Echichens is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud, located in the district of Morges.
The municipalities of Colombier, Monnaz and Saint-Saphorin-sur-Morges merged on 1 July 2011 into the municipality of Echichens.
History
Echichens is first mentioned in 1131 as Chichens. Colombier is first mentioned in 937 as Columbaris. Monnaz is first mentioned in 1200 as Monna. In 1221 it was mentioned as Muna. Saint-Saphorin-sur-Morges is first mentioned in 1171 as Sancti Simphoriani.
Geography
Echichens has an area, , of . Of this area, or 71.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 9.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 21.3% is settled (buildings or roads).
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 13.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.7%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 3.1%. Out of the forested land, 4.7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 4.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 46.9% is used for growing crops and 6.2% is pastures, while 18.2% is used for orchards or vine crops.
The municipality is located on a vineyard covered hill above the Morges river and Lake Geneva. It consists of the village of Echichens and the hamlets of Joulens and Le Vernay.
Coat of arms
Before merge, the blazon of the municipal coat of arms was Azure, three ganders two and one Argent.thumb|upright=0.5|right|Former coat of arms before merge|alt=former coat
Demographics
Echichens has a population () of . , 15.4% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 0.4%. It has changed at a rate of 8.3% due to migration and at a rate of -8.1% due to births and deaths.
Most of the population () speaks French (997 or 89.1%), with German being second most common (44 or 3.9%) and Portuguese being third (22 or 2.0%). There are 11 people who speak Italian.
, there were 504 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 503 married individuals, 72 widows or widowers and 40 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 357 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household.
there were 391 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 131. There were 12 single room apartments and 141 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 330 apartments (84.4% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 51 apartments (13.0%) were seasonally occupied and 10 apartments (2.6%) were empty.
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Heritage sites of national significance
thumb|[[Mestral Castle.]]
Mestral Castle is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire villages of Saint-Saphorin-sur-Morges and Colombier are part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.
Economy
, Echichens had an unemployment rate of 3%. , there were 33 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 8 businesses involved in this sector. 36 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 6 businesses in this sector. 400 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 21 businesses in this sector.
, there were 248 workers who commuted into the municipality and 361 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.5 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 13.6% used public transportation to get to work, and 55% 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 56 students in those schools. There was also 1 student who was home schooled or attended another non-traditional school.
, there were 26 students in Echichens who came from another municipality, while 130 residents attended schools outside the municipality.