Renens
Encyclopedia
Renens 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 canton 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,...

, 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....

. It is located in the district of Ouest lausannois
Ouest lausannois (district)
Ouest Lausannois District is a district in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. The seat of the district is Renens.-Geography:Ouest Lausannois has an area, , of . Of this area, or 24.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 13.6% is forested...

, and is a suburb of the city of Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...

. It is the fourth largest city in the canton. It is considered a very multiethnic town, as more than 50% of the inhabitants are resident foreign nationals.

Geography

Renens has an area, , of 2.96 square kilometre (depending on calculation method). Of this area, 0.1 square kilometre or 3.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.07 square kilometre or 2.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.78 square kilometre or 93.9% is settled (buildings or roads).

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 13.9% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 41.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 28.7%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 3.4% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 6.4%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 1.0% is used for growing crops, while 1.7% is used for orchards or vine crops.

The municipality was part of the Lausanne District until it was dissolved on 31 August 2006, and Renens became part of the new district of Ouest Lausannois.

The municipality is the capital of the new district of Ouest lausannois. It is part of the agglomeration
Agglomeration
In the study of human settlements, an urban agglomeration is an extended city or town area comprising the built-up area of a central place and any suburbs linked by continuous urban area. In France, INSEE the French Statistical Institute, translate it as "Unité urbaine" which means continuous...

 of Lausanne.

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, two Pales wavy Argent, Chief of the same.

Demographics

Renens has a population of . , 51.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 14.4%. It has changed at a rate of 10.4% due to migration and at a rate of 5.9% 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...

 (13,576 or 73.8%), with 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...

 being second most common (1,214 or 6.6%) 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 (810 or 4.4%). There are 567 people who speak 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....

 and 11 people who speak Romansh.

Of the population in the municipality 2,992 or about 16.3% were born in Renens and lived there in 2000. There were 4,431 or 24.1% who were born in the same canton, while 2,566 or 13.9% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 7,854 or 42.7% were born outside of Switzerland.

In there were 92 live births to Swiss citizens and 141 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 108 deaths of Swiss citizens and 29 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 16 while the foreign population increased by 112. There were 3 Swiss men and 3 Swiss women who immigrated back to Switzerland. At the same time, there were 287 non-Swiss men and 286 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 358 and the non-Swiss population increased by 208 people. This represents a population growth rate of 3.1%.

The age distribution, , in Renens is; 2,091 children or 10.9% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 2,102 teenagers or 11.0% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 3,103 people or 16.2% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 3,009 people or 15.7% are between 30 and 39, 2,931 people or 15.3% are between 40 and 49, and 2,201 people or 11.5% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 1,778 people or 9.3% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 1,134 people or 5.9% are between 70 and 79, there are 655 people or 3.4% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 118 people or 0.6% who are 90 and older.

, there were 7,576 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 8,731 married individuals, 913 widows or widowers and 1,186 individuals who are divorced.

the average number of residents per living room was 0.73 which is more people per room than 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 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 10.2% 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 8,196 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.2 persons per household. There were 3,213 households that consist of only one person and 397 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 8,409 households that answered this question, 38.2% were households made up of just one person and there were 51 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 2,034 married couples without children, 2,245 married couples with children There were 494 single parents with a child or children. There were 159 households that were made up of unrelated people and 213 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.

there were 600 single family homes (or 41.3% of the total) out of a total of 1,452 inhabited buildings. There were 496 multi-family buildings (34.2%), along with 248 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (17.1%) and 108 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (7.4%). Of the single family homes 60 were built before 1919, while 83 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (170) were built between 1981 and 1990. The most multi-family homes (137) were built between 1946 and 1960 and the next most (89) were built before 1919. There were 17 multi-family houses built between 1996 and 2000.

there were 8,959 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 3,095. There were 919 single room apartments and 708 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 8,015 apartments (89.5% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 748 apartments (8.3%) were seasonally occupied and 196 apartments (2.2%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 0 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.12%.

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 SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 which received 23.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were 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...

 (21.39%), the PdA Party (14.34%) 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:...

 (13.66%). In the federal election, a total of 2,897 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 39.7%.

Economy

, Renens had an unemployment rate of 7.6%. , there were 8 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 1 business involved in this sector. 2,338 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 153 businesses in this sector. 7,493 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 579 businesses in this sector. There were 9,293 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.5% 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 8,699. 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 2,245 of which 1,048 or (46.7%) were in manufacturing and 855 (38.1%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 6,447. In the tertiary sector; 1,795 or 27.8% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 1,452 or 22.5% were in the movement and storage of goods, 244 or 3.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 470 or 7.3% were in the information industry, 735 or 11.4% were the insurance or financial industry, 390 or 6.0% were technical professionals or scientists, 299 or 4.6% were in education and 500 or 7.8% were in health care.

, there were 7,789 workers who commuted into the municipality and 7,087 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.1 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 2.2% of the workforce coming into Renens are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 31.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 49.8% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 8,162 or 44.3% were Roman Catholic, while 3,952 or 21.5% 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 were 740 members of an Orthodox church
Orthodox Christianity
The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...

 (or about 4.02% of the population), there were 14 individuals (or about 0.08% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church
Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland
The Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland is the Swiss member church of the Union of Utrecht, also known as Old Catholic Church, originally founded by the jansenists, with a later influx of discontented Catholics following their disappointment with the First Vatican Council. It has 14,000...

, and there were 757 individuals (or about 4.11% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 20 individuals (or about 0.11% of the population) who were Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

, and 1,662 (or about 9.03% 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. There were 65 individuals who were Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

, 159 individuals who were Hindu
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

 and 36 individuals who belonged to another church. 1,904 (or about 10.34% 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 1,301 individuals (or about 7.07% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Renens about 5,518 or (30.0%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 1,664 or (9.0%) 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 1,664 who completed tertiary schooling, 42.0% were Swiss men, 21.0% were Swiss women, 24.5% were non-Swiss men and 12.5% were non-Swiss women.

In the 2009/2010 school year there were a total of 2,355 students in the Renens (VD) 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 803 children of which 502 children (62.5%) received subsidized pre-school care. The canton's primary school program requires students to attend for four years. There were 1,329 students in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 916 students in those schools. There were also 110 students who were home schooled or attended another non-traditional school.

, there were 93 students in Renens who came from another municipality, while 1,188 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

External links

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