Cheiry (; , locally ) is a former municipality in the district of Broye in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. On 1 January 2021 the former municipality of Cheiry merged into the municipality of Surpierre.
History
Cheiry is first mentioned around 1184-85 as Chirie. Its territory was enlarged in 2005 with the formerly independent municipality Chapelle. On 5 October 1994, 23 members of the cult the Order of the Solar Temple were found in dead in the farm La Rochette in Cheiry.
Geography
Cheiry had an area, , of . Of this area, or 65.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 27.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 6.9% is settled (buildings or roads) and or 0.3% is unproductive land.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.4%. Out of the forested land, 24.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 42.7% is used for growing crops and 22.4% is pastures.
The former municipality is located in the Broye district, in the Surpierre exclave.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per fess, Or a Semi-Eagle displayed issuant Gules, and Azure three Plates.
Demographics
Cheiry had a population (as of 2019) of 390. , 2.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 4.6%. Migration accounted for 8.9%, while births and deaths accounted for -0.9%.
Most of the population () speaks French (244 or 91.4%) as their first language, German is the second most common (11 or 4.1%) and English is the third (5 or 1.9%).
, the population was 51.1% male and 48.9% female. The population was made up of 179 Swiss men (49.2% of the population) and 7 (1.9%) non-Swiss men. There were 172 Swiss women (47.3%) and 6 (1.6%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 106 or about 39.7% were born in Cheiry and lived there in 2000. There were 52 or 19.5% who were born in the same canton, while 77 or 28.8% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 24 or 9.0% were born outside of Switzerland.
The age distribution, , in Cheiry is; 42 children or 12.7% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 55 teenagers or 16.6% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 31 people or 9.4% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 54 people or 16.3% are between 30 and 39, 53 people or 16.0% are between 40 and 49, and 27 people or 8.2% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 26 people or 7.9% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 30 people or 9.1% are between 70 and 79, there are 11 people or 3.3% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 2 people or 0.6% who are 90 and older.
, there were 106 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 137 married individuals, 16 widows or widowers and 8 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 119 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.7 persons per household. There were 22 households that consist of only one person and 7 households with five or more people. , a total of 94 apartments (87.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 8 apartments (7.5%) were seasonally occupied and 5 apartments (4.7%) were empty.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Heritage sites of national significance
The Granary at Route Du Centre 21 A is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.
Politics
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 32.8% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (31.4%), the SP (22.7%) and the FDP (6.9%).
The SVP received about the same percentage of the vote as they did in the 2007 Federal election (31.9% in 2007 vs 32.8% in 2011). The CVP increased in popularity (26.0% in 2007), the SPS increased in popularity (15.8% in 2007) and the FDP increased in popularity (14.8% in 2007). A total of 120 votes were cast in this election, of which 1 or 0.8% was invalid.
Economy
, Cheiry had an unemployment rate of 2.1%. , there were 51 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 16 businesses involved in this sector. 7 people were employed in the secondary sector and there was 1 business in this sector. 19 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 8 businesses in this sector. There were 125 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 44.0% of the workforce.