Épalinges (; ) is a municipality in the district of Lausanne in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.
It is a suburb of the city of Lausanne.
History
Épalinges is first mentioned in 1182 as de Spanengis.
Geography
Épalinges has an area, , of . Of this area, or 18.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 25.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 56.7% is settled (buildings or roads).
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 42.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 8.3%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.3% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 3.5%. Out of the forested land, 24.1% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.5% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 10.7% is used for growing crops and 6.8% is pastures, while 1.3% is used for orchards or vine crops.
The municipality was part of the Lausanne District until it was dissolved on 31 August 2006, and Épalinges became part of the new district of Lausanne.
The municipality is surrounded by Lausanne. It consists of the villages of Épalinges-Village, Les Croisettes, La Croix-Blanche and multiple hamlets.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per fess Argent and Gules, a Gander Sable lined of the first and beaked of the second overall.
Demographics
People from Épalinges are known as Palinsards.
Épalinges has a population () of . , 23.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009) the population has changed at a rate of 12.4%. It has changed at a rate of 7.6% due to migration and at a rate of 5.2% due to births and deaths.
Most of the population () speaks French (6,386 or 85.0%), with German being second most common (410 or 5.5%) and English being third (149 or 2.0%). There are 148 people who speak Italian and 5 people who speak Romansh.
Of the population in the municipality 1,190 or about 15.8% were born in Épalinges and lived there in 2000. There were 2,824 or 37.6% who were born in the same canton, while 1,358 or 18.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 1,971 or 26.2% were born outside of Switzerland.
In there were 44 live births to Swiss citizens and 26 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 35 deaths of Swiss citizens and 4 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 9 while the foreign population increased by 22. There were 4 Swiss men who immigrated back to Switzerland and 7 Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there were 51 non-Swiss men and 45 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 99 and the non-Swiss population increased by 111 people. This represents a population growth rate of 2.6%.
The age distribution, , in Épalinges is; 953 children or 11.4% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 1,072 teenagers or 12.8% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 1,043 people or 12.5% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 1,086 people or 13.0% are between 30 and 39, 1,295 people or 15.5% are between 40 and 49, and 1,078 people or 12.9% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 910 people or 10.9% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 595 people or 7.1% are between 70 and 79, there are 271 people or 3.2% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 43 people or 0.5% who are 90 and older.
, there were 3,114 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 3,680 married individuals, 333 widows or widowers and 389 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 3,160 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household. There were 983 households that consist of only one person and 183 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 3,216 households that answered this question, 30.6% were households made up of just one person and there were 11 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 888 married couples without children, 1,032 married couples with children. There were 194 single parents with a child or children. There were 52 households that were made up of unrelated people and 56 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.