Soral

Soral is a municipality in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland.

History

Soral is first mentioned in 1236 as Sorraz.

Geography

Soral has an area,, of. Of this area, or 82.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 4.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 12.5% is settled.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 6.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.7%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 2.7% of the area Out of the forested land, 2.7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 62.4% is used for growing crops and 3.7% is pastures, while 16.6% is used for orchards or vine crops.
The municipality is the southernmost municipality of the canton and lies on the Swiss-French border between Saint-Julien-en-Genevois and Viry, both in the Haute-Savoie department.

The municipality of Soral consists of the sub-sections or villages of Plaine-du-Loup, Les Lolliets and Entre-Deux-Vignobles.

Demographics

Nationality

Amount

% total

France

Sights

The entire village of Soral is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

Twin Town

Soral is twinned with the town of Labeaume, France.

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the LPS Party which received 23.15% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP, the Christian [Democratic People's Party of Switzerland|CVP] and the Green Party. In the federal election, a total of 256 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 57.4%.
In the 2009 Grand Conseil election, there were a total of 449 registered voters of which 206 voted. The most popular party in the municipality for this election was the Christian Democratic [People's Party of Switzerland|PDC] with 18.4% of the ballots. In the canton-wide election they received the fifth highest proportion of votes. The second most popular party was the Libéral, they were first in the canton-wide election, while the third most popular party was the MCG, they were also third in the canton-wide election.
For the 2009 Conseil d'Etat election, there were a total of 454 registered voters of which 248 voted.
In 2011, all the municipalities held local elections, and in Soral there were 11 spots open on the municipal council. There were a total of 491 registered voters of which 235 voted. Out of the 235 votes, there were 1 blank votes, 14 votes with a name that was not on the list.

Economy

, Soral had an unemployment rate of 2.4%. , there were 51 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 13 businesses involved in this sector. 3 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 3 businesses in this sector. 51 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 6 businesses in this sector. There were 272 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 41.2% of the workforce.
the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 84. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 36, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 3 of which 1 was in manufacturing and 2 were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 45. In the tertiary sector; 12 or 26.7% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was a technical professional or scientist, 3 or 6.7% were in education and 28 or 62.2% were in health care.
, there were 173 workers who commuted into the municipality and 220 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.3 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 30.6% of the workforce coming into Soral are coming from outside Switzerland, while 0.5% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work. Of the working population, 8.1% used public transportation to get to work, and 72.4% used a private car.

Religion

From the, 313 or 52.4% were Roman Catholic, while 92 or 15.4% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there was 1 member of an Orthodox church, and there were 8 individuals who belonged to another Christian church. There were 3 individuals who were Jewish, and there was 1 individual who was Islamic. 153 belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 26 individuals did not answer the question.

Education

In Soral about 205 or of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 121 or have completed additional higher education. Of the 121 who completed tertiary schooling, 44.6% were Swiss men, 30.6% were Swiss women, 12.4% were non-Swiss men and 12.4% were non-Swiss women.
During the 2009–2010 school year there were a total of 150 students in the Soral school system. The education system in the Canton of Geneva allows young children to attend two years of non-obligatory Kindergarten. During that school year, there were 19 children who were in a pre-kindergarten class. The canton's school system provides two years of non-mandatory kindergarten and requires students to attend six years of primary school, with some of the children attending smaller, specialized classes. In Soral there were 22 students in kindergarten or primary school and 2 students were in the special, smaller classes. The secondary school program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling, followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. There were 22 lower secondary students who attended school in Soral. There were 27 upper secondary students from the municipality along with 2 students who were in a professional, non-university track program. An additional 18 students attended a private school.
, there were 28 students in Soral who came from another municipality, while 94 residents attended schools outside the municipality.