Betten is a former

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the district of

Raron Raron (french: Rarogne) is a municipality in the district of Raron in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. History Raron is first mentioned around 1101–1200 as ''Rarogni''. In 1146 it was mentioned as ''Rarun''. A settlement on the Heidnisch ...

in the canton of

Valais Valais ( , , ; frp, Valês; german: Wallis ), more formally the Canton of Valais,; german: Kanton Wallis; in other official Swiss languages outside Valais: it, (Canton) Vallese ; rm, (Chantun) Vallais. is one of the 26 cantons forming the S ...

in Switzerland. On 1 January 2014 the former municipalities of Betten and Martisberg merged into the new municipality of

Bettmeralp Bettmeralp is a municipality in the district of Raron in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. On 1 January 2014 the former municipalities of Betten and Martisberg merged into the municipality of Bettmeralp.Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
Retrieved 13 December 2014

History

Betten is first mentioned in 1243 as ''Bettan''.

Geography

Before the merger, Betten had a total area of . Of this area, 15.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 12.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.3% is settled (buildings or roads) and 70.8% is unproductive land. The former municipality is located in the Östlich-Raron district, on a south facing terrace at an elevation of . It consists of the main village of Betten, the village of Egga and the Bettmeralp alpine settlement at an elevation of .

Coat of arms

The

blazon 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. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The vi ...

of the municipal

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

is ''Tierced per mantle, Or a Fish sautant Azure above a base wavy Azure, in dexter Gules issuant from a base invected a Tree Vert trunked Proper, in sinister Azure issuant from a base invected a Chapel Argent roofed, doored and windowed Sable.''

Demographics

Betten had a population (as of 2011) of 420.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
Retrieved 23 January 2014 , 7.6% of the population are resident foreign nationals.
Retrieved 19 June 2010 Over the last 10 years (2000–2010 ) the population has changed at a rate of -11.6%. It has changed at a rate of -16.6% due to migration and at a rate of -2% due to births and deaths. Most of the population () speaks

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

(433 or 96.4%) as their first language,

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia an ...

is the second most common (5 or 1.1%) and French is the third (4 or 0.9%). There is 1 person who speaks

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

. , the population was made up of 367 Swiss citizens and 30 non-citizen residents (7.56% of the population). Of the population in the municipality, 272 or about 60.6% were born in Betten and lived there in 2000. There were 79 or 17.6% who were born in the same canton, while 53 or 11.8% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 25 or 5.6% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 18% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 66.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 15.8%. , there were 197 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 215 married individuals, 29 widows or widowers and 8 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 – 2000
Retrieved 2 February 2011 , there were 180 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. There were 54 households that consist of only one person and 12 households with five or more people. , a total of 172 apartments (16.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 742 apartments (72.1%) were seasonally occupied and 115 apartments (11.2%) were empty.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB – Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 – Gebäude und Wohnungen
Retrieved 28 January 2011 , the construction rate of new housing units was 17.7 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.26%. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:960 height:210 PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:500 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:100 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:20 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1850 from:start till:294 text:"294" bar:1860 from:start till:342 text:"342" bar:1870 from:start till:332 text:"332" bar:1880 from:start till:350 text:"350" bar:1888 from:start till:325 text:"325" bar:1900 from:start till:311 text:"311" bar:1910 from:start till:316 text:"316" bar:1920 from:start till:307 text:"307" bar:1930 from:start till:287 text:"287" bar:1941 from:start till:315 text:"315" bar:1950 from:start till:373 text:"373" bar:1960 from:start till:382 text:"382" bar:1970 from:start till:411 text:"411" bar:1980 from:start till:494 text:"494" bar:1990 from:start till:444 text:"444" bar:2000 from:start till:449 text:"449"

Sights

The entire hamlet of Eggen is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

Politics

In the

2007 federal election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not ...

the most popular party was the CVP which received 67.27% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (16.11%), the SP (8.06%) and the FDP (6.14%). In the federal election, a total of 148 votes were cast, and the

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Univ ...

was 43.1%. In the 2009 Conseil d'État/Staatsrat election a total of 135 votes were cast, of which 23 or about 17.0% were invalid. The voter participation was 41.5%, which is much less than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 147 votes were cast, of which 3 or about 2.0% were invalid. The voter participation was 43.6%, which is much less than the cantonal average of 59.88%.

Economy

, Betten had an unemployment rate of 0.3%. , there were 23 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 13 businesses involved in this sector. 22 people were employed in the

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructi ...

and there were 7 businesses in this sector. 312 people were employed in the

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...

, with 47 businesses in this sector. There were 266 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 41.0% of the workforce. the total number of

full-time equivalent Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit that indicates the workload of an employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often used to measure a ...

jobs was 301. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 10, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 18 of which 4 or (22.2%) were in manufacturing and 13 (72.2%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 273. In the tertiary sector; 50 or 18.3% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 76 or 27.8% were in the movement and storage of goods, 120 or 44.0% were in a hotel or restaurant, 4 or 1.5% were the insurance or financial industry, 2 or 0.7% were technical professionals or scientists, 2 or 0.7% were in education and 3 or 1.1% were in health care. , there were 81 workers who commuted into the municipality and 39 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 2.1 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 4.9% of the workforce coming into Betten are coming from outside Switzerland.Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Statweb
Retrieved 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 20.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 9.4% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 378 or 84.2% were

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

, while 24 or 5.3% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 15 members of an Orthodox church (or about 3.34% of the population), and there were 12 individuals (or about 2.67% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 3 (or about 0.67% of the population) who were Islamic. 8 (or about 1.78% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 15 individuals (or about 3.34% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Betten about 181 or (40.3%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 22 or (4.9%) have completed additional higher education (either

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

or a '' Fachhochschule''). Of the 22 who completed tertiary schooling, 77.3% were Swiss men, 18.2% were Swiss women. During the 2010–2011 school year there were a total of 17 students in the Betten school system. The

education system The educational system generally refers to the structure of all institutions and the opportunities for obtaining education within a country. It includes all pre-school institutions, starting from family education, and/or early childhood education ...

in the Canton of Valais allows young children to attend one year of non-obligatory

Kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th ce ...

. During that school year, there was one kindergarten class (KG1 or KG2) and 3 kindergarten students. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

. In Betten there were a total of 2 classes and 17 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 Betten attend their school in a neighboring municipality.Obligatorische Schulzeit
Retrieved 24 August 2011 , there were 21 students from Betten who attended schools outside the municipality.

References

External links

Official website
* {{Authority control Former municipalities of Valais