Fieschertal
Encyclopedia
Fieschertal is a municipality
in the district of Goms in the canton
of Valais
in Switzerland
.
The municipality is located in the Weisswasser valley. It includes the Fiescher glacier, the Märjelen lake and the Jungfraujoch
. It consists of the village of Fieschertal and a number of hamlets
(including Wichul, Zer Flie and Wirbul).
of the municipal coat of arms
is Per fess Or a rose Gules slipped and leaved Vert centered of the first and Vert on a pile chevronny Azure and Argent a pallet wavy of the last.
Most of the population speaks German
(251 or 98.4%) as their first language, Dutch
is the second most common (2 or 0.8%) and French
is the third (1 or 0.4%). There is 1 person who speaks Italian
.
, the gender distribution of the population was 50.3% male and 49.7% female. The population was made up of 134 Swiss men (46.2% of the population) and 12 (4.1%) non-Swiss men. There were 133 Swiss women (45.9%) and 11 (3.8%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 157 or about 61.6% were born in Fieschertal and lived there in 2000. There were 66 or 25.9% who were born in the same canton, while 15 or 5.9% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 10 or 3.9% were born outside of Switzerland.
The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 25.5% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 58% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16.5%.
, there were 116 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 115 married individuals, 22 widows or widowers and 2 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.68 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.63 per room. 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. About 80.6% 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).
, there were 94 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.7 persons per household. There were 23 households that consist of only one person and 10 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 95 households that answered this question, 24.2% were households made up of just one person and there were 2 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 25 married couples without children, 38 married couples with children There were 5 single parents with a child or children. There was 1 household that was made up of unrelated people and 1 household that was made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 76 single family homes (or 57.1% of the total) out of a total of 133 inhabited buildings. There were 44 multi-family buildings (33.1%), along with 4 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (3.0%) and 9 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (6.8%).
, a total of 93 apartments (44.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 91 apartments (43.8%) were seasonally occupied and 24 apartments (11.5%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.4 new units per 1000 residents.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
the most popular party was the CVP
which received 51.42% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP
(29.67%), the SP
(13.31%) and the FDP
(3.46%). In the federal election, a total of 149 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 66.2%.
In the 2009 Conseil d'Etat/Staatsrat
election a total of 171 votes were cast, of which 9 or about 5.3% were invalid. The voter participation was 75.7%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election
election a total of 148 votes were cast, of which 8 or about 5.4% were invalid. The voter participation was 66.4%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 59.88%.
the total number of full-time equivalent
jobs was 255. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 17, of which 8 were in agriculture and 9 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 108 of which 21 or (19.4%) were in manufacturing and 87 (80.6%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 130. In the tertiary sector; 4 or 3.1% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 54 or 41.5% were in the movement and storage of goods, 63 or 48.5% were in a hotel or restaurant, 3 or 2.3% were technical professionals or scientists, 2 or 1.5% were in education.
, there were 80 workers who commuted into the municipality and 86 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.1 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 15.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 56% used a private car.
. 3 (or about 1.18% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 8 individuals (or about 3.14% of the population) did not answer the question.
. The wettest month is October during which time Fieschertal receives an average of 98 mm (3.9 in) of rain or snow. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 7.4 days. The month with the most days of precipitation is May, with an average of 10.1, but with only 95 mm (3.7 in) of rain or snow. The driest month of the year is July with an average of 57 mm (2.2 in) of precipitation over 8.2 days.
). Of the 11 who completed tertiary schooling, 81.8% were Swiss men, 0.0% were Swiss women.
, there were 37 students from Fieschertal who attended schools outside the municipality.
Municipalities of Switzerland
Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...
in the district of Goms in the canton
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
of Valais
Valais
The Valais is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland in the southwestern part of the country, around the valley of the Rhône from its headwaters to Lake Geneva, separating the Pennine Alps from the Bernese Alps. The canton is one of the drier parts of Switzerland in its central Rhône valley...
in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
Geography
Fieschertal has an area, , of 173 square kilometre. Of this area, 3.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 2.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and 94.7% is unproductive land.The municipality is located in the Weisswasser valley. It includes the Fiescher glacier, the Märjelen lake and the Jungfraujoch
Jungfraujoch
The Jungfraujoch is a col or saddle between the Mönch and the Jungfrau in the Bernese Alps on the boundary between the cantons of Bern and Valais, inside the Jungfrau-Aletsch Protected Area....
. It consists of the village of Fieschertal and a number of hamlets
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
(including Wichul, Zer Flie and Wirbul).
Coat of arms
The blazonBlazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...
of the municipal coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
is Per fess Or a rose Gules slipped and leaved Vert centered of the first and Vert on a pile chevronny Azure and Argent a pallet wavy of the last.
Demographics
Fieschertal has a population of . , 4.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 7%. It has changed at a rate of 4.1% due to migration and at a rate of -1.5% due to births and deaths.Most of the population speaks German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
(251 or 98.4%) as their first language, Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
is the second most common (2 or 0.8%) and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
is the third (1 or 0.4%). There is 1 person who speaks Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
.
, the gender distribution of the population was 50.3% male and 49.7% female. The population was made up of 134 Swiss men (46.2% of the population) and 12 (4.1%) non-Swiss men. There were 133 Swiss women (45.9%) and 11 (3.8%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 157 or about 61.6% were born in Fieschertal and lived there in 2000. There were 66 or 25.9% who were born in the same canton, while 15 or 5.9% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 10 or 3.9% were born outside of Switzerland.
The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 25.5% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 58% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16.5%.
, there were 116 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 115 married individuals, 22 widows or widowers and 2 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.68 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.63 per room. 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. About 80.6% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...
or a rent-to-own agreement).
, there were 94 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.7 persons per household. There were 23 households that consist of only one person and 10 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 95 households that answered this question, 24.2% were households made up of just one person and there were 2 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 25 married couples without children, 38 married couples with children There were 5 single parents with a child or children. There was 1 household that was made up of unrelated people and 1 household that was made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 76 single family homes (or 57.1% of the total) out of a total of 133 inhabited buildings. There were 44 multi-family buildings (33.1%), along with 4 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (3.0%) and 9 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (6.8%).
, a total of 93 apartments (44.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 91 apartments (43.8%) were seasonally occupied and 24 apartments (11.5%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.4 new units per 1000 residents.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Politics
In the 2007 federal electionSwiss federal election, 2007
Elections to the Swiss Federal Assembly, the federal parliament of Switzerland, were held on Sunday, 21 October 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, and 25 November 2007...
the most popular party was the CVP
Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland
The Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland is a Christian democratic political party in Switzerland. It is the fourth-largest party in the National Council, with 31 seats, and the largest in the Council of States, with 15 seats. It has one seat, that of Doris Leuthard, on the Swiss...
which received 51.42% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP
Swiss People's Party
The Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...
(29.67%), the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
(13.31%) and the FDP
FDP.The Liberals
FDP.The Liberals is a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It is the joint-largest party in the Federal Council, third-largest party in the National Council, and second-largest in the Council of States....
(3.46%). In the federal election, a total of 149 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
Voter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...
was 66.2%.
In the 2009 Conseil d'Etat/Staatsrat
Conseil d'Etat (Switzerland)
In Switzerland, Conseil d'Etat is the name of the council constituting the cantonal government of French-speaking cantons. It is not to be confused with the Conseil des États which is a chamber of the Swiss parliament....
election a total of 171 votes were cast, of which 9 or about 5.3% were invalid. The voter participation was 75.7%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election
Swiss Council of States election, 2007
Elections were held to the Council of States of Switzerland in October and November 2007 as part of the 2007 federal election. All 46 members of the Council of States were elected from all cantons of Switzerland. The first round was held on 21 October...
election a total of 148 votes were cast, of which 8 or about 5.4% were invalid. The voter participation was 66.4%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 59.88%.
Economy
, Fieschertal had an unemployment rate of 2.8%. , there were 27 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 13 businesses involved in this sector. 110 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 5 businesses in this sector. 136 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 11 businesses in this sector. There were 134 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.3% of the workforce.the total number of full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent , is a unit to measure employed persons or students in a way that makes them comparable although they may work or study a different number of hours per week. FTE is often used to measure a worker's involvement in a project, or to track cost reductions in an organization...
jobs was 255. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 17, of which 8 were in agriculture and 9 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 108 of which 21 or (19.4%) were in manufacturing and 87 (80.6%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 130. In the tertiary sector; 4 or 3.1% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 54 or 41.5% were in the movement and storage of goods, 63 or 48.5% were in a hotel or restaurant, 3 or 2.3% were technical professionals or scientists, 2 or 1.5% were in education.
, there were 80 workers who commuted into the municipality and 86 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.1 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 15.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 56% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 240 or 94.1% were Roman Catholic, while 4 or 1.6% belonged to the Swiss Reformed ChurchSwiss Reformed Church
The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...
. 3 (or about 1.18% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....
or atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
, and 8 individuals (or about 3.14% of the population) did not answer the question.
Weather
Fieschertal has an average of 98.9 days of rain or snow per year and on average receives 923 mm (36.3 in) of precipitationPrecipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
. The wettest month is October during which time Fieschertal receives an average of 98 mm (3.9 in) of rain or snow. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 7.4 days. The month with the most days of precipitation is May, with an average of 10.1, but with only 95 mm (3.7 in) of rain or snow. The driest month of the year is July with an average of 57 mm (2.2 in) of precipitation over 8.2 days.
Education
In Fieschertal about 95 or (37.3%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 11 or (4.3%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a FachhochschuleFachhochschule
A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...
). Of the 11 who completed tertiary schooling, 81.8% were Swiss men, 0.0% were Swiss women.
, there were 37 students from Fieschertal who attended schools outside the municipality.