Erschmatt 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

Leuk Leuk (french: Loèche-Ville) is a municipality in the district of Leuk in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013, the former municipality of Erschmatt merged into the municipality of Leuk.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 cantons of Switzerland, 26 ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. On 1 January 2013 the former municipality of Erschmatt merged into the municipality of

History

Erschmatt is first mentioned in 1328 as ''Huers''. In 1357 it was mentioned as ''Hoers''.

Geography

Before the merger, Erschmatt had a total area of . Of this area, 37.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 22.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.9% is settled (buildings or roads) and 38.4% is unproductive land. The former municipality is located in the Leuk district, at an elevation of on the Leuker Sonnenbergen mountain. It consists of the village of Erschmatt and the, usually occupied year round, alpine herding settlement of Brentschen 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 vis ...

of the municipal

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

is ''Azure between a Mullet of Six and a Trefoil Argent on a Bend of the same a Sword of Flames Gules hilted Sable in base Coupeaux Vert.''

Demographics

Erschmatt had a population (as of 2010) of 278.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 9 February 2013 , 1.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals.
accessed 19 June 2010 Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of -9%. It has changed at a rate of -2.2% due to migration and at a rate of -4.7% 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 **Ger ...

(299 or 99.0%) as their first language,

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

and Romansh are the next most common (1 or 0.3% each). , the gender distribution of the population was 51.9% male and 48.1% female. The population was made up of 145 Swiss men (49.5% of the population) and 7 (2.4%) non-Swiss men. There were 140 Swiss women (47.8%) and 1 (0.3%) non-Swiss women.Ständige Wohnbevolkerung nach Geschlecht und Heimat am 31.12.2009.xls
accessed 24 August 2011 Of the population in the municipality 198 or about 65.6% were born in Erschmatt and lived there in 2000. There were 75 or 24.8% who were born in the same canton, while 14 or 4.6% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 5 or 1.7% were born outside of Switzerland. The age distribution of the population () is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 24.5% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 53.6% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 21.9%. , there were 125 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 154 married individuals, 18 widows or widowers and 5 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 114 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household. There were 31 households that consist of only one person and 10 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 116 households that answered this question, 26.7% were households made up of just one person and there was 1 adult who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 28 married couples without children, 48 married couples with children There were 2 single parents with a child or children. There were 4 households that were made up of unrelated people and 2 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing. there were 105 single family homes (or 67.3% of the total) out of a total of 156 inhabited buildings. There were 30 multi-family buildings (19.2%), along with 15 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (9.6%) and 6 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (3.8%).Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen
accessed 28 January 2011 , a total of 113 apartments (58.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 63 apartments (32.8%) were seasonally occupied and 16 apartments (8.3%) were empty. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 2.59%. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:1020 height:210 PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:330 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:70 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:14 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1802 from:start till:180 text:"180" bar:1850 from:start till:194 text:"194" bar:1860 from:start till:255 text:"255" bar:1870 from:start till:240 text:"240" bar:1880 from:start till:226 text:"226" bar:1888 from:start till:281 text:"281" bar:1900 from:start till:323 text:"323" bar:1910 from:start till:294 text:"294" bar:1920 from:start till:290 text:"290" bar:1930 from:start till:298 text:"298" bar:1941 from:start till:290 text:"290" bar:1950 from:start till:267 text:"267" bar:1960 from:start till:317 text:"317" bar:1970 from:start till:324 text:"324" bar:1980 from:start till:289 text:"289" bar:1990 from:start till:288 text:"288" bar:2000 from:start till:302 text:"302"

Sights

The entire village of Erschmatt is designated as part of the

Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites The Federal Inventory of Heritage Sites (ISOS) is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage. Sites of national importance Types The types are based on t ...

. In 2013 Herbert Lötscher built the world's first residential Heliodom or sun house concept. The house is designed so that during the winter the large windows allow the sun to heat the entire building, while in the summer they are shaded and cooled. The design allows the Heliodom to consume up to 80% less energy than a comparable standard home. Erschmatt VS 06.JPG, Erschmatt Erschmatt VS 04.JPG, Erschmatt Heliodom erschmatt Switzerland 28.jpg, Heliodom Erschmatt, 04.09.2013 Heliodom erschmatt Switzerland 29.jpg, Heliodom Erschmatt, 07.09.2013

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 i ...

the most popular party was the CVP which received 59.46% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (27.69%), the SVP (11.12%) and the FDP (1.29%). In the federal election, a total of 200 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 Unive ...

was 80.6%. In the 2009 Conseil d'État/Staatsrat election a total of 193 votes were cast, of which 14 or about 7.3% were invalid. The voter participation was 78.8%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 199 votes were cast, of which 6 or about 3.0% were invalid. The voter participation was 81.6%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 59.88%.

Economy

, Erschmatt had an unemployment rate of 1.2%. , there were 26 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 7 businesses involved in this sector. 6 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 construction. ...

and there were 3 businesses in this sector. 20 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 9 businesses in this sector. There were 141 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 38.3% 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 employee, employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often used to me ...

jobs was 34. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 16, of which 5 were in agriculture and 10 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 4 of which 1 was in manufacturing and 2 (50.0%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 14. In the tertiary sector; 3 or 21.4% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 1 was in the movement and storage of goods, 2 or 14.3% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was the insurance or financial industry, 2 or 14.3% were technical professionals or scientists, 2 or 14.3% were in education.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Betriebszählung: Arbeitsstätten nach Gemeinde und NOGA 2008 (Abschnitte), Sektoren 1-3
accessed 28 January 2011 , there were 9 workers who commuted into the municipality and 106 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 11.8 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 22.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 60.3% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 279 or 92.4% 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 lette ...

, while 11 or 3.6% belonged to the

Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), (EKS); french: Église évangélique réformée de Suisse (EERS); it, Chiesa evangelica riformata in Svizzera (CERiS); rm, Baselgia evangelica refurmada da la Svizra (BRRS) formerly named Federation o ...

. 5 (or about 1.66% of the population) belonged to no church, are

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, and 7 individuals (or about 2.32% of the population) did not answer the question. Fronleichnam Erschmatt Wallis 09.JPG, procession "Corpus Christi“ 7.6.2012 Fronleichnam Erschmatt Wallis 06.JPG, procession "Corpus Christi“ 7.6.2012 Fronleichnam Erschmatt Wallis 02.JPG, procession "Corpus Christi“ 2011 Fronleichnam Erschmatt Wallis 01.jpg, procession "Corpus Christi“ 2010 Fronleichnam Erschmatt Wallis 04.JPG, procession "Corpus Christi“ 2012

Education

In Erschmatt about 87 or (28.8%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 12 or (4.0%) 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, t ...

or a ''

Fachhochschule A ''Fachhochschule'' (; plural ''Fachhochschulen''), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts ...

''). Of the 12 who completed tertiary schooling, 75.0% were Swiss men, 25.0% were Swiss women. , there were 9 students in Erschmatt who came from another municipality, while 20 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

References

External links

Official website
* {{Authority control Former municipalities of Valais