Val-de-Travers District was one of the six districts of the canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, until the district level was eliminated on 1 January 2018. It is famous for its clock industry. The Canton is largely rural and farming remains important, but it also had significant industry from the 17th century due to the hydro-power available at St Sulpice, and Asphalt was mined from 1711 to 1986 at Travers. It had a population of 11,898.
Municipalities
Between the creation of Val-de-Travers in 2009 and its elimination in 2018, three municipalities made up the district:
Val-de-Travers had a population of 11,898. Most of the population speaks French as their first language, German is the second most common and Italian is the third. There are 7 people who speak Romansh. , the population was 48.7% male and 51.3% female. The population was made up of 4,680 Swiss men and 1,146 non-Swiss men. There were 5,205 Swiss women and 921 non-Swiss women. Of the population in the district, 3,709 or about 30.5% were born in Val-de-Travers and lived there in 2000. There were 3,592 or 29.5% who were born in the same canton, while 1,884 or 15.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 2,441 or 20.1% were born outside of Switzerland. , there were 4,607 people who were single and never married in the district. There were 5,859 married individuals, 1,025 widows or widowers and 683 individuals who are divorced. There were 1,815 households that consist of only one person and 311 households with five or more people. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray id:darkgrey value:gray ImageSize = width:960 height:210 PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:19000 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:4000 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:800 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark: align:center bar:1850 from:start till:11758 text:"11,758" bar:1860 from:start till:14835 text:"14,835" bar:1870 from:start till:15374 text:"15,374" bar:1880 from:start till:16167 text:"16,167" bar:1888 from:start till:16549 text:"16,549" bar:1900 from:start till:17177 text:"17,177" bar:1910 from:start till:18119 text:"18,119" bar:1920 from:start till:17121 text:"17,121" bar:1930 from:start till:15502 text:"15,502" bar:1941 from:start till:13833 text:"13,833" bar:1950 from:start till:13893 text:"13,893" bar:1960 from:start till:14414 text:"14,414" bar:1970 from:start till:13953 text:"13,953" bar:1980 from:start till:11381 text:"11,381" bar:1990 from:start till:12088 text:"12,088" bar:2000 from:start till:12174 text:"12,174"
From the, 5,521 or 45.4% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 3,476 or 28.6% were Roman Catholic. Of the rest of the population, there were 43 members of an Orthodox church, there were 21 individuals who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 801 individuals who belonged to another Christian church. There were 6 individuals who were Jewish, and 287 who were Islamic. There were 5 individuals who were Buddhist, 3 individuals who were Hindu and 23 individuals who belonged to another church. 1,713 belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 669 individuals did not answer the question.
Education
In Val-de-Travers about 4,030 or of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 940 or have completed additional higher education. Of the 940 who completed tertiary schooling, 56.1% were Swiss men, 26.3% were Swiss women, 12.6% were non-Swiss men and 5.1% were non-Swiss women. 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. During the 2010-11 school year, there were 12 kindergarten classes with a total of 220 students in District du Val-de-Travers. In the same year, there were 32 primary classes with a total of 579 students.
