lausanne. The name of the Canton in Switzerland's other languages are Vaud in Italian , Waadt in German , and Vad in Romansh.-History:Along the lakes,...

 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....

, located in the district of Morges.

History

La Chaux (Cossonay) is first mentioned in 1228 as La Chaus. In 1277 it was mentioned as de Calce. It was known as La Chaux (VD) until 1953.

In the 13th century the village belonged to the Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...

 and it came into the possession of the Order of St John in 1298. It was united with the settlement at Cransaz to form a commandry
Commandry (feudalism)
Commandry , or commandery , was the smallest division of the European landed estate or manor under the control of a commendator, or commander, of an order of knights...

 which was headed by the preceptors of Vaud. The Preceptors were, until 1580, the patrons of Montbrelloz, Fribourg, and Saint-Jean de Grosset, Pays de Gex. The commandery was abolished during the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

.

Geography

La Chaux (Cossonay) has an area, , of 6.75 square kilometres (2.6 sq mi). Of this area, 5.17 km² (2 sq mi) or 76.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 1.16 km² (0.447878503967341 sq mi) or 17.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.42 km² (0.162162906608865 sq mi) or 6.2% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.03 km² (7.4 acre) or 0.4% is either rivers or lakes and 0.01 km² (2.5 acre) or 0.1% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.6%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.6% of the area Out of the forested land, 15.6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 61.9% is used for growing crops and 13.6% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

The municipality was part of the Cossonay District until it was dissolved on 31 August 2006, and La Chaux (Cossonay) became part of the new district of Morges.

The village of La Chaux is located on the left bank of the Veyron river
Veyron (river)
The Veyron is a river in the canton of Vaud, in Switzerland.- Geography :Le Veyron starts its course in Bière, in “canton de Vaud”, and flows down to Ferreyres, where it merges into River Venoge, in the so called area Tine de Conflens.- Flows through :...

 with the village of Ittens on the right bank of the river.

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 Per fess Argent and Gules, two Maltese Crosses one and one counterchanged.

Demographics

La Chaux (Cossonay) has a population of . , 8.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 17.4%. It has changed at a rate of 11.5% due to migration and at a rate of 6.2% due to births and deaths.

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...

 (317 or 90.1%), with 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....

 being second most common (14 or 4.0%) and Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

 being third (7 or 2.0%). There are 4 people who speak Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

.

Of the population in the municipality 104 or about 29.5% were born in La Chaux (Cossonay) and lived there in 2000. There were 145 or 41.2% who were born in the same canton, while 40 or 11.4% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 62 or 17.6% were born outside of Switzerland.

In there were 4 live births to Swiss citizens and were 4 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens remained the same while the foreign population remained the same. At the same time, there was 1 non-Swiss man and 1 non-Swiss woman 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 8 and the non-Swiss population decreased by 7 people. This represents a population growth rate of 0.3%.

The age distribution, , in La Chaux (Cossonay) is; 46 children or 11.5% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 63 teenagers or 15.8% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 46 people or 11.5% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 57 people or 14.3% are between 30 and 39, 64 people or 16.0% are between 40 and 49, and 61 people or 15.3% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 38 people or 9.5% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 17 people or 4.3% are between 70 and 79, there are 5 people or 1.3% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 2 people or 0.5% who are 90 and older.

, there were 144 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 173 married individuals, 15 widows or widowers and 20 individuals who are divorced.

the average number of residents per living room was 0.57 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.61 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43.1 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 55.1% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...

 or a rent-to-own agreement).

, there were 139 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.5 persons per household. There were 44 households that consist of only one person and 13 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 141 households that answered this question, 31.2% were households made up of just one person. Of the rest of the households, there are 36 married couples without children, 53 married couples with children There were 6 single parents with a child or children.

there were 43 single family homes (or 48.9% of the total) out of a total of 88 inhabited buildings. There were 25 multi-family buildings (28.4%), along with 18 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (20.5%) and 2 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (2.3%). Of the single family homes 29 were built before 1919, while 2 were built between 1990 and 2000. The most multi-family homes (13) were built before 1919 and the next most (3) were built between 1919 and 1945. There was 1 multi-family house built between 1996 and 2000.

there were 143 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 42. There were 2 single room apartments and 50 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 127 apartments (88.8% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 8 apartments (5.6%) were seasonally occupied and 8 apartments (5.6%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 5 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.66%.

The historical population is given in the following chart:

Politics

In the 2007 federal election
Swiss federal election, 2007
Elections to the Swiss Federal Assembly, the federal parliament of Switzerland, were held on Sunday, 21 October 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, and 25 November 2007...

 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 23.2% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were 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....

 (21.76%), the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (18.36%) and the Green Party
Green Party of Switzerland
The Green Party of Switzerland is the fifth-largest party in the National Council of Switzerland, and the largest party that is not represented on the Federal Council.-History:...

 (17.2%). In the federal election, a total of 128 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
Voter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...

 was 51.2%.

Economy

, La Chaux (Cossonay) had an unemployment rate of 3.5%. , there were 32 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 15 businesses involved in this sector. 11 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 6 businesses in this sector. 22 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 8 businesses in this sector. There were 184 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 42.4% 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 53. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 24, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 10 of which 3 or (30.0%) were in manufacturing and 6 (60.0%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 19. In the tertiary sector; 10 or 52.6% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 4 or 21.1% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 10.5% were technical professionals or scientists, 1 was in education.

, there were 12 workers who commuted into the municipality and 133 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 11.1 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 6% used public transportation to get to work, and 69% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 65 or 18.5% were Roman Catholic, while 192 or 54.5% 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 was 1 member of an Orthodox church
Orthodox Christianity
The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...

, and there were 32 individuals (or about 9.09% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. 78 (or about 22.16% 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...

.

Education

In La Chaux (Cossonay) about 136 or (38.6%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 55 or (15.6%) 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 55 who completed tertiary schooling, 45.5% were Swiss men, 45.5% were Swiss women.

In the 2009/2010 school year there were a total of 64 students in the La Chaux (Cossonay) school district. In the Vaud cantonal school system, two years of non-obligatory pre-school are provided by the political districts. During the school year, the political district provided pre-school care for a total of 631 children of which 203 children (32.2%) received subsidized pre-school care. The canton's primary school program requires students to attend for four years. There were 31 students in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 33 students in those schools.

, there were 16 students in La Chaux (Cossonay) who came from another municipality, while 56 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
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