Veyras, Switzerland

Veyras had an area, , of . Of this area, or 55.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 9.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 33.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and or 2.8% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 24.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 6.2%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.4% of the area Out of the forested land, 4.1% of the total land area is heavily forested and 4.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.0% is used for growing crops and 2.1% is pastures, while 53.1% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the unproductive areas, 1.4% is unproductive vegetation and 1.4% is too rocky for vegetation. ==Coat of arms==

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules, statant on Coupeaux vert a Warrior Argent holding a spear of the same, in chief sinister a Sun in Splendour Or. ==Demographics==

Veyras had a population (as of 2019) of 1,839. , 12.6% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010 ) the population has changed at a rate of 13.7%. It has changed at a rate of 14.5% due to migration and at a rate of 1.8% due to births and deaths. Most of the population () speaks French (1,196 or 84.1%) as their first language, German is the second most common (165 or 11.6%) and Italian is the third (37 or 2.6%). Of the population in the municipality, 313 or about 22.0% were born in Veyras and lived there in 2000. There were 678 or 47.7% who were born in the same canton, while 199 or 14.0% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 185 or 13.0% were born outside of Switzerland. , there were 568 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. , the construction rate of new housing units was 5.2 new units per 1000 residents. Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:960 height:210 PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:1500 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:300 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:60 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1850 from:start till:65 text:"65" bar:1860 from:start till:153 text:"153" bar:1870 from:start till:144 text:"144" bar:1880 from:start till:78 text:"78" bar:1888 from:start till:106 text:"106" bar:1900 from:start till:113 text:"113" bar:1910 from:start till:155 text:"155" bar:1920 from:start till:136 text:"136" bar:1930 from:start till:212 text:"212" bar:1941 from:start till:302 text:"302" bar:1950 from:start till:347 text:"347" bar:1960 from:start till:434 text:"434" bar:1970 from:start till:730 text:"730" bar:1980 from:start till:1004 text:"1,004" bar:1990 from:start till:1347 text:"1,347" bar:2000 from:start till:1422 text:"1,422" ==Politics==

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 37.56% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (19.83%), the FDP (15%) and the SVP (14.81%). In the federal election, a total of 706 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 62.0%. In the 2009 Conseil d'État/Staatsrat election a total of 718 votes were cast, of which 67 or about 9.3% were invalid. The voter participation was 62.8%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 698 votes were cast, of which 49 or about 7.0% were invalid. The voter participation was 61.9%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 59.88%. ==Economy==

, Veyras had an unemployment rate of 3.4%. , there were 26 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 11 businesses involved in this sector. 69 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 12 businesses in this sector. 79 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 23 businesses in this sector. , there were 82 workers who commuted into the municipality and 585 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 7.1 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 8.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 76.3% used a private car. ==Religion==

From the , 1,144 or 80.5% were Roman Catholic, while 95 or 6.7% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 9 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.63% of the population), and there were 40 individuals (or about 2.81% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish, and 7 (or about 0.49% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 5 individuals who belonged to another church. 69 (or about 4.85% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 69 individuals (or about 4.85% of the population) did not answer the question. ==Education==

In Veyras about 481 or (33.8%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 238 or (16.7%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 238 who completed tertiary schooling, 60.9% were Swiss men, 27.3% were Swiss women, 7.1% were non-Swiss men and 4.6% were non-Swiss women. , there were 2 students in Veyras who came from another municipality, while 144 residents attended schools outside the municipality. ==Notable residents==

• Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), Bohemian-Austrian poet, lived here from 1921 to 1926 and completed his Duino Elegies, a collection of ten long poems, at the Château de Muzot in 1922. • Baladine Klossowska (1886-1969), painter, the last lover of Rainer Maria Rilke. • Balthus (1908-2001), artist and son of Baladine Klossowska, as a child. • Pierre Klossowski (1905-2001), artist and son of Baladine Klossowska, as a child. ==References==