Puidoux

Puidoux is first mentioned in 1134 as Puidos. It was part of Saint-Saphorin until 1810 when it became an independent municipality. ==Geography==

Puidoux has an area, , of . Of this area, or 62.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 24.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 10.5% is settled (buildings or roads), or 2.5% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.3% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.2%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 2.3%. Out of the forested land, 21.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 30.0% is used for growing crops and 26.1% is pastures, while 4.7% is used for orchards or vine crops and 1.5% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is in lakes. The municipality is located along Lake Geneva and stretches to the Jorat region and the Broye river. The lower section of the municipality consists of the village of Puidoux along the lake, the hamlets of Publoz and Cremières and the vineyards of Treytorrens and Dézaley. The upper section of the municipality includes scattered settlements along the ridges of Mont-Pèlerin, to the Lac de Bret and Mont-Chesau. ==Coat of arms==

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Barry of Six Gules and Argent. ==Demographics==

Puidoux has a population () of . , 28.7% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 9.7%. It has changed at a rate of 2.8% due to migration and at a rate of 7.7% due to births and deaths. Most of the population () speaks French (1,958 or 83.7%), with Portuguese being second most common (134 or 5.7%) and German being third (87 or 3.7%). There are 37 people who speak Italian. , there were 967 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,157 married individuals, 108 widows or widowers and 107 individuals who are divorced. , there were 970 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. there were 1,071 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 332. There were 66 single room apartments and 217 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 896 apartments (83.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 124 apartments (11.6%) were seasonally occupied and 51 apartments (4.8%) were empty. Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:1080 height:210 PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:2400 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:500 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:100 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1764 from:start till:612 text:"612" bar:1798 from:start till:848 text:"848" bar:1850 from:start till:1186 text:"1,186" bar:1860 from:start till:1302 text:"1,302" bar:1870 from:start till:1294 text:"1,294" bar:1880 from:start till:1259 text:"1,259" bar:1888 from:start till:1289 text:"1,289" bar:1900 from:start till:1355 text:"1,355" bar:1910 from:start till:1399 text:"1,399" bar:1920 from:start till:1301 text:"1,301" bar:1930 from:start till:1305 text:"1,305" bar:1941 from:start till:1329 text:"1,329" bar:1950 from:start till:1428 text:"1,428" bar:1960 from:start till:1341 text:"1,341" bar:1970 from:start till:1578 text:"1,578" bar:1980 from:start till:1815 text:"1,815" bar:1990 from:start till:2172 text:"2,172" bar:2000 from:start till:2339 text:"2,339" ==Heritage sites of national significance==

The municipality includes part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site: Lavaux, Vineyard Terraces which is also listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire hamlet of Treytorrens is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites. ==Tourism==

Puidoux is a quiet area, yet a convenient base for exploring much of the Lac Leman region. Lenin came here with his wife Krupskaya in August 1904, where they planned the "Conference of the Twenty Two ". Puidoux Village is a small crossroads yet boasts an auberge (inn) and two restaurants. Local food can be purchased at the self-serve butcher and greengrocer shops. Just 5 minutes down the road is the town of Chexbres, home of several wine caveaux. There is also an 18-hole golf course, horsebackriding, and fishing in Lac de Bret. The "greater Puidoux area" is the home of the ''Bout d'Brousse'', an annual music festival with onsite food and camping. The music selection is surprisingly varied: the 2006 festival included Celtic rock, French chansons, and reggae. ==Politics==

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the FDP which received 24.7% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (21.49%), the SP (18.09%) and the Green Party (12.44%). In the federal election, a total of 641 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 46.8%. ==Economy==

, Puidoux had an unemployment rate of 3.6%. , there were 235 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 70 businesses involved in this sector. 482 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 51 businesses in this sector. 934 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 89 businesses in this sector. , there were 734 workers who commuted into the municipality and 845 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.2 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 1.1% of the workforce coming into Puidoux are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 14.1% used public transportation to get to work, and 60.3% used a private car. ==Religion==

From the , 602 or 25.7% were Roman Catholic, while 1,119 or 47.8% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 112 members of an Orthodox church (or about 4.79% of the population), there were 3 individuals (or about 0.13% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 54 individuals (or about 2.31% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish, and 68 (or about 2.91% of the population) who were Islamic. There was 1 person who was Buddhist, 1 person who was Hindu and 11 individuals who belonged to another church. 268 (or about 11.46% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 122 individuals (or about 5.22% of the population) did not answer the question. ==Education==

In Puidoux about 810 or (34.6%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 279 or (11.9%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 279 who completed tertiary schooling, 53.4% were Swiss men, 30.1% were Swiss women, 9.3% were non-Swiss men and 7.2% were non-Swiss women. 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 181 students in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 120 students in those schools. There were also 4 students who were home schooled or attended another non-traditional school. , there were 84 students in Puidoux who came from another municipality, while 186 residents attended schools outside the municipality. ==Transportation==

The municipality has two railway stations, and . Both are located on the Lausanne–Bern line and have regular service to , , and . == Notes and references ==