La Brévine

In the 17th century, La Brévine was used to refer to just the village. It was not until the 18th century that it came to mean the entire municipality. The hamlet of Bémont is first mentioned in 1266 as Bemont, and Les Taillères was first mentioned in 1304 as Chaul de Estaleres.[3]

Farm houses in the Vallée de la Brévine

Aerial view (1950)

La Brévine has an area, as of 2009, of 41.8 square kilometers (16.1 sq mi). Of this area, 22.41 km² (8.65 sq mi) or 53.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 17.76 km² (6.86 sq mi) or 42.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.97 km² (0.37 sq mi) or 2.3% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.42 km² (0.16 sq mi) or 1.0% is either rivers or lakes and 0.4 km² (0.15 sq mi) or 1.0% is unproductive land.[4]

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 1.3% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.9%. Out of the forested land, 37.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 4.9% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.3% is used for growing crops and 32.9% is pastures and 20.4% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is in lakes.[4]

The municipality was located in the district of Le Locle, until the district level was eliminated on 1 January 2018.[5] It is near the French border. It consists of the village of La Brévine (elevation 1,046 m [3,432 ft]) and the hamlets of Le Brouillet, Bémont, Les Taillères and La Châtagne as well as scattered farm houses.

The largest lake in the valley, the Lac des Taillères, is located 2 km (1.2 mi) from the village. The highest point of the valley, the Crêt du Cervelet, is located 3 km (1.9 mi) from the village

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure bordered Or, a Fountain Argent.[6]

La Brévine has a population (as of December 2019) of 622.[7] As of 2008, 3.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals.[8] Over the last 10 years (2000–2010 ) the population has changed at a rate of -0.1%. It has changed at a rate of -0.4% due to migration and at a rate of 1% due to births and deaths.[9]

Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks French (616 or 95.2%) as their first language, German is the second most common (22 or 3.4%) and Portuguese is the third (4 or 0.6%). There is 1 person who speaks Italian and 1 person who speaks Romansh.[10]

As of 2008, the population was 48.9% male and 51.1% female. The population was made up of 308 Swiss men (47.0% of the population) and 12 (1.8%) non-Swiss men. There were 324 Swiss women (49.5%) and 11 (1.7%) non-Swiss women.[11] Of the population in the municipality, 326 or about 50.4% were born in La Brévine and lived there in 2000. There were 169 or 26.1% who were born in the same canton, while 85 or 13.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 28 or 4.3% were born outside of Switzerland.[10]

As of 2000, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 27.5% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 56.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16.4%.[9]

As of 2000, there were 252 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 332 married individuals, 36 widows or widowers and 27 individuals who are divorced.[10]

As of 2000, there were 249 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household.[9] There were 66 households that consist of only one person and 30 households with five or more people. In 2000, a total of 244 apartments (72.4% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 65 apartments (19.3%) were seasonally occupied and 28 apartments (8.3%) were empty.[12]

The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][13]

Maison double (double house) or La Grosse Maison

The Double House is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.[14]

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 38.69% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the LPS Party (21.44%), the FDP (14.57%) and the SP (10.17%). In the federal election, a total of 298 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 54.3%.[15]

As of  2010, La Brévine had an unemployment rate of 1.1%. As of 2008, there were 157 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 61 businesses involved in this sector. 60 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 13 businesses in this sector. 105 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 35 businesses in this sector.[9] There were 315 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 41.6% of the workforce.

In 2008 the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 258. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 121, of which 118 were in agriculture and 4 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 57 of which 28 or (49.1%) were in manufacturing and 28 (49.1%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 80. In the tertiary sector; 28 or 35.0% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 16 or 20.0% were in the movement and storage of goods, 17 or 21.3% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was the insurance or financial industry, 3 or 3.8% were technical professionals or scientists, 8 or 10.0% were in education.[16]

In 2000, there were 68 workers who commuted into the municipality and 109 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.6 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 20.6% of the workforce coming into La Brévine are coming from outside Switzerland.[17] Of the working population, 3.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 42.2% used a private car.[9]

From the 2000 census, 107 or 16.5% were Roman Catholic, while 447 or 69.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 13 individuals (or about 2.01% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. 47 (or about 7.26% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 39 individuals (or about 6.03% of the population) did not answer the question.[10]

Weather station with the church in winter

La Brévine is known as the «Siberia of Switzerland» on account of its climatic extremes. In fact, the valley's microclimate is often much colder than other nearby locations. On 12 January 1987, the local weather station recorded a temperature of −41.8 °C (−43.2 °F), the coldest ever recorded in Switzerland.[3] In comparison, the hottest temperature ever measured in Switzerland was 41.5 °C (106.7 °F) in Grono. La Brévine is often considered (wrongly) the coldest inhabited place in the country, although many towns in the high Alps, notably St. Moritz, experience a much colder climate in general. Officially, the coldest place in Switzerland is the Jungfraujoch.[18] Juf, as the highest village in the country, is probably the (or one of the) coldest inhabited place(s) in Switzerland.

La Brévine has a borderline subarctic climate (Dfc) with mild, rainy summers and cold, snowy winters. Between 1961 and 1990 La Brévine had an average of 155.7 days of rain or snow per year and on average received 1,633 mm (64.3 in) of precipitation. The wettest month was December during which time La Brévine received an average of 157 mm (6.2 in) of rain or snow. During this month there was precipitation for an average of 14.1 days. The month with the most days of precipitation was May, with an average of 15.9, but with only 142 mm (5.6 in) of rain or snow. The driest month of the year was October with an average of 108 mm (4.3 in) of precipitation over 10.7 days.[19]

In La Brévine about 191 or (29.5%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 43 or (6.6%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 43 who completed tertiary schooling, 62.8% were Swiss men, 32.6% were Swiss women.[10]

In the canton of Neuchâtel most municipalities provide two years of non-mandatory kindergarten, followed by five years of mandatory primary education. The next four years of mandatory secondary education is provided at thirteen larger secondary schools, which many students travel out of their home municipality to attend.[21] During the 2010-11 school year, there was one kindergarten class with a total of 11 students in La Brévine. In the same year, there were 2 primary classes with a total of 40 students.[22]

As of 2000, there were 18 students in La Brévine who came from another municipality, while 30 residents attended schools outside the municipality.[17]

Media related to La Brévine at Wikimedia Commons

• La Brévine in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.