The district of Leuk () is a district 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 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 ...

. It has a population of (as of ).

Municipalities

It contains the following municipalities:

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 ''Gules, a Griffin rampant cowed Or langued and armed Argent holding a sword of the last.''

Demographics

Leuk has a population () of . 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 ...

(10,675 or 91.8%) as their first language. French is the second most common (278 or 2.4%) and

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

is the third (195 or 1.7%). There are 115 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 ...

and 8 people who speak Romansh. , the gender distribution of the population was 49.7% male and 50.3% female. The population was made up of 5,218 Swiss men (42.5% of the population) and 879 (7.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 5,430 Swiss women (44.3%) and 742 (6.0%) non-Swiss women.Ständige Wohnbevolkerung nach Geschlecht und Heimat am 31.12.2009.xls
accessed 24 August 2011 Of the population in the district, 6,201 or about 53.3% were born in Leuk and lived there in 2000. There were 2,995 or 25.8% who were born in the same canton, while 1,012 or 8.7% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 1,071 or 9.2% were born outside of Switzerland. , there were 4,795 people who were single and never married in the district. There were 5,769 married individuals, 716 widows or widowers and 351 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 There were 1,296 households that consist of only one person and 382 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 4,625 households that answered this question, 28.0% were households made up of just one person and there were 67 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 1,147 married couples without children, 1,637 married couples with children. There were 225 single parents with a child or children. There were 67 households that were made up of unrelated people and 186 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen
accessed 28 January 2011 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:12000 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:2000 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:400 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1850 from:start till:4940 text:"4,940" bar:1860 from:start till:5365 text:"5,365" bar:1870 from:start till:5674 text:"5,674" bar:1880 from:start till:6053 text:"6,053" bar:1888 from:start till:6441 text:"6,441" bar:1900 from:start till:6673 text:"6,673" bar:1910 from:start till:8331 text:"8,331" bar:1920 from:start till:7227 text:"7,227" bar:1930 from:start till:7682 text:"7,682" bar:1941 from:start till:8417 text:"8,417" bar:1950 from:start till:8706 text:"8,706" bar:1960 from:start till:9232 text:"9,232" bar:1970 from:start till:10076 text:"10,076" bar:1980 from:start till:10115 text:"10,115" bar:1990 from:start till:11094 text:"11,094" bar:2000 from:start till:11631 text:"11,631"

Mergers and name changes

* The municipalities of Guttet and Feschel were combined on 1 October 2000. * The municipalities of

Gampel Gampel is a former municipality in the district of Leuk in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. Gampel should not be confused with the municipality Gampelen in the canton of Bern. It was an independent municipality until January 1, 2009, wh ...

and

Bratsch Bratsch is a village in the municipality of Gampel-Bratsch in the district of Leuk of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. Bratsch was an independent municipality until January 1, 2009, when it merged with Gampel to form Gampel-Bratsch.

were combined on 1 January 2009.Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 14 January 2010 * The municipalities of

Turtmann Turtmann (French: ''Tourtemagne'') is a former municipality in the district of Leuk in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. The municipalities of Turtmann and Unterems merged on 1 January 2013 into the new municipality of Turtmann-Unterems.

and Unterems merged on 1 January 2013 into the new municipality of Turtmann-Unterems. The former municipality of

Erschmatt Erschmatt is a former 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.Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
accessed 9 February 2013

Politics

In the 2007 federal election, the most popular party was the CVP which received 66.4% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (16.79%), the SP (12.46%) and the FDP (2.71%). In the federal election, a total of 6,389 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 73.4%. In the 2009 Conseil d'État/Staatsrat election, a total of 6,173 votes were cast, of which 304 or about 4.9% were invalid. The voter participation was 72.3%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 6,336 votes were cast, of which 280 or about 4.4% were invalid. The voter participation was 73.4%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 59.88%.Ständeratswahl 2007
accessed 24 August 2011

Religion

From the , 10,068 or 86.6% 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 496 or 4.3% 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 ...

. Of the rest of the population, there were 144 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.24% of the population), there were 6 individuals (or about 0.05% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 74 individuals (or about 0.64% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 345 (or about 2.97% of the population) who were

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

ic. There were 10 individuals who were

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 ...

, 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 ...

and 4 individuals who belonged to another church. 175 (or about 1.50% 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 342 individuals (or about 2.94% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Leuk, about 4,052 or (34.8%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 763 or (6.6%) 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 763 who completed tertiary schooling, 68.3% were Swiss men, 20.2% were Swiss women, 6.2% were non-Swiss men and 5.4% were non-Swiss women.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leuk (District) Districts of Valais