Demographics
La Chaux-de-Fonds has a population (as of December 2011) of 37,843. As of 2008, 29.1% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010 ) the population has changed at a rate of 1.3%. It has changed at a rate of 1.4% due to migration and at a rate of -0.2% due to births and deaths.
Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks French (31,653 or 85.5%) as their first language, Italian is the second most common (1,335 or 3.6%) and Portuguese is the third (1,173 or 3.2%). There are 900 people who speak German and 32 people who speak Romansh.
As of 2008, the population was 48.0% male and 52.0% female. The population was made up of 12,444 Swiss men (33.2% of the population) and 5,578 (14.9%) non-Swiss men. There were 14,513 Swiss women (38.7%) and 4,988 (13.3%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 15,164 or about 41.0% were born in La Chaux-de-Fonds and lived there in 2000. There were 3,778 or 10.2% who were born in the same canton, while 6,962 or 18.8% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 9,651 or 26.1% were born outside of Switzerland.
As of 2000, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 22.5% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 58.9% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 18.6%.
As of 2000, there were 14,380 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 17,285 married individuals, 2,573 widows or widowers and 2,778 individuals who are divorced.
As of 2000, there were 17,207 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.1 persons per household. There were 7,087 households that consist of only one person and 747 households with five or more people. In 2000, a total of 16,833 apartments (88.8% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 1,376 apartments (7.3%) were seasonally occupied and 756 apartments (4.0%) were empty. As of 2009, the construction rate of new housing units was 1 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, in 2010, was 2.05%.
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