Baltschieder
Encyclopedia
Baltschieder is a municipality
in the district of Visp in the canton
of Valais
in Switzerland
.
The municipality is located in the Visp district, at the end of the Baltschieder valley.
The proposed merger of the municipalities of Eggerberg
, Ausserberg
, Bürchen
, Baltschieder, Visp
and Visperterminen
was rejected by the residents.
of the municipal coat of arms
is Or, a Lion rampant Sable langued and armed Gules.
Most of the population speaks German
(1,020 or 97.1%) as their first language, French
is the second most common (7 or 0.7%) and Albanian
is the third (7 or 0.7%). There are 6 people who speak Italian
.
, the population was 50.9% male and 49.1% female. The population was made up of 570 Swiss men (47.5% of the population) and 41 (3.4%) non-Swiss men. There were 555 Swiss women (46.3%) and 34 (2.8%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 455 or about 43.3% were born in Baltschieder and lived there in 2000. There were 464 or 44.2% who were born in the same canton, while 79 or 7.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 44 or 4.2% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0-19 years old) make up 31.6% of the population, while adults (20-64 years old) make up 59.9% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 8.5%.
, there were 434 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 552 married individuals, 42 widows or widowers and 22 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 377 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.8 persons per household. There were 75 households that consist of only one person and 40 households with five or more people. , a total of 370 apartments (99.5% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 2 apartments (0.5%) were seasonally occupied. , the construction rate of new housing units was 7.5 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.23%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
the most popular party was the CVP
which received 58.15% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP
(23.11%), the SVP
(14.66%) and the FDP
(3.03%). In the federal election, a total of 493 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 58.5%.
In the 2009 Conseil d'Etat/Staatsrat
election a total of 428 votes were cast, of which 11 or about 2.6% were invalid. The voter participation was 49.1%, which is much less than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election
election a total of 493 votes were cast, of which 11 or about 2.2% were invalid. The voter participation was 58.5%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 59.88%.
the total number of full-time equivalent
jobs was 60. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 11, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 12 of which 11 or (91.7%) were in manufacturing and 1 was in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 37. In the tertiary sector; 8 or 21.6% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 3 or 8.1% were in the movement and storage of goods, 6 or 16.2% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was a technical professional or scientist, 10 or 27.0% were in education.
, there were 29 workers who commuted into the municipality and 421 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 14.5 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 13.9% used public transportation to get to work, and 62% used a private car.
. Of the rest of the population, there were 46 individuals (or about 4.38% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 12 (or about 1.14% of the population) who were Islam
ic. 8 (or about 0.76% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 21 individuals (or about 2.00% of the population) did not answer the question.
). Of the 96 who completed tertiary schooling, 79.2% were Swiss men, 16.7% were Swiss women.
During the 2010-2011 school year there were a total of 125 students in the Baltschieder school system. The education system
in the Canton of Valais allows young children to attend one year of non-obligatory Kindergarten
. During that school year, there 2 kindergarten classes (KG1 or KG2) and 26 kindergarten students. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of primary school. In Baltschieder there were a total of 7 classes and 125 students in the primary school. The secondary school
program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling (orientation classes), followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. All the lower and upper secondary students from Baltschieder attend their school in a neighboring municipality.
, there were 84 students from Baltschieder 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 Visp 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
Baltschieder is first mentioned in 1224 as Ponczirrum. In 1286 it was mentioned as Balschyedro.Geography
Baltschieder has an area, , of 31.4 square kilometre. Of this area, 10.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 3.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and 85.0% is unproductive land.The municipality is located in the Visp district, at the end of the Baltschieder valley.
The proposed merger of the municipalities of Eggerberg
Eggerberg
Eggerberg is a municipality in the district of Brig in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.-Geography:Eggerberg has an area, , of . Of this area, 15.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 56.4% is forested...
, Ausserberg
Ausserberg
Ausserberg is a municipality in the district of Raron in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.-History:Ausserberg is first mentioned in 1378 as Leucrun. In 1401 it was mentioned as mons episcopi and in 1523 it was mons exterior.-Geography:...
, Bürchen
Bürchen
Bürchen is a municipality in the district of Raron in the German speaking part of the canton of Valais in Switzerland.-History:...
, Baltschieder, Visp
Visp
Visp is the capital of the district of Visp in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.-Geography:Visp has an area, , of . Of this area, 17.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 59.7% is forested...
and Visperterminen
Visperterminen
Visperterminen is a municipality in the district of Visp in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.-History:Visperterminen is first mentioned in the 11th Century as Termenum. In 1221 it was mentioned as Terminum.-Geography:...
was rejected by the residents.
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 Or, a Lion rampant Sable langued and armed Gules.
Demographics
Baltschieder has a population of . , 4.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010 ) the population has changed at a rate of 9.3%. It has changed at a rate of 3.2% due to migration and at a rate of 6.9% 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....
(1,020 or 97.1%) as their first language, 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 second most common (7 or 0.7%) and Albanian
Albanian language
Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...
is the third (7 or 0.7%). There are 6 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...
.
, the population was 50.9% male and 49.1% female. The population was made up of 570 Swiss men (47.5% of the population) and 41 (3.4%) non-Swiss men. There were 555 Swiss women (46.3%) and 34 (2.8%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 455 or about 43.3% were born in Baltschieder and lived there in 2000. There were 464 or 44.2% who were born in the same canton, while 79 or 7.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 44 or 4.2% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0-19 years old) make up 31.6% of the population, while adults (20-64 years old) make up 59.9% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 8.5%.
, there were 434 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 552 married individuals, 42 widows or widowers and 22 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 377 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.8 persons per household. There were 75 households that consist of only one person and 40 households with five or more people. , a total of 370 apartments (99.5% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 2 apartments (0.5%) were seasonally occupied. , the construction rate of new housing units was 7.5 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.23%.
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 58.15% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
(23.11%), 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...
(14.66%) 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....
(3.03%). In the federal election, a total of 493 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 58.5%.
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 428 votes were cast, of which 11 or about 2.6% were invalid. The voter participation was 49.1%, which is much less 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 493 votes were cast, of which 11 or about 2.2% were invalid. The voter participation was 58.5%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 59.88%.
Economy
, Baltschieder had an unemployment rate of 1.4%. , there were 26 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 13 businesses involved in this sector. 13 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 5 businesses in this sector. 50 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 16 businesses in this sector. There were 490 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 37.8% 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 60. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 11, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 12 of which 11 or (91.7%) were in manufacturing and 1 was in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 37. In the tertiary sector; 8 or 21.6% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 3 or 8.1% were in the movement and storage of goods, 6 or 16.2% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was a technical professional or scientist, 10 or 27.0% were in education.
, there were 29 workers who commuted into the municipality and 421 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 14.5 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 13.9% used public transportation to get to work, and 62% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 952 or 90.7% were Roman Catholic, while 34 or 3.2% 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...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 46 individuals (or about 4.38% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 12 (or about 1.14% 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. 8 (or about 0.76% 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 21 individuals (or about 2.00% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
In Baltschieder about 378 or (36.0%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 96 or (9.1%) 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 96 who completed tertiary schooling, 79.2% were Swiss men, 16.7% were Swiss women.
During the 2010-2011 school year there were a total of 125 students in the Baltschieder school system. The education system
Education in Switzerland
The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system mainly to the cantons...
in the Canton of Valais allows young children to attend one year of non-obligatory Kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
. During that school year, there 2 kindergarten classes (KG1 or KG2) and 26 kindergarten students. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of primary school. In Baltschieder there were a total of 7 classes and 125 students in the primary school. The secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling (orientation classes), followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. All the lower and upper secondary students from Baltschieder attend their school in a neighboring municipality.
, there were 84 students from Baltschieder who attended schools outside the municipality.