Rances, Switzerland

Rances is first mentioned around 972-73 as Rancias. The name of Rances is apparently derived from a Roman family name, but the exact form of the name has been forgotten. The most dramatic event of its history occurred in 1548, when the village was almost entirely destroyed by an accidental fire. It has been the site of extensive archeological excavations, notably by the University of Geneva. ==Geography==

Rances has an area, , of . Of this area, or 60.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 34.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 5.0% is settled (buildings or roads) and or 0.4% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 1.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.1%. Out of the forested land, 32.1% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.5% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 35.7% is used for growing crops and 8.3% is pastures, while 2.8% is used for orchards or vine crops and 13.1% is used for alpine pastures. The municipality is located on a high plateau above the Mujon river valley, a tributary of the Zihl river. ==Coat of arms==

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Argent, a Column Or encircled with a Vine Vert fructed Purpure. ==Demographics==

Rances has a population () of . , 6.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 8%. It has changed at a rate of 3.6% due to migration and at a rate of 4.6% due to births and deaths. Most of the population () speaks French (405 or 96.7%), with German being second most common (5 or 1.2%) and Italian being third (3 or 0.7%). , there were 167 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 218 married individuals, 16 widows or widowers and 18 individuals who are divorced. , there were 166 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.5 persons per household. , a total of 161 apartments (93.1% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 3 apartments (1.7%) were seasonally occupied and 9 apartments (5.2%) 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:540 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:100 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:20 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1684 from:start till:320 bar:1684 at:330 fontsize:S text: "80 Hearths" shift:(8,5) bar:1764 from:start till:385 text:"385" bar:1850 from:start till:518 text:"518" bar:1860 from:start till:484 text:"484" bar:1870 from:start till:536 text:"536" bar:1880 from:start till:524 text:"524" bar:1888 from:start till:480 text:"480" bar:1900 from:start till:493 text:"493" bar:1910 from:start till:486 text:"486" bar:1920 from:start till:454 text:"454" bar:1930 from:start till:463 text:"463" bar:1941 from:start till:455 text:"455" bar:1950 from:start till:412 text:"412" bar:1960 from:start till:361 text:"361" bar:1970 from:start till:314 text:"314" bar:1980 from:start till:331 text:"331" bar:1990 from:start till:409 text:"409" bar:2000 from:start till:419 text:"419" ==Sights==

The entire village of Rances is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites. ==Politics==

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 36.91% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (22.59%), the FDP (8.64%) and the LPS Party (8.56%). In the federal election, a total of 159 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 50.0%. ==Economy==

, Rances had an unemployment rate of 3.4%. , there were 30 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 12 businesses involved in this sector. 5 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 2 businesses in this sector. 42 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 10 businesses in this sector. , there were 5 workers who commuted into the municipality and 171 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 34.2 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 6.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 66.7% used a private car. ==Religion==

From the , 63 or 15.0% were Roman Catholic, while 267 or 63.7% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 18 individuals (or about 4.30% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish, and 63 (or about 15.04% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 15 individuals (or about 3.58% of the population) did not answer the question. ==Education==

In Rances about 169 or (40.3%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 48 or (11.5%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 48 who completed tertiary schooling, 58.3% were Swiss men, 35.4% were Swiss women. 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 43 students in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 31 students in those schools. , there were 31 students in Rances who came from another municipality, while 68 residents attended schools outside the municipality. ==References==