Hérémence

Hérémence

Coat of arms
Hérémence
Coordinates: 46°11′N 7°24′E / 46.183°N 7.400°E / 46.183; 7.400Coordinates: 46°11′N 7°24′E / 46.183°N 7.400°E / 46.183; 7.400
Country Switzerland
Canton Valais
District Hérens
Government
 • Mayor Régis Bovier
Area[1]
 • Total 107.53 km2 (41.52 sq mi)
Elevation 1,237 m (4,058 ft)
Population (Dec 2015[2])
 • Total 1,362
 • Density 13/km2 (33/sq mi)
Postal code 1987
SFOS number 6084
Surrounded by Bagnes, Evolène, Nendaz, Saint-Martin, Vex
Website www.heremence.ch
SFSO statistics

Hérémence is a municipality in the district of Hérens in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.

History

Hérémence is first mentioned in 1195 as Aremens.[3]

Geography

Hotel du Barrage and Dixence valley below the La Grande Dixence dam

Hérémence has an area, as of 2011, of 107.6 square kilometers (41.5 sq mi). Of this area, 18.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 18.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.9% is settled (buildings or roads) and 61.3% is unproductive land.[4]

The municipality is located in the Hérens district, on the left side of the Borgne and the Dixence rivers. The village of Hérémence is at the confluence of the two rivers. It includes the entire Dixence valley, which is one of the side valleys off the main Rhone valley. It consists of the village of Hérémence and the hamlets of Ayer, Euseigne, Mâche, Pralong, Riod and Cerise.

Coat of arms

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules, a Mullet Argent.[5]

Demographics

Hérémence at night

Hérémence has a population (as of December 2015) of 1,362.[2] As of 2008, 5.7% of the population are resident foreign nationals.[6] Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of -0.5%. It has changed at a rate of 7.4% due to migration and at a rate of -5.4% due to births and deaths.[4]

Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks French (1,262 or 97.5%) as their first language, German is the second most common (18 or 1.4%) and Portuguese is the third (7 or 0.5%). There are 4 people who speak Italian.[7]

As of 2008, the gender distribution of the population was 49.6% male and 50.4% female. The population was made up of 613 Swiss men (46.5% of the population) and 41 (3.1%) non-Swiss men. There were 629 Swiss women (47.7%) and 36 (2.7%) non-Swiss women.[8] Of the population in the municipality 228 or about 17.6% were born in Hérémence and lived there in 2000. There were 32 or 2.5% who were born in the same canton, while 14 or 1.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 27 or 2.1% were born outside of Switzerland.[7]

The age distribution of the population (as of 2000) is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 20.2% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 59.2% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 20.6%.[4]

As of 2000, there were 548 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 644 married individuals, 83 widows or widowers and 19 individuals who are divorced.[7]

As of 2000, there were 450 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household.[4] There were 144 households that consist of only one person and 52 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 523 households that answered this question, 27.5% were households made up of just one person and there were 13 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 134 married couples without children, 126 married couples with children There were 20 single parents with a child or children. There were 13 households that were made up of unrelated people and 73 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.[7]

In 2000 there were 149 single family homes (or 42.3% of the total) out of a total of 352 inhabited buildings. There were 179 multi-family buildings (50.9%), along with 17 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (4.8%) and 7 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (2.0%).[9]

In 2000, a total of 450 apartments (63.8% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 161 apartments (22.8%) were seasonally occupied and 94 apartments (13.3%) were empty.[9] As of 2009, the construction rate of new housing units was 9.9 new units per 1000 residents.[4] The vacancy rate for the municipality, in 2010, was 0.48%.[4]

The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][10]

Heritage sites of national significance

The Catholic Church, the aux Fées cave, and the La Grande Dixence dam are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The village of Hérémence and the hamlet of Mâche / Mâchette are both part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.[11]

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 56.8% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (23.33%), the SP (8.98%) and the FDP (4.57%). In the federal election, a total of 802 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 71.3%.[12]

In the 2009 Conseil d'Etat/Staatsrat election a total of 754 votes were cast, of which 45 or about 6.0% were invalid. The voter participation was 68.2%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 54.67%.[13] In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 794 votes were cast, of which 38 or about 4.8% were invalid. The voter participation was 72.6%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 59.88%.[14]

Economy

As of 2010, Hérémence had an unemployment rate of 2.6%. As of 2008, there were 50 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 29 businesses involved in this sector. 192 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 13 businesses in this sector. 164 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 39 businesses in this sector.[4] There were 576 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.9% of the workforce.

In 2008 the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 323. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 24, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 182 of which 50 or (27.5%) were in manufacturing and 131 (72.0%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 117. In the tertiary sector; 12 or 10.3% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 15 or 12.8% were in the movement and storage of goods, 29 or 24.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was the insurance or financial industry, 2 or 1.7% were technical professionals or scientists, 25 or 21.4% were in education and 8 or 6.8% were in health care.[15]

In 2000, there were 89 workers who commuted into the municipality and 338 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 3.8 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.[16] Of the working population, 14.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 52.3% used a private car.[4]

Religion

St. Jean chapel below the Grande Dixence dam

From the 2000 census, 1,239 or 95.7% were Roman Catholic, while 40 or 3.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there was 1 member of an Orthodox church, and there was 1 individual who belongs to another Christian church. 4 (or about 0.31% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 9 individuals (or about 0.70% of the population) did not answer the question.[7]

Weather

Hérémence has an average of 99.8 days of rain or snow per year and on average receives 776 mm (30.6 in) of precipitation. The wettest month is June during which time Hérémence receives an average of 78 mm (3.1 in) of rain or snow. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 10.1 days. The driest month of the year is April with an average of 51 mm (2.0 in) of precipitation over 7.7 days.[17]

Education

In Hérémence about 6 or (0.5%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 6 or (0.5%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 6 who completed tertiary schooling, 66.7% were Swiss men, 33.3% were Swiss women.[7]

As of 2000, there were 146 students in Hérémence who came from another municipality, while 35 residents attended schools outside the municipality.[16]

Hérémence is home to the Bibliothèque communale et scolaire library. The library has (as of 2008) 5,335 books or other media, and loaned out 2,156 items in the same year. It was open a total of 300 days with average of 7 hours per week during that year.[18]

Literature

References

  1. ↑ Arealstatistik Standard - Gemeindedaten nach 4 Hauptbereichen
  2. 1 2 Swiss Federal Statistical Office - STAT-TAB, online database – Ständige und nichtständige Wohnbevölkerung nach institutionellen Gliederungen, Geburtsort und Staatsangehörigkeit (German) accessed 30 August 2016
  3. 1 2 Hérémence in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 08-September-2011 Archived 5 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ "Hérémence commune (Valais/Wallis canton, Switzerland)". Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  6. ↑ Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Superweb database - Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008 (German) accessed 19 June 2010
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000 Archived 9 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine. (German) accessed 2 February 2011
  8. ↑ Ständige Wohnbevolkerung nach Geschlecht und Heimat am 31.12.2009.xls (German) (French) accessed 24 August 2011
  9. 1 2 Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen Archived 7 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine. (German) accessed 28 January 2011
  10. ↑ Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Bevölkerungsentwicklung nach Region, 1850-2000 Archived 30 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine. (German) accessed 29 January 2011
  11. ↑ "Kantonsliste A-Objekte". KGS Inventar (in German). Federal Office of Civil Protection. 2009. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  12. ↑ Swiss Federal Statistical Office, Nationalratswahlen 2007: Stärke der Parteien und Wahlbeteiligung, nach Gemeinden/Bezirk/Canton (German) accessed 28 May 2010
  13. ↑ Staatsratswahlen vom 1. März 2009 (German) accessed 24 August 2011
  14. ↑ Ständeratswahl 2007 (German) accessed 24 August 2011
  15. ↑ Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Betriebszählung: Arbeitsstätten nach Gemeinde und NOGA 2008 (Abschnitte), Sektoren 1-3 Archived 25 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine. (German) accessed 28 January 2011
  16. 1 2 Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb (German) accessed 24 June 2010
  17. ↑ "Temperature and Precipitation Average Values-Table, 1961-1990" (in German, French, and Italian). Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology - MeteoSwiss. Retrieved 8 May 2009., the Hérémence weather station elevation is 1238 meters above sea level.
  18. ↑ Swiss Federal Statistical Office, list of libraries (German) accessed 14 May 2010
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