Riddes
Encyclopedia
Riddes is a municipality
in the district of Martigny in the canton
of Valais
in Switzerland
.
The municipality is located in the Martigny district, on the left bank of the Rhone
. It consists of the village of Riddes, the hamlet
of Auddes, and the vacation resorts of La Tzoumaz
in Mayens-de-Riddes and Ecône
.
of the municipal coat of arms
is Trierced per pale wavy Azure a wheat ear Or in chief two Mullets of Five Argent, Argent a bridge masoned towered Sable and Gules a Grille Or.
Most of the population speaks French
(1,945 or 88.5%) as their first language, Portuguese
is the second most common (106 or 4.8%) and German
is the third (72 or 3.3%). There are 33 people who speak Italian
and 2 people who speak Romansh.
, the population was 51.6% male and 48.4% female. The population was made up of 983 Swiss men (37.2% of the population) and 380 (14.4%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,007 Swiss women (38.1%) and 273 (10.3%) non-Swiss women.
Of the population in the municipality, 925 or about 42.1% were born in Riddes and lived there in 2000. There were 654 or 29.8% who were born in the same canton, while 178 or 8.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 354 or 16.1% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 22.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 61.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16.6%. , there were 912 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,007 married individuals, 166 widows or widowers and 112 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 831 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. There were 256 households that consist of only one person and 66 households with five or more people. , a total of 817 apartments (49.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 721 apartments (43.5%) were seasonally occupied and 118 apartments (7.1%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.11%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
the most popular party was the FDP
which received 30.97% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP
(20.01%), the CVP
(17.66%) and the SP
(17.43%). In the federal election, a total of 1,008 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 66.1%.
In the 2009 Conseil d'Etat/Staatsrat
election a total of 916 votes were cast, of which 34 or about 3.7% were invalid. The voter participation was 59.6%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election
election a total of 1,003 votes were cast, of which 62 or about 6.2% were invalid. The voter participation was 66.3%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 59.88%.
the total number of full-time equivalent
jobs was 807. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 93, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 272 of which 148 or (54.4%) were in manufacturing and 69 (25.4%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 442. In the tertiary sector; 177 or 40.0% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 12 or 2.7% were in the movement and storage of goods, 43 or 9.7% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was in the information industry, 15 or 3.4% were the insurance or financial industry, 29 or 6.6% were technical professionals or scientists, 11 or 2.5% were in education and 81 or 18.3% were in health care.
, there were 324 workers who commuted into the municipality and 522 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.6 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 12.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 63.9% used a private car.
From the , 1,910 or 86.9% were Roman Catholic, while 98 or 4.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
. Of the rest of the population, there was 1 member of an Orthodox church
, and there were 9 individuals (or about 0.41% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish
, and 18 (or about 0.82% of the population) who were Islam
ic. There were 2 individuals who were Buddhist
and 4 individuals who belonged to another church. 64 (or about 2.91% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 93 individuals (or about 4.23% of the population) did not answer the question.
The International Seminary of Saint Pius X, the premier seminary
of the Society of Saint Pius X, is located in Ecône in Riddle. It is one of the six houses for formation for the future priests of The Society of Saint Pius X. The Seminary of Écône was founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, and his tomb can be found there.
). Of the 143 who completed tertiary schooling, 60.1% were Swiss men, 21.0% were Swiss women, 15.4% were non-Swiss men and 3.5% were non-Swiss women.
, there were 75 students in Riddes who came from another municipality, while 113 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
Riddes is home to the Bibliothèque communale et scolaire library. The library has 6,867 books or other media, and loaned out 8,328 items in the same year. It was open a total of 160 days with average of 8 hours per week during that year.
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 Martigny 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....
.
History
Riddes is first mentioned in 1001 as Ride. It was previously known its German name Riden, though that is not used anymore.Geography
Riddes has an area, , of 23.9 square kilometre. Of this area, 37.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 37.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 9.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and 16.4% is unproductive land.The municipality is located in the Martigny district, on the left bank of the Rhone
Rhône
Rhone can refer to:* Rhone, one of the major rivers of Europe, running through Switzerland and France* Rhône Glacier, the source of the Rhone River and one of the primary contributors to Lake Geneva in the far eastern end of the canton of Valais in Switzerland...
. It consists of the village of Riddes, the hamlet
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...
of Auddes, and the vacation resorts of La Tzoumaz
La Tzoumaz
La Tzoumaz is a ski resort in the Swiss Alps, in the canton of Valais. It is part of the "Four Valleys" ski area, which consists of various ski resorts, including Verbier, Nendaz, Veysonnaz, La Tzoumaz, and Thyon. As such it has direct access to over 400 km of runs...
in Mayens-de-Riddes and Ecône
Ecône
Écône is an area in the municipality of Riddes, district of Martigny, in the canton of Valais, in Switzerland. It is the location of The International Seminary of Saint Pius X.-External links:*...
.
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 Trierced per pale wavy Azure a wheat ear Or in chief two Mullets of Five Argent, Argent a bridge masoned towered Sable and Gules a Grille Or.
Demographics
Riddes has a population of . , 24.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010 ) the population has changed at a rate of 25.4%. It has changed at a rate of 18.1% due to migration and at a rate of 1.5% due to births and deaths.Most of the population speaks 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...
(1,945 or 88.5%) as their first language, Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
is the second most common (106 or 4.8%) and 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....
is the third (72 or 3.3%). There are 33 people who speak 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...
and 2 people who speak Romansh.
, the population was 51.6% male and 48.4% female. The population was made up of 983 Swiss men (37.2% of the population) and 380 (14.4%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,007 Swiss women (38.1%) and 273 (10.3%) non-Swiss women.
Of the population in the municipality, 925 or about 42.1% were born in Riddes and lived there in 2000. There were 654 or 29.8% who were born in the same canton, while 178 or 8.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 354 or 16.1% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 22.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 61.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16.6%. , there were 912 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,007 married individuals, 166 widows or widowers and 112 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 831 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. There were 256 households that consist of only one person and 66 households with five or more people. , a total of 817 apartments (49.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 721 apartments (43.5%) were seasonally occupied and 118 apartments (7.1%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.11%.
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 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....
which received 30.97% 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...
(20.01%), 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...
(17.66%) and the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
(17.43%). In the federal election, a total of 1,008 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 66.1%.
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 916 votes were cast, of which 34 or about 3.7% were invalid. The voter participation was 59.6%, which is similar to 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 1,003 votes were cast, of which 62 or about 6.2% were invalid. The voter participation was 66.3%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 59.88%.
Economy
, Riddes had an unemployment rate of 6.6%. , there were 140 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 49 businesses involved in this sector. 288 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 26 businesses in this sector. 567 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 86 businesses in this sector. There were 1,023 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 41.3% 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 807. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 93, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 272 of which 148 or (54.4%) were in manufacturing and 69 (25.4%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 442. In the tertiary sector; 177 or 40.0% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 12 or 2.7% were in the movement and storage of goods, 43 or 9.7% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was in the information industry, 15 or 3.4% were the insurance or financial industry, 29 or 6.6% were technical professionals or scientists, 11 or 2.5% were in education and 81 or 18.3% were in health care.
, there were 324 workers who commuted into the municipality and 522 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.6 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 12.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 63.9% used a private car.
Religion
Swiss 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...
. Of the rest of the population, there was 1 member of an Orthodox church
Orthodox Christianity
The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...
, and there were 9 individuals (or about 0.41% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, and 18 (or about 0.82% of the population) who were Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic. There were 2 individuals who were Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and 4 individuals who belonged to another church. 64 (or about 2.91% 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 93 individuals (or about 4.23% of the population) did not answer the question.
The International Seminary of Saint Pius X, the premier seminary
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
of the Society of Saint Pius X, is located in Ecône in Riddle. It is one of the six houses for formation for the future priests of The Society of Saint Pius X. The Seminary of Écône was founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, and his tomb can be found there.
Education
In Riddes about 676 or (30.8%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 143 or (6.5%) 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 143 who completed tertiary schooling, 60.1% were Swiss men, 21.0% were Swiss women, 15.4% were non-Swiss men and 3.5% were non-Swiss women.
, there were 75 students in Riddes who came from another municipality, while 113 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
Riddes is home to the Bibliothèque communale et scolaire library. The library has 6,867 books or other media, and loaned out 8,328 items in the same year. It was open a total of 160 days with average of 8 hours per week during that year.