Rivaz () is a municipality in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, located in the district of Lavaux-Oron.
History
Rivaz is first mentioned in 1138 as Ripa.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 9.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 12.9%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 0.0% is used for growing crops, while 67.7% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 3.2% is in lakes and 3.2% is in rivers and streams.
The municipality along Lake Geneva is the smallest in the Canton of Vaud. It consists of the village of Rivaz and the hamlet of Sallaz.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per fess wavy Or and Azure.
Demographics
thumb|A tour boat dock at Rivaz
thumb|Rivaz village with train tracks and road
thumb|View to Rivaz VD from west
Rivaz has a population () of . , 17.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 7.9%. It has changed at a rate of 0.9% due to migration and at a rate of 8.2% due to births and deaths.
Most of the population () speaks French (265 or 83.6%), with German being second most common (18 or 5.7%) and Portuguese being third (13 or 4.1%). There are 10 people who speak Italian.
, there were 126 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 161 married individuals, 15 widows or widowers and 15 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 142 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.1 persons per household.
there were 166 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 48. There were 7 single room apartments and 44 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 135 apartments (81.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 22 apartments (13.3%) were seasonally occupied and 9 apartments (5.4%) were empty.
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Heritage sites of national significance
The municipality is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site: Lavaux, Vineyard Terraces which is also listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire village of Rivaz is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.
Politics
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the FDP which received 22.75% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (20.08%), the SVP (17.52%) and the Green Party (17.05%). In the federal election, a total of 144 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 62.3%.
Economy
, Rivaz had an unemployment rate of 0.9%. , there were 61 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 17 businesses involved in this sector. 7 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 4 businesses in this sector. 56 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 8 businesses in this sector.
, there were 38 workers who commuted into the municipality and 108 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.8 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 12.4% used public transportation to get to work, and 62.7% used a private car. During the school year, the political district provided pre-school care for a total of 665 children of which 232 children (34.9%) received subsidized pre-school care. The canton's primary school program requires students to attend for four years. There were 34 students in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 18 students in those schools.
, there were 9 students in Rivaz who came from another municipality, while 39 residents attended schools outside the municipality.