Blatten
| Blatten | ||||||||||
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| Population | 307 (Dec 2010)[1] | |||||||||
| - Density | 3 /km2 (9 /sq mi) | |||||||||
| Area | 90.65 km2 (35.00 sq mi)[2] | |||||||||
| Elevation | 1,542 m (5,059 ft) | |||||||||
| Postal code | 3919 | |||||||||
| SFOS number | 6192 | |||||||||
| Mayor | Lukas Kalbermatten | |||||||||
| Surrounded by | Baltschieder, Fieschertal, Kandersteg (BE), Lauterbrunnen (BE), Naters, Raron, Wiler (Lötschen) | |||||||||
| Website | Blatten.ch SFSO statistics |
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Blatten
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Map of Blatten
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Blatten is a municipality in the district of Westlich Raron in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.
Contents |
History
Blatten is first mentioned in 1433 as uffen der Blattun.[3]
Geography
Blatten has an area, as of 2011[update], of 90.7 square kilometers (35.0 sq mi). Of this area, 9.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 9.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.4% is settled (buildings or roads) and 81.1% is unproductive land.[4]
It lies in the Lötschental valley south of the Bernese Alps. The municipality is located in the Westlich Raron district, in the upper most Lötschen valley at an elevation of 1,540 m (5,050 ft). It consists of the village of Blatten and the hamlets of Eisten, Ried and Weissenried.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure, a rocky Mountain Argent issuant from the flank dexter and from the point, per bendwise and in chief sinister a Cross bottony of the same.[5]
Demographics
Blatten has a population (as of December 2010[update]) of 307.[1] As of 2008[update], 2.5% of the population are resident foreign nationals.[6] Over the last 10 years (2000–2010 ) the population has changed at a rate of 0%. It has changed at a rate of 2.9% due to migration and at a rate of -1.6% due to births and deaths.[4]
Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (280 or 99.6%) as their first language with the rest speaking English[7]
As of 2008[update], the population was 51.9% male and 48.1% female. The population was made up of 158 Swiss men (50.3% of the population) and 5 (1.6%) non-Swiss men. There were 147 Swiss women (46.8%) and 4 (1.3%) non-Swiss women.[8] Of the population in the municipality, 224 or about 79.7% were born in Blatten and lived there in 2000. There were 36 or 12.8% who were born in the same canton, while 19 or 6.8% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 1 or 0.4% were born outside of Switzerland.[7]
As of 2000[update], children and teenagers (0-19 years old) make up 17.8% of the population, while adults (20-64 years old) make up 56.2% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 26%.[4]
As of 2000[update], there were 115 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 136 married individuals, 29 widows or widowers and 1 individuals who are divorced.[7]
As of 2000[update], there were 114 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household.[4] There were 35 households that consist of only one person and 10 households with five or more people. In 2000[update], a total of 113 apartments (42.0% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 133 apartments (49.4%) were seasonally occupied and 23 apartments (8.6%) were empty.[9] As of 2009[update], the construction rate of new housing units was 12.7 new units per 1000 residents.[4] The vacancy rate for the municipality, in 2010[update], was 1.98%.[4]
The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][10] 
Sights
The entire village of Blatten and the hamlets of Eisten and Weissenried are designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites[11]
Politics
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 74.87% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (11.66%), the SVP (10.46%) and the FDP (1.97%). In the federal election, a total of 182 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 68.9%.[12]
In the 2009 Conseil d'Etat/Staatsrat election a total of 191 votes were cast, of which 13 or about 6.8% were invalid. The voter participation was 80.3%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 54.67%.[13] In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election election a total of 179 votes were cast, of which 11 or about 6.1% were invalid. The voter participation was 70.5%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 59.88%.[14]
Economy
As of 2010[update], Blatten had an unemployment rate of 1.1%. As of 2008[update], there were 35 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 15 businesses involved in this sector. 2 people were employed in the secondary sector and there was 1 business in this sector. 82 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 16 businesses in this sector.[4] There were 127 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 30.7% of the workforce.
In 2008[update] the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 74. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 14, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 2, all of which were in manufacturing. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 58. In the tertiary sector; 6 or 10.3% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 1 was in the movement and storage of goods, 43 or 74.1% were in a hotel or restaurant and 1 was the insurance or financial industry.[15]
In 2000[update], there were 11 workers who commuted into the municipality and 81 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 7.4 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.[16] Of the working population, 22% used public transportation to get to work, and 48% used a private car.[4]
Religion
From the 2000 census[update], 276 or 98.2% were Roman Catholic, while or 0.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. 2 (or about 0.71% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 3 individuals (or about 1.07% of the population) did not answer the question.[7]
Education
In Blatten about 101 or (35.9%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 7 or (2.5%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 7 who completed tertiary schooling, all were Swiss men.[7] As of 2000[update], there were 26 students from Blatten who attended schools outside the municipality.[16]
Weather
| Climate data for Blatten, Lötschental | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 1.2 (34.2) |
3.1 (37.6) |
5.4 (41.7) |
8.4 (47.1) |
13 (55) |
16.9 (62.4) |
20.1 (68.2) |
19.1 (66.4) |
16.8 (62.2) |
12.7 (54.9) |
6.1 (43.0) |
1.5 (34.7) |
10.4 (50.7) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −6.4 (20.5) |
−5.1 (22.8) |
−2.3 (27.9) |
1.6 (34.9) |
6.3 (43.3) |
9.7 (49.5) |
12.3 (54.1) |
11.3 (52.3) |
8.6 (47.5) |
4.2 (39.6) |
−1.4 (29.5) |
−5.3 (22.5) |
2.8 (37.0) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −7.7 (18.1) |
−7.5 (18.5) |
−5.1 (22.8) |
−1.7 (28.9) |
2.4 (36.3) |
5.1 (41.2) |
7.2 (45.0) |
6.9 (44.4) |
5 (41) |
1.9 (35.4) |
−3.3 (26.1) |
−6.6 (20.1) |
−0.3 (31.5) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 106 (4.17) |
107 (4.21) |
101 (3.98) |
69 (2.72) |
76 (2.99) |
88 (3.46) |
82 (3.23) |
93 (3.66) |
59 (2.32) |
89 (3.5) |
105 (4.13) |
117 (4.61) |
1,091 (42.95) |
| Avg. precipitation days | 11 | 9.5 | 10.8 | 9.5 | 11.1 | 11 | 10.8 | 11.3 | 7.6 | 8.3 | 9.4 | 10.4 | 120.7 |
| Source: MeteoSchweiz [17] | |||||||||||||
References
- ^ a b Swiss Federal Statistics Office – STAT-TAB Ständige und Nichtständige Wohnbevölkerung nach Region, Geschlecht, Nationalität und Alter (German) accessed 10 December 2011
- ^ Arealstatistik Standard - Gemeindedaten nach 4 Hauptbereichen
- ^ a b Blatten in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 05-October-2011
- ^ Flags of the World.com accessed 05-October-2011
- ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Superweb database - Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008 (German) accessed 19 June 2010
- ^ a b c d e STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000 (German) accessed 2 February 2011
- ^ Ständige Wohnbevolkerung nach Geschlecht und Heimat am 31.12.2009.xls (German) (French) accessed 24 August 2011
- ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen (German) accessed 28 January 2011
- ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Bevölkerungsentwicklung nach Region, 1850-2000 (German) accessed 29 January 2011
- ^ "Kantonsliste A-Objekte" (in German). KGS Inventar. Federal Office of Civil Protection. 2009. http://www.bevoelkerungsschutz.admin.ch/internet/bs/de/home/themen/kgs/kgs_inventar/a-objekte.html. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
- ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office, Nationalratswahlen 2007: Stärke der Parteien und Wahlbeteiligung, nach Gemeinden/Bezirk/Canton (German) accessed 28 May 2010
- ^ Staatsratswahlen vom 1. März 2009 (German) accessed 24 August 2011
- ^ Ständeratswahl 2007 (German) accessed 24 August 2011
- ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Betriebszählung: Arbeitsstätten nach Gemeinde und NOGA 2008 (Abschnitte), Sektoren 1-3 (German) accessed 28 January 2011
- ^ a b Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb (German) accessed 24 June 2010
- ^ "Average Values-Table, 1961-1990" (in German, French, Italian). Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss. http://www.meteoswiss.admin.ch/web/de/klima/klima_schweiz/tabellen.html. Retrieved 8 May 2009.
External links
- Blatten in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
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