Broc

Broc (; , locally ) 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'', but that name is no longer used.

In 1898, the Cailler 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.

Coat of arms

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms 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 is the third (54 or 2.6%). There are 18 people who speak Italian.

, 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), 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.

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 and there were 19 businesses in this sector. 292 people were employed in the tertiary sector, 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 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 services operate from Broc to via . Transports publics Fribourgeois operates bus services as well.

Religion

From the , 1,662 or 80.4% were Roman Catholic, while 86 or 4.2% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. 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 Islamic. 13 individuals were Buddhist, 3 individuals were Hindu and 3 individuals belonged to another church. 73 (or about 3.53% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, 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 or a ''Fachhochschule''). 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, 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.

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 (born 1998), singer

References

External links

{{Authority control

Municipalities of the canton of Fribourg
Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Fribourg