Evionnaz is a
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
Saint-Maurice 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.
History
Evionnaz is first mentioned in 1263 as ''Eviona''. It became an independent municipality in 1822, when it separated from Saint-Maurice.
[
]
Geography
Evionnaz has an area, , of . Of this area, 12.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 19.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.0% is settled (buildings or roads) and 66.8% is unproductive land.[
The municipality is located in the Saint-Maurice district. The large district stretches from the left bank of the Rhone river over to the ]Dents-du-Midi
The Dents du Midi (French: "teeth of noon") are a three-kilometre-long mountain range in the Chablais Alps in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. Overlooking the Val d'Illiez and the Rhône valley to the south, they face the Lac de Salanfe, an ...
mountains. It consists of the village of Evionnaz and the hamlets
A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...
of La Balmaz and La Rasse.
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 ''Azure City Walls embattled Argent with entrance towered and embattled and with a window Sable, in chief three Barrulets wavy of the second.''
Demographics
Evionnaz has a population () of . , 14.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Superweb database - Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008]
accessed 19 June 2010 Over the last 10 years (2000–2010 ) the population has changed at a rate of 7.4%. It has changed at a rate of 10.5% due to migration and at a rate of 3% due to births and deaths.
accessed 21-September-2011
Most of the population () speaks French (850 or 91.4%) as their first language, Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
is the second most common (31 or 3.3%) and 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 ...
is the third (12 or 1.3%). There are 12 people who speak 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 51.1% male and 48.9% female. The population was made up of 462 Swiss men (43.5% of the population) and 81 (7.6%) non-Swiss men. There were 450 Swiss women (42.4%) and 69 (6.5%) non-Swiss women.][Ständige Wohnbevolkerung nach Geschlecht und Heimat am 31.12.2009.xls]
accessed 24 August 2011 Of the population in the municipality, 431 or about 46.3% were born in Evionnaz and lived there in 2000. There were 242 or 26.0% who were born in the same canton, while 127 or 13.7% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 118 or 12.7% were born outside of Switzerland.[
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 28.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 56.5% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 15.3%.][
, there were 397 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 428 married individuals, 57 widows or widowers and 48 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 362 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.5 persons per household.[ There were 113 households that consist of only one person and 41 households with five or more people. , a total of 348 apartments (84.1% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 42 apartments (10.1%) were seasonally occupied and 24 apartments (5.8%) were empty.][Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen]
accessed 28 January 2011 , the construction rate of new housing units was 5.6 new units per 1000 residents.[ The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.65%.][
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
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bar:1850 from:start till:655 text:"655"
bar:1860 from:start till:659 text:"659"
bar:1870 from:start till:689 text:"689"
bar:1880 from:start till:644 text:"644"
bar:1888 from:start till:634 text:"634"
bar:1900 from:start till:929 text:"929"
bar:1910 from:start till:705 text:"705"
bar:1920 from:start till:688 text:"688"
bar:1930 from:start till:675 text:"675"
bar:1941 from:start till:650 text:"650"
bar:1950 from:start till:713 text:"713"
bar:1960 from:start till:663 text:"663"
bar:1970 from:start till:711 text:"711"
bar:1980 from:start till:747 text:"747"
bar:1990 from:start till:862 text:"862"
bar:2000 from:start till:930 text:"930"
Sights
The entire village of Evionnaz 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 37.12% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (20.87%), the SVP (16.92%) and the FDP (16.18%). In the federal election, a total of 449 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 60.9%.
In the 2009 Conseil d'État/Staatsrat election a total of 411 votes were cast, of which 12 or about 2.9% were invalid. The voter participation was 56.0%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 446 votes were cast, of which 21 or about 4.7% were invalid. The voter participation was 61.2%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 59.88%.
Economy
, Evionnaz had an unemployment rate of 6.2%. , there were 17 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 5 businesses involved in this sector. 459 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 15 businesses in this sector. 132 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 24 businesses in this sector.[ There were 429 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 40.8% 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 558. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 14, of which 9 were in agriculture and 5 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 439 of which 404 or (92.0%) were in manufacturing and 35 (8.0%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 105. In the tertiary sector; 47 or 44.8% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 4 or 3.8% were in the movement and storage of goods, 20 or 19.0% were in a hotel or restaurant, 4 or 3.8% were the insurance or financial industry, 4 or 3.8% were in education and 4 or 3.8% were in health care.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Betriebszählung: Arbeitsstätten nach Gemeinde und NOGA 2008 (Abschnitte), Sektoren 1-3
accessed 28 January 2011
, there were 430 workers who commuted into the municipality and 288 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.5 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 10.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 70.4% used a private car.[
]
Religion
From the , 770 or 82.8% 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 58 or 6.2% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 14 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.51% of the population), and there were 31 individuals (or about 3.33% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 19 (or about 2.04% of the population) who were Islamic. There was 1 person who was Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
and 1 person who was Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
. 38 (or about 4.09% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 13 individuals (or about 1.40% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Evionnaz about 355 or (38.2%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 59 or (6.3%) 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 59 who completed tertiary schooling, 67.8% were Swiss men, 18.6% were Swiss women and 8.5% were non-Swiss women.[
, there were 28 students in Evionnaz who came from another municipality, while 91 residents attended schools outside the municipality.][
]
Notable people
* Mireille Richard
Mireille Richard (born 4 May 1989) is a Swiss ski mountaineer.
Mireille was born and lives in Evionnaz. She started ski mountaineering in 1994, and competed first in the 2003 ''Diamir race''. She has been member of the Swiss team since 2005.
...
(b. 1989), ski mountaineer.
References
External links
Official website
*
{{Authority control
Municipalities of Valais