Meyriez (; ; ) is a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
in the district of
See or du Lac in the
canton of
Fribourg
or is the capital of the Cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Canton of Fribourg, Fribourg and district of Sarine (district), La Sarine. Located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss Plateau, it is a major economic, adminis ...
in Switzerland. It is one of the municipalities with a large majority of German speakers in the mostly French-speaking canton of Fribourg.
History
Meyriez is first mentioned in 1162 as ''de Meriaco''. In 1178 it was mentioned as ''Meriei''.
[
]
Geography
Meyriez has an area of . Of this area, or 2.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 0.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 88.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and or 5.9% is unproductive land.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics]
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 2.9% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 61.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 17.6%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 5.9%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 2.9% is used for growing crops.[
The municipality is located in the See/Lac district. This former fishing village is now a ]commuter town
A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...
and part of the agglomeration
Agglomeration may refer to:
* Urban agglomeration, in standard English
* Megalopolis, in Chinese English, as defined in China's ''Standard for basic terminology of urban planning'' (GB/T 50280—98). Also known as "city cluster".
* Economies of agg ...
of Morat.
Coat of arms
The 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 an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...
of the municipal coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
is ''Gules, two Fishes endorsed Argent.''
Demographics
Meyriez has a population () of . , 7.9% 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 15.7%. Migration accounted for 13.9%, while births and deaths accounted for 2.5%.
accessed 14-December-2011[
, the population was 48.6% male and 51.4% female. The population was made up of 255 Swiss men (43.3% of the population) and 31 (5.3%) non-Swiss men. There were 279 Swiss women (47.4%) and 24 (4.1%) non-Swiss women.][Canton of Fribourg Statistics]
accessed 3 November 2011 Of the population in the municipality, 76 or about 13.9% were born in Meyriez and lived there in 2000. There were 134 or 24.5% who were born in the same canton, while 235 or 43.0% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 90 or 16.5% were born outside of Switzerland.[
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 27.4% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 58.9% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.7%.][
, there were 218 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 304 married individuals, 19 widows or widowers and 6 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 211 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household.[ There were 46 households that consist of only one person and 17 households with five or more people. , a total of 207 apartments (86.6% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 29 apartments (12.1%) were seasonally occupied and 3 apartments (1.3%) 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 6.7 new units per 1000 residents.[
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
Politics
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the FDP which received 23.2% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (22.7%), the SPS (20.3%) and the Green Liberal Party (10.4%).[Canton of Fribourg National Council Election of 23 October 2011 Statistics]
accessed 3 November 2011
The FDP improved their position in Meyriez rising to first, from second in 2007 (with 24.9%) The SVP moved from first in 2007 (with 25.3%) to second in 2011, the SPS retained about the same popularity (21.5% in 2007) and the Grünliberale moved from below fourth place in 2007 to fourth. A total of 271 votes were cast in this election, of which 15 or 5.5% were invalid.
Economy
, Meyriez had an unemployment rate of 0.3%. , there were people employed in the primary economic sector and about businesses involved in this sector. No one was employed in the secondary sector
In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructi ...
. 269 people were employed in the tertiary sector
The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the ...
, with 18 businesses in this sector.[ There were 266 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 41.7% of the workforce.
the total number of ]full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit of measurement that indicates the workload of an employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often use ...
jobs was 218. There were no jobs in the primary or secondary sectors. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 218. In the tertiary sector; 8 or 3.7% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 68 or 31.2% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 0.9% were in the information industry, 9 or 4.1% were technical professionals or scientists, and 126 or 57.8% were in health care.
, there were 209 workers who commuted into the municipality and 225 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.1 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 15.4% used public transportation to get to work, and 56.8% used a private car.[
]
Religion
From the , 142 or 26.0% were Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
, while 326 or 59.6% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The P ...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 2 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.37% of the population), and there were 14 individuals (or about 2.56% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 9 (or about 1.65% of the population) who were Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
ic. 46 (or about 8.41% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...
or atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
, and 15 individuals (or about 2.74% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Meyriez about 224 or (41.0%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education
Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education.
Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...
, and 95 or (17.4%) have completed additional higher education (either university
A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
or a ''Fachhochschule
A (; plural ), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a Hochschule, German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts, such as engineering, te ...
''). Of the 95 who completed tertiary schooling, 67.4% were Swiss men, 20.0% were Swiss women, 10.5% were non-Swiss men.[
The Canton of Fribourg school system provides one year of non-obligatory ]Kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...
, 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
Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...
.Chart of the education system in Canton Fribourg
During the 2010-11 school year, there were no students attending school in Meyriez, but a total of 112 students attended school in other municipalities. Of these students, 6 were in kindergarten, 43 were in a primary school, 33 were in a mandatory secondary school, 22 were in an upper secondary school and 8 were in a vocational secondary program. There were no tertiary students from this municipality.[
]
References
External links
Official website
{{Authority control
Municipalities of the canton of Fribourg