Sottens is a former municipality in the district of Gros-de-Vaud in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.
It is known for its radio transmitter for the French language Swiss radio, built in 1931.
The municipalities of Villars-Tiercelin, Montaubion-Chardonney, Sottens, Villars-Mendraz and Peney-le-Jorat merged on 1 July 2011 into the new municipality of Jorat-Menthue.
History
Sottens is first mentioned in 1147 as Sotens.
Geography
Sottens has an area, , of . Of this area, or 65.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 29.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 6.0% is settled (buildings or roads).
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.6%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 47.5% is used for growing crops and 17.4% is pastures.
The municipality was part of the Moudon District until it was dissolved on 31 August 2006, and Sottens became part of the new district of Gros-de-Vaud.
The former municipality is located in the Gros-de-Vaud, auf einem Plateau des Jorat zwischen Echallens und Moudon gelegen district. It consists of the village of Sottens and the hamlets of Bez. Gros-de-Vaud, auf einem Plateau des Jorat zwischen Echallens und Moudon gelegen..
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per pale Gules and Vert, overall a Bar wavy Argent surrounded with seven Mullets of Five Or four and three.
Demographics
Sottens has a population () of 257. , 9.1% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999-2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 20.7%. It has changed at a rate of 15.5% due to migration and at a rate of 4.7% due to births and deaths.
Most of the population () speaks French (180 or 85.7%), with German being second most common (15 or 7.1%) and Portuguese being third (12 or 5.7%). There is 1 person who speaks Italian.
Of the population in the municipality 63 or about 30.0% were born in Sottens and lived there in 2000. There were 79 or 37.6% who were born in the same canton, while 31 or 14.8% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 34 or 16.2% were born outside of Switzerland.
In there were 4 live births to Swiss citizens and were 2 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 2 while the foreign population remained the same. At the same time, there was 1 non-Swiss man who emigrated from Switzerland to another country. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 8 and the non-Swiss population decreased by 3 people. This represents a population growth rate of 2.2%.
The age distribution, , in Sottens is; 34 children or 13.2% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 31 teenagers or 12.1% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 22 people or 8.6% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 51 people or 19.8% are between 30 and 39, 41 people or 16.0% are between 40 and 49, and 32 people or 12.5% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 27 people or 10.5% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 15 people or 5.8% are between 70 and 79, there are 3 people or 1.2% who are between 80 and 89, and there is 1 person who is 90 and older.
, there were 87 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 102 married individuals, 8 widows or widowers and 13 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.57 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.61 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 45% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage or a rent-to-own agreement).
, there were 84 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.5 persons per household. There were 22 households that consist of only one person and 5 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 84 households that answered this question, 26.2% were households made up of just one person. Of the rest of the households, there are 25 married couples without children, 34 married couples with children There were 2 single parents with a child or children. There was 1 household that was made up of unrelated people.