Franches-Montagnes District

Franches-Montagnes District
District des Franches-Montagnes
District
Country   Switzerland
Canton  Jura
Capital Delémont
Area
 • Total 200.18 km2 (77.29 sq mi)
Population (2013)
 • Total 10,141
 • Density 51/km2 (130/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Municipalities 13

Franches-Montagnes District (German: Freiberge, French: District des Franches-Montagnes, Franc-Comtois: Dichtrict des Fraintches-Montaignes) is one of the three districts of the canton of Jura, Switzerland. Its capital is the town of Saignelégier. The French-speaking district has a population of 10,141 (as of 31 December 2013).[1]

Municipalities

Franches-Montagnes contains a total of 13 municipalities:

Coat of Arms Municipality Population
(31 December 2013)[1]		 Area
km²[2]
La Chaux-des-Breuleux 99 4.05
Lajoux 683 12.38
Le Bémont 319 11.67
Le Noirmont 1,786 20.39
Les Bois 1,151 24.74
Les Breuleux 1,445 10.81
Les Enfers 145 7.14
Les Genevez 534 13.61
Montfaucon 571 18.24
Muriaux 473 16.89
Saignelégier 2,559 31.64
Saint-Brais 232 15.15
Soubey 144 13.47
Total 10,141 200.18

Mergers

Coat of arms

The blazon of the district coat of arms is Or, a Roundel Argent bordered Sable and Coupeaux of Six Gules.[4]

Demographics

Franches-Montagnes has a population (as of December 2013) of 10,141.[1]

Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks French (8,975 or 91.9%) as their first language, German is the second most common (431 or 4.4%) and Portuguese is the third (91 or 0.9%). There are 72 people who speak Italian and 4 people who speak Romansh.[5]

As of 2008, the population was 49.7% male and 50.3% female. The population was made up of 4,498 Swiss men (45.1% of the population) and 456 (4.6%) non-Swiss men. There were 4,573 Swiss women (45.9%) and 446 (4.5%) non-Swiss women.[6] Of the population in the district, 4,147 or about 42.5% were born in Franches-Montagnes and lived there in 2000. There were 2,328 or 23.8% who were born in the same canton, while 1,840 or 18.8% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 1,031 or 10.6% were born outside of Switzerland.[5]

As of 2000, there were 4,275 people who were single and never married in the district. There were 4,596 married individuals, 524 widows or widowers and 374 individuals who are divorced.[5]

There were 1,073 households that consist of only one person and 409 households with five or more people.

The historical population is given in the following chart:[7][8]

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SPS which received 33.99% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CSP (21.85%), the CVP (19.47%) and the FDP (13.05%). In the federal election, a total of 3,330 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 44.6%.[9]

Religion

From the 2000 census, 7,068 or 72.4% were Roman Catholic, while 1,102 or 11.3% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 25 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.26% of the population), there were 4 individuals (or about 0.04% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 450 individuals (or about 4.61% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 86 (or about 0.88% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 6 individuals who were Buddhist, 9 individuals who were Hindu and 7 individuals who belonged to another church. 750 (or about 7.68% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 480 individuals (or about 4.91% of the population) did not answer the question.[5]

Education

In Franches-Montagnes about 3,255 or (33.3%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 785 or (8.0%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 785 who completed tertiary schooling, 61.9% were Swiss men, 27.3% were Swiss women, 5.4% were non-Swiss men and 5.5% were non-Swiss women.[5]

The Canton of Jura school system provides two year of non-obligatory Kindergarten, 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 followed by some form of Tertiary school or they may enter an apprenticeship.[10]

During the 2009-10 school year, there were a total of 922 students attending 55 classes in Franches-Montagnes. There were 12 kindergarten classes with a total of 197 students in the district.[11] The district had 43 primary classes and 725 students.[12]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Swiss Federal Statistics Office – STAT-TAB Ständige und Nichtständige Wohnbevölkerung nach Region, Geschlecht, Nationalität und Alter (German) accessed 18 August 2014
  2. ↑ Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics 2009 data (German) accessed 25 March 2010
  3. ↑ Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (German) accessed 14 January 2010
  4. ↑ Flags of the World.com accessed 3 January 2012
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000 (German) accessed 2 February 2011
  6. ↑ Population résidante permanente des communes, selon le sexe et la nationalité, au 31 décembre 2010, canton du Jura pdf document from the Canton of Jura Statistical Office accessed 19 December 2011
  7. ↑ Franches-Montagnes in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
  8. ↑ Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Bevölkerungsentwicklung nach Region, 1850-2000 (German) accessed 29 January 2011
  9. ↑ Swiss Federal Statistical Office, Nationalratswahlen 2007: Stärke der Parteien und Wahlbeteiligung, nach Gemeinden/Bezirk/Canton (German) accessed 28 May 2010
  10. ↑ EDK/CDIP/IDES (2010). Kantonale Schulstrukturen in der Schweiz und im Fürstentum Liechtenstein / Structures Scolaires Cantonales en Suisse et Dans la Principauté du Liechtenstein (Report). Retrieved 24 June 2010.
  11. ↑ Effectifs de l'école enfantine 2009-2010 (French) accessed 19 December 2011
  12. ↑ Effectifs de l'école primaire (French) accessed 19 December 2011

Coordinates: 47°15′N 6°59′E / 47.250°N 6.983°E