Ballens is a municipality in the district of Morges in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.

[3] In the Middle Ages Ballens was the center of a small dominion which was under the control of the Romainmôtier monastery and the lords of Aubonne.

After the collapse of the Ancien régime the village belonged to the canton of Léman from 1798 to 1803 during the Helvetic Republic.

Ballens is located at 707 m (2,320 ft) above mean sea level (AMSL), 11 km (6.84 mi) northwest of the city of Morges (as the crow flies).

It is a scattered village, spread out over a knoll on a plateau at the foot of the Jura Mountains.

The municipality stretches from the foot of the Jura Mountains eastward over the valley lowlands of the Veyron River and the rise that Ballens sits on and then to the dry river valley of Grand Marais in the east.

This wide, flat valley serves as a channel for melt water from the Rhône Glacier, a remnant from the Ice Age.

In the south there is a forest, Le Sépey, which contains, at 729 m (2,392 ft) AMSL, is the highest point in Ballens.

In the far southeast of the municipality there is a part of the forest Les Bougeries (at 704 m (2,310 ft) AMSL).

The hamlet Froidevill (685 m (2,247 ft) AMSL) is a part of Ballens, located on the western edge of the Grand Marais valley.

The municipalities which border Ballens are Bière, Berolle, Mollens, Apples and Yens.

[5] The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Or, on a bend Gules in chef dexter a cross bottony Argent.

[8] The age distribution, as of 2009[update], in Ballens is; 51 children or 11.7% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 51 teenagers or 11.7% are between 10 and 19.

They concentrate mainly on cultivation and cattle breeding, as it pertains to dairy farming.

The number of jobs in the primary sector was 37, of which 31 were in agriculture and 6 were in forestry or lumber production.

In the tertiary sector; 5 or 9.1% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 34 or 61.8% were in the movement and storage of goods, 4 or 7.3% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 3.6% were technical professionals or scientists, 3 or 5.5% were in education.

[9] From the 2000 census[update], 64 or 18.7% were Roman Catholic, while 218 or 63.7% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

In the Vaud cantonal school system, two years of non-obligatory pre-school are provided by the political districts.

The canton's primary school program requires students to attend for four years.

On July 1, 1895, the light railway Chemin de fer Bière-Apples-Morges began service to a station in Ballens.