Hérens (district)

Hérens
District d'Hérens
—  District  —
Country  Switzerland
Canton  Valais
Capital Evolène
Area
 • Total 443.5 km2 (171.2 sq mi)
Population (2010)
 • Total 10,363
 • Density 23.4/km2 (60.5/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Municipalities 7

The district of Hérens is a district in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a population of 10,363 (as of 31 December 2010).[1]

Contents

Geography

Except for the municipality of Ayent, which lies on the north bank of the Rhône, the municipalities of Hérens are located in the Val d'Hérens on the south bank of the Rhône.

Municipalities

It comprises the following municipalities:

Municipality Population
(31 December 2010)[1]		 Area
km²[2]
Ayent 3,606 55.13
Evolène 1,683 209.94
Hérémence 1,379 107.53
Les Agettes 328 5.09
Mont-Noble 891 43.0
Saint-Martin 890 37.02
Vex 1,586 12.99
Total 10,363 470.73

Coat of arms

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure, on three mounts Vert a Ram passant Argent horned Or between two Mullets Or in chief.[3]

Demographics

Hérens has a population (as of December 2010) of 10,363.[1] Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks French (8,582 or 95.0%) as their first language, German is the second most common (203 or 2.2%) and Portuguese is the third (100 or 1.1%). There are 40 people who speak Italian and 1 person who speaks Romansh.[4]

As of 2008, the gender distribution of the population was 49.3% male and 50.7% female. The population was made up of 4,578 Swiss men (44.7% of the population) and 467 (4.6%) non-Swiss men. There were 4,748 Swiss women (46.4%) and 442 (4.3%) non-Swiss women.[5] Of the population in the district 5,042 or about 55.8% were born in Hérens and lived there in 2000. There were 1,210 or 13.4% who were born in the same canton, while 781 or 8.6% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 707 or 7.8% were born outside of Switzerland.[4]

As of 2000, there were 3,544 people who were single and never married in the district. There were 4,616 married individuals, 625 widows or widowers and 244 individuals who are divorced.[4]

There were 1,031 households that consist of only one person and 265 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 3,703 households that answered this question, 27.8% were households made up of just one person and there were 80 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 1,014 married couples without children, 1,189 married couples with children There were 161 single parents with a child or children. There were 66 households that were made up of unrelated people and 162 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.[4][6]

The historical population is given in the following chart:[7]

Mergers and name changes

On 1 January 2011 the former municipalities of Vernamiège, Nax and Mase merged to form the new municipality of Mont-Noble.[8]

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 47.67% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (17.26%), the SVP (15.57%) and the FDP (11.21%). In the federal election, a total of 5,651 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 71.8%.[9]

In the 2009 Conseil d'Etat/Staatsrat election a total of 5,035 votes were cast, of which 245 or about 4.9% were invalid. The voter participation was 65.0%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 54.67%.[10] In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election election a total of 5,571 votes were cast, of which 285 or about 5.1% were invalid. The voter participation was 72.4%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 59.88%.[11]

Religion

From the 2000 census, 7,939 or 87.9% were Roman Catholic, while 363 or 4.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 23 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.25% of the population), there was 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 34 individuals (or about 0.38% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 3 individuals (or about 0.03% of the population) who were Jewish, and 15 (or about 0.17% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 4 individuals who were Buddhist, 1 person who was Hindu and 5 individuals who belonged to another church. 313 (or about 3.47% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 339 individuals (or about 3.75% of the population) did not answer the question.[4]

Education

In Hérens about 2,559 or (28.3%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 710 or (7.9%) have completed additional higher education (either University or a Fachhochschule). Of the 710 who completed tertiary schooling, 58.3% were Swiss men, 28.0% were Swiss women, 6.8% were non-Swiss men and 6.9% were non-Swiss women.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c Swiss Federal Statistics Office – STAT-TAB Ständige und Nichtständige Wohnbevölkerung nach Region, Geschlecht, Nationalität und Alter (German) accessed 10 December 2011
  2. ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics 2009 data (German) accessed 25 March 2010
  3. ^ Flags of the World.com accessed 24-August-2011
  4. ^ a b c d e f STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000 (German) accessed 2 February 2011
  5. ^ Ständige Wohnbevolkerung nach Geschlecht und Heimat am 31.12.2009.xls (German) (French) accessed 24 August 2011
  6. ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen (German) accessed 28 January 2011
  7. ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Bevölkerungsentwicklung nach Region, 1850-2000 (German) accessed 29 January 2011
  8. ^ Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz (German) accessed 4 April 2011
  9. ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office, Nationalratswahlen 2007: Stärke der Parteien und Wahlbeteiligung, nach Gemeinden/Bezirk/Canton (German) accessed 28 May 2010
  10. ^ Staatsratswahlen vom 1. März 2009 (German) accessed 24 August 2011
  11. ^ Ständeratswahl 2007 (German) accessed 24 August 2011