Denens is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud, located in the district of Morges.
History
Denens is first mentioned in 1005 as Disnens.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 7.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.0%. Out of the forested land, 1.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.5% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 66.9% is used for growing crops and 2.4% is pastures, while 15.8% is used for orchards or vine crops.
The municipality is located on a plateau above the Morges river.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Argent, on a Coupeaux Vert a Crow statant Sable beaked Or.
Demographics
Denens has a population () of . , 14.1% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 13.4%. It has changed at a rate of 6.1% due to migration and at a rate of 7.5% due to births and deaths.
Most of the population () speaks French (515 or 88.6%), with German being second most common (31 or 5.3%) and English being third (9 or 1.5%). There are 3 people who speak Italian.
, there were 245 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 288 married individuals, 20 widows or widowers and 28 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.55 which is fewer people per room than the cantonal average of 0.61 per room. About 64.6% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage or a rent-to-own agreement).
, there were 215 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household.
there were 245 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 58. There were 3 single room apartments and 112 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 209 apartments (85.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 34 apartments (13.9%) were seasonally occupied and 2 apartments (0.8%) were empty.
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Sights
A remarkable feature of Denens is its scarecrow competition, in which the residents of Denens fashion scarecrows of all kinds. They are then displayed around the municipality, giving this delightful village a quirky and distinct look, and the ability to visitors to vote for the best scarecrow. Originally, this competition was held every two years but its organisation has now decreased to once every four or five years.
Politics
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 23.4% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (15.07%), the FDP (14.58%) and the LPS Party (13.09%). In the federal election, a total of 223 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 52.0%.
Economy
, Denens had an unemployment rate of 3.1%. , there were 56 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 12 businesses involved in this sector. 12 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 6 businesses in this sector. 32 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 12 businesses in this sector.
, there were 19 workers who commuted into the municipality and 226 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 11.9 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 9.9% used public transportation to get to work, and 69.5% used a private car. 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 48 students in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 52 students in those schools. There were also 1 students who were home schooled or attended another non-traditional school.
, there were 21 students in Denens who came from another municipality, while 90 residents attended schools outside the municipality.