Provence is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.
History
Provence is first mentioned in 1340 as Provency.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 0.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.5%. Out of the forested land, 36.1% of the total land area is heavily forested and 7.0% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 3.2% is used for growing crops and 12.4% is pastures and 38.6% is used for alpine pastures.
The municipality is located on the border of the Val-de-Travers and stretches from the foot of Mont Aubert to Creux-du-Van. It consists of the village of Provence, the hamlet of Les Prises, the housing development of Montagne Devant and the La Nouvelle Censière area.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Pally of Six Argent and Azure, a Buck Gules crowned with a Latin cross emanating Or.
Demographics
Provence has a population () of . , 4.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009) the population has changed at a rate of 5.6%. It has changed at a rate of 8.3% due to migration and at a rate of -2.7% due to births and deaths.
Most of the population () speaks French (354 or 96.2%), with German being second most common (11 or 3.0%) and Italian being third (1 or 0.3%).
, there were 165 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 154 married individuals, 27 widows or widowers and 22 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 144 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household.
there were 165 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 46. There were 6 single room apartments and 44 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 127 apartments (77.0% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 29 apartments (17.6%) were seasonally occupied and 9 apartments (5.5%) were empty.
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Heritage sites of national significance
The Chalet D’Alpage La Redalle is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire village of Provence is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.
Politics
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SP which received 30.89% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (29.84%), the Green Party (17.43%) and the FDP (7.07%). In the federal election, a total of 100 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 40.0%.
Economy
, Provence had an unemployment rate of 1.5%. , there were 62 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 22 businesses involved in this sector. 11 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 4 businesses in this sector. 47 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 9 businesses in this sector.
, there were 31 workers who commuted into the municipality and 80 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.6 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 7.4% used public transportation to get to work, and 50.9% used a private car. During the school year, the political district provided pre-school care for a total of 578 children of which 359 children (62.1%) received subsidized pre-school care. The canton's primary school program requires students to attend for four years. There were 19 students in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 22 students in those schools. There were also 3 students who were home schooled or attended another non-traditional school.
, there were 11 students in Provence who came from another municipality, while 32 residents attended schools outside the municipality.