Lax, Switzerland

Not to be confused with Laax.
Lax
Country Switzerland
Canton Valais
District Goms
Population 287 (Dec 2010)[1]
- Density 57 /km2 (149 /sq mi)
Area  5.02 km2 (1.94 sq mi)[2]
Elevation 1,039 m (3,409 ft)
Postal code 3994
SFOS number 6061
Mayor Paul Imhof
Surrounded by Betten, Ernen, Fiesch, Grengiols, Martisberg
Website www.lax.ch
SFSO statistics
Lax

Lax is a municipality in the district of Goms in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.

Contents

History

Lax is first mentioned in 1295 as Lacx.[3] Lax is next documented as a community named Zend Goms Lax in 1308. The first division of irrigation was in 1347; the current system feeds seven farms around the small town. The first local regulations date from 1436.[4]

Geography

Lax has an area, as of 2011, of 5 square kilometers (1.9 sq mi). Of this area, 37.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 38.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 6.4% is settled (buildings or roads) and 17.6% is unproductive land.[5]

The municipality is located above the Deisch valley on a small plateau on the right bank of the Rhone.

Coat of arms

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure, a mountain fesswise Argent, in chief three pine trees eradicated Vert trunked proper.[6]

Demographics

Lax has a population (as of December 2010) of 287.[1] As of 2008, 13.7% of the population are resident foreign nationals.[7] Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of -4.7%. It has changed at a rate of -9.7% due to migration and at a rate of 3.7% due to births and deaths.[5]

Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (273 or 94.1%) as their first language, Serbo-Croatian is the second most common (12 or 4.1%) and Dutch is the third (2 or 0.7%)., 1 person who speaks Italian.[8]

As of 2008, the gender distribution of the population was 53.9% male and 46.1% female. The population was made up of 137 Swiss men (44.8% of the population) and 28 (9.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 124 Swiss women (40.5%) and 17 (5.6%) non-Swiss women.[9] Of the population in the municipality 140 or about 48.3% were born in Lax and lived there in 2000. There were 89 or 30.7% who were born in the same canton, while 20 or 6.9% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 34 or 11.7% were born outside of Switzerland.[8]

The age distribution of the population (as of 2000) is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 23.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 65.2% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 11.7%.[5]

As of 2000, there were 124 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 144 married individuals, 15 widows or widowers and 7 individuals who are divorced.[8]

As of 2000 the average number of residents per living room was 0.63 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.63 per room.[5] In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics.[10] About 67.6% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage or a rent-to-own agreement).[11]

As of 2000, there were 112 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household.[5] There were 31 households that consist of only one person and 10 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 113 households that answered this question, 27.4% were households made up of just one person. Of the rest of the households, there are 29 married couples without children, 41 married couples with children There were 8 single parents with a child or children. There were 3 households that were made up of unrelated people and 1 household that was made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.[8]

In 2000 there were 64 single family homes (or 38.8% of the total) out of a total of 165 inhabited buildings. There were 81 multi-family buildings (49.1%), along with 13 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (7.9%) and 7 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (4.2%).[12]

In 2000, a total of 111 apartments (29.1% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 128 apartments (33.6%) were seasonally occupied and 142 apartments (37.3%) were empty.[12] As of 2009, the construction rate of new housing units was 3.3 new units per 1000 residents.[5] The vacancy rate for the municipality, in 2010, was 2.31%.[5]

The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][13]

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 63.01% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (16.57%), the SP (13.19%) and the Green Party (3.5%). In the federal election, a total of 129 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 56.3%.[14]

In the 2009 Conseil d'Etat/Staatsrat election a total of 109 votes were cast, of which 7 or about 6.4% were invalid. The voter participation was 50.9%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 54.67%.[15] In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election election a total of 124 votes were cast, of which 7 or about 5.6% were invalid. The voter participation was 55.6%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 59.88%.[16]

Economy

As of 2010, Lax had an unemployment rate of 3%. As of 2008, there were 15 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 8 businesses involved in this sector. 27 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 3 businesses in this sector. 52 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 16 businesses in this sector.[5] There were 163 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 36.8% of the workforce.

In 2008 the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 82. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 9, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 26 of which 5 or (19.2%) were in manufacturing and 21 (80.8%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 47. In the tertiary sector; 10 or 21.3% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 9 or 19.1% were in a hotel or restaurant, 5 or 10.6% were in the information industry, 7 or 14.9% were the insurance or financial industry, 11 or 23.4% were technical professionals or scientists, 1 was in education.[17]

In 2000, there were 46 workers who commuted into the municipality and 94 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.0 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.[18] Of the working population, 13.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 57.7% used a private car.[5]

Religion

The principal landmark is the neo-gothic church of Saint Anne, designed by Antonio Croci, which dates from 1868.

From the 2000 census, 248 or 85.5% were Roman Catholic, while 11 or 3.8% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 14 members of an Orthodox church (or about 4.83% of the population), and there was 1 individual who belongs to another Christian church. There were 7 (or about 2.41% of the population) who were Islamic. 2 (or about 0.69% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 7 individuals (or about 2.41% of the population) did not answer the question.[8]

Education

In Lax about 120 or (41.4%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 24 or (8.3%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 24 who completed tertiary schooling, 95.8% were Swiss men, 4.2% were Swiss women.[8]

As of 2000, there were 8 students in Lax who came from another municipality, while 25 residents attended schools outside the municipality.[18]

References

  1. ^ a b Swiss Federal Statistics Office – STAT-TAB Ständige und Nichtständige Wohnbevölkerung nach Region, Geschlecht, Nationalität und Alter (German) accessed 10 December 2011
  2. ^ Arealstatistik Standard - Gemeindedaten nach 4 Hauptbereichen
  3. ^ a b Lax in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
  4. ^ "Lax Welcome". http://www.lax.ch/. 
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 07-September-2011
  6. ^ Flags of the World.com accessed 07-September-2011
  7. ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Superweb database - Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008 (German) accessed 19 June 2010
  8. ^ a b c d e f STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000 (German) accessed 2 February 2011
  9. ^ Ständige Wohnbevolkerung nach Geschlecht und Heimat am 31.12.2009.xls (German) (French) accessed 24 August 2011
  10. ^ Eurostat. "Housing (SA1)" (pdf). Urban Audit Glossary. 2007. p. 18. http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/en/index/international/22/lexi.Document.116365.pdf. Retrieved 12 February 2010. 
  11. ^ Urban Audit Glossary pg 17
  12. ^ a b Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen (German) accessed 28 January 2011
  13. ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Bevölkerungsentwicklung nach Region, 1850-2000 (German) accessed 29 January 2011
  14. ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office, Nationalratswahlen 2007: Stärke der Parteien und Wahlbeteiligung, nach Gemeinden/Bezirk/Canton (German) accessed 28 May 2010
  15. ^ Staatsratswahlen vom 1. März 2009 (German) accessed 24 August 2011
  16. ^ Ständeratswahl 2007 (German) accessed 24 August 2011
  17. ^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Betriebszählung: Arbeitsstätten nach Gemeinde und NOGA 2008 (Abschnitte), Sektoren 1-3 (German) accessed 28 January 2011
  18. ^ a b Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb (German) accessed 24 June 2010

External links