Renens (French pronunciation: [ʁə.n̪ɑ̃] ⓘ) is a municipality in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland.

It is located in the district of Ouest Lausannois, and is a suburb of the city of Lausanne.

[3] It is considered a very multiethnic town, as more than 50% of the inhabitants are resident foreign nationals from about a hundred different countries.

Neolithic tombs (near Bourdonnette) and a necropolis from the High Middle Ages (near Caudrey) have been discovered in the town.

[3] In the Middle Ages Renens was owned by the cathedral chapter of Lausanne which created a prebend there between 1233 and 1303.

In 1555 Claude de Praroman exchanged his old Vuarrens prebend with Bern against that of Renens for which he obtained the lordship rights.

The house he already owned at 'En Plait' becomes his castle (Chateau de Renens).

The castle, sold in 1752 to Jean Pierre Audibert, passed successively to the Doxat, Sandoz, Sauter and Burckhardt families.

[4] Renens was around that time still a small village where a few families owned the countryside: the castle of 'Renens-sur-Roche' (18th century) where the Roëlls, Auberjonois and Guyots succeeded each other, and the 'Ferme des Tilleuls' (Tilia farm), built at the beginning of the 18th century by the Praroman family, where Pierre-Elie Bergier lived.

Renens has an area, as of 2009[update], of 2.96–2.95 square kilometers (1.14–1.14 sq mi) (depending on calculation method).

The Swiss Federal Railway line connects Renens to Lausanne more directly, as well as offering some longer-distance trains.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules, two Pales wavy Argent, Chief of the same.

[10] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) spoke French (13,576 or 73.8%), with Italian being second most common (1,214 or 6.6%) and Portuguese being third (810 or 4.4%).

[10] The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][14] In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SP which received 23.9% of the vote.

[10] There were 9,293 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.5% of the workforce.

In the tertiary sector; 1,795 or 27.8% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 1,452 or 22.5% were in the movement and storage of goods, 244 or 3.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 470 or 7.3% were in the information industry, 735 or 11.4% were the insurance or financial industry, 390 or 6.0% were technical professionals or scientists, 299 or 4.6% were in education and 500 or 7.8% were in health care.

[10] From the 2000 census[update], 8,162 or 44.3% were Roman Catholic, while 3,952 or 21.5% 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.