Meyrin () is a municipality of the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland.
The main site of CERN, the European particle physics research organisation, is in Meyrin. Meyrin was originally a small agricultural village until the 1950s, when construction of CERN began just to the north. It is now a commuter town dominated with apartment high-rises, and many of its residents work at CERN or in central Geneva. Geneva International Airport is partially located within Meyrin."Plan de commune ." Meyrin. Retrieved on 29 September 2009.
History Meyrin is first mentioned in 1153 as Mairin.
Geography
Meyrin has an area, , of . Of this area, or 35.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 4.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 59.1% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.1% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.8% is unproductive land.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics 2009 data accessed 25 March 2010
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 11.1% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 17.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 25.8%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 3.5%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 28.5% is used for growing crops and 4.8% is pastures, while 2.3% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is in lakes.
The municipality is located on the right bank of the Rhone river and consists of the sub-sections or villages of CERN, Maisonnex, Mategnin, Citadelle, Aéroport - Tour-de-Contrôle, Aéroport - Papillons, Aéroport - Forestier, Cointrin - Les Sapins, Cointrin - Les Ailes, Cointrin - Pré-Bois, ZI Riantbosson.Canton of Geneva Statistical Office Liste des 475 sous-secteurs statistiques du canton de Genève. accessed 18 April 2011
Demographics
Meyrin has a population () of . , 41.5% of the population are resident foreign nationals.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Superweb database - Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008 accessed 19 June 2010 Over the last 10 years (1999–2009) the population has changed at a rate of 13.7%. It has changed at a rate of 7.5% due to migration and at a rate of 6.3% due to births and deaths.Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 27-April-2011
Most of the population () speaks French (14,320 or 73.3%), with German being second most common (817 or 4.2%) and Italian being third (809 or 4.1%). There are 12 people who speak Romansh.
, the gender distribution of the population was 49.9% male and 50.1% female. The population was made up of 5,617 Swiss men (25.8% of the population) and 5,233 (24.1%) non-Swiss men. There were 6,457 Swiss women (29.7%) and 4,424 (20.4%) non-Swiss women.Canton of Geneva Statistical Office Population résidante du canton de Genève, selon l'origine et le sexe, par commune, en mars 2011 accessed 18 April 2011 Of the population in the municipality 3,745 or about 19.2% were born in Meyrin and lived there in 2000. There were 3,273 or 16.7% who were born in the same canton, while 2,876 or 14.7% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 7,985 or 40.8% were born outside of Switzerland.
In there were 144 live births to Swiss citizens and 109 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 78 deaths of Swiss citizens and 21 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 66 while the foreign population increased by 88. There were 28 Swiss men and 57 Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there were 230 non-Swiss men and 204 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 79 and the non-Swiss population increased by 356 people. This represents a population growth rate of 2.2%.
The age distribution of the population () is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 22.6% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 66.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 11.3%.
, there were 7,660 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 9,707 married individuals, 748 widows or widowers and 1,433 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000 accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 7,938 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household. There were 2,662 households that consist of only one person and 410 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 8,158 households that answered this question, 32.6% were households made up of just one person and there were 42 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 1,985 married couples without children, 2,487 married couples with children There were 660 single parents with a child or children. There were 102 households that were made up of unrelated people and 220 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 579 single family homes (or 47.0% of the total) out of a total of 1,232 inhabited buildings. There were 410 multi-family buildings (33.3%), along with 174 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (14.1%) and 69 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (5.6%). Of the single family homes 53 were built before 1919, while 87 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (103) were built between 1971 and 1980.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen accessed 28 January 2011
there were 8,692 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 2,677. There were 787 single room apartments and 1,260 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 7,734 apartments (89.0% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 776 apartments (8.9%) were seasonally occupied and 182 apartments (2.1%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 2 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.16%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Bevölkerungsentwicklung nach Region, 1850-2000 accessed 29 January 2011
Heritage sites of national significance
The Mani House and the CERN Archives are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance.
Politics In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 25.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (19.67%), the Green Party (14.62%) and the FDP (9.92%). In the federal election, a total of 4,041 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 42.6%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office, Nationalratswahlen 2007: Stärke der Parteien und Wahlbeteiligung, nach Gemeinden/Bezirk/Canton accessed 28 May 2010
In the 2009 Grand Conseil election, there were a total of 9,517 registered voters of which 3,437 (36.1%) voted. The most popular party in the municipality for this election was the MCG with 21.0% of the ballots. In the canton-wide election they received the third highest proportion of votes. The second most popular party was the Les Socialistes (with 11.4%), they were fourth in the canton-wide election, while the third most popular party was the Les Verts (with 11.3%), they were second in the canton-wide election.Canton of Geneva Statistical Office Election Results from multiple spreadsheets accessed 18 April 2011
For the 2009 Conseil d'Etat election, there were a total of 9,525 registered voters of which 4,070 (42.7%) voted.
In 2011, all the municipalities held local elections, and in Meyrin there were 33 spots open on the municipal council. There were a total of 13,619 registered voters of which 5,043 (37.0%) voted. Out of the 5,043 votes, there were 24 blank votes, 68 null or unreadable votes and 333 votes with a name that was not on the list.
Economy , Meyrin had an unemployment rate of 7%. , there were 50 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 13 businesses involved in this sector. 4,198 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 197 businesses in this sector. 13,422 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 860 businesses in this sector. There were 10,137 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.9% of the workforce.
the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 16,303. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 40, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 4,078 of which 2,991 or (73.3%) were in manufacturing and 1,066 (26.1%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 12,185. In the tertiary sector; 3,671 or 30.1% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 1,984 or 16.3% were in the movement and storage of goods, 1,145 or 9.4% were in a hotel or restaurant, 396 or 3.2% were in the information industry, 366 or 3.0% were the insurance or financial industry, 835 or 6.9% were technical professionals or scientists, 261 or 2.1% were in education and 1,466 or 12.0% were in health care.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Betriebszählung: Arbeitsstätten nach Gemeinde und NOGA 2008 (Abschnitte), Sektoren 1-3 accessed 28 January 2011
, there were 15,939 workers who commuted into the municipality and 7,242 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 2.2 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 13.9% of the workforce coming into Meyrin are coming from outside Switzerland, while 0.2% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 28.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 55.5% used a private car.
Skyguide, the Swiss air traffic control company, has its main office in Meyrin, on the grounds of the airport."14 locations ." Skyguide. Retrieved on 29 September 2009."How to find skyguide in Geneva ." Skyguide. Retrieved on 29 September 2009. EasyJet Switzerland has its head office in Meyrin."World Airline Directory." Flight International. 23–29 March 2004. 66. Club Airways International has its head office on the grounds of Geneva Airport and in Meyrin."About Us." Club Airways International. Retrieved on 6 November 2009. Hewlett-Packard operates its Europe, Middle East, and Africa office in Meyrin."HP Geschäftsstellen." Hewlett-Packard. Retrieved on 29 September 2009."Office Locations." Hewlett-Packard. Retrieved on 22 July 2009.
The Swiss watch and jewellery designer and manufacture Chopard has its global headquarters in Meyrin. It is also where most watches, including lines such as the Mille Miglia and Happy Sporty, are made, as well as jewellery the Palme d'Or for the Cannes Film Festival. The other site, based in Fleurier, produces a lot of the L.U.Chopard watches.
Religion
From the , 7,833 or 40.1% were Roman Catholic, while 2,867 or 14.7% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 281 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.44% of the population), there were 28 individuals (or about 0.14% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 363 individuals (or about 1.86% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 60 individuals (or about 0.31% of the population) who were Jewish, and 1,207 (or about 6.17% of the population) who were Muslim. There were 104 individuals who were Buddhist, 51 individuals who were Hindu and 36 individuals who belonged to another church. 4,186 (or about 21.41% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 2,532 individuals (or about 12.95% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education