Vollèges 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 Entremont 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 2021 the former municipalities of Bagnes and Vollèges merged to form the new municipality of

Val de Bagnes Val de Bagnes, also called the Vallée de Bagnes (German: Bangital or Baniental) is a valley located in the Entremont District in the Canton of Valais of Switzerland. Geography Val de Bagnes is traversed by the Drance de Bagnes. In the upper p ...

Geography

Vollèges had an area, , of . Of this area, 24.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 56.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 6.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and 13.3% is unproductive land.

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, on a base Vert a Pine tree eradicated Vert trunked and rooted Maroon in front of two cliffs Argent, in chief two Mullets of Five Or.''

Demographics

Vollèges had a population (as of 2019) of 2,041. , 5.1% 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 (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 10.6%. It has changed at a rate of 10.3% due to migration and at a rate of 4.1% due to births and deaths.
accessed 06-September-2011 Most of the population () speaks French (1,283 or 98.0%) as their first language,

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 second most common (12 or 0.9%) and

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 ...

is the third (5 or 0.4%). , the gender distribution of the population was 50.1% male and 49.9% female. The population was made up of 730 Swiss men (47.1% of the population) and 46 (3.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 731 Swiss women (47.2%) and 43 (2.8%) non-Swiss women.Ständige Wohnbevolkerung nach Geschlecht und Heimat am 31.12.2009.xls
accessed 24 August 2011 Of the population in the municipality 835 or about 63.8% were born in Vollèges and lived there in 2000. There were 275 or 21.0% who were born in the same canton, while 111 or 8.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 64 or 4.9% were born outside of Switzerland. The age distribution of the population () is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 30.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 54.5% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 15.2%. , there were 568 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 646 married individuals, 65 widows or widowers and 30 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 440 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.9 persons per household. There were 91 households that consist of only one person and 83 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 447 households that answered this question, 20.4% were households made up of just one person and there were 7 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 106 married couples without children, 205 married couples with children There were 23 single parents with a child or children. There were 8 households that were made up of unrelated people and 7 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing. there were 444 single family homes (or 79.6% of the total) out of a total of 558 inhabited buildings. There were 72 multi-family buildings (12.9%), along with 28 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (5.0%) and 14 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (2.5%).Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen
accessed 28 January 2011 , a total of 431 apartments (65.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 197 apartments (29.8%) were seasonally occupied and 32 apartments (4.8%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.2 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:1400 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:300 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:60 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1850 from:start till:869 text:"869" bar:1860 from:start till:882 text:"882" bar:1870 from:start till:964 text:"964" bar:1880 from:start till:958 text:"958" bar:1888 from:start till:943 text:"943" bar:1900 from:start till:910 text:"910" bar:1910 from:start till:980 text:"980" bar:1920 from:start till:974 text:"974" bar:1930 from:start till:957 text:"957" bar:1941 from:start till:1012 text:"1,012" bar:1950 from:start till:993 text:"993" bar:1960 from:start till:1006 text:"1,006" bar:1970 from:start till:956 text:"956" bar:1980 from:start till:1024 text:"1,024" bar:1990 from:start till:1206 text:"1,206" bar:2000 from:start till:1309 text:"1,309"

Sights

The entire village of Vollèges and the hamlet of Vens are 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 62.24% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (11.11%), the SP (9.82%) and the SVP (7.55%). In the federal election, a total of 671 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 58.7%. In the 2009 Conseil d'État/Staatsrat election a total of 587 votes were cast, of which 31 or about 5.3% were invalid. The voter participation was 52.5%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 647 votes were cast, of which 44 or about 6.8% were invalid. The voter participation was 58.3%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 59.88%.

Economy

, Vollèges had an unemployment rate of 3.3%. , there were 103 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 39 businesses involved in this sector. 137 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 22 businesses in this sector. 164 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 35 businesses in this sector. There were 541 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 37.2% 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 308. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 46, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 130 of which 80 or (61.5%) were in manufacturing and 46 (35.4%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 132. In the tertiary sector; 39 or 29.5% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 22 or 16.7% were in the movement and storage of goods, 10 or 7.6% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 1.5% were in the information industry, 11 or 8.3% were the insurance or financial industry, 10 or 7.6% were technical professionals or scientists.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Betriebszählung: Arbeitsstätten nach Gemeinde und NOGA 2008 (Abschnitte), Sektoren 1-3
accessed 28 January 2011 , there were 56 workers who commuted into the municipality and 373 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 6.7 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 9.6% used public transportation to get to work, and 72.3% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 1,189 or 90.8% 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 41 or 3.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 4 individuals (or about 0.31% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 3 (or about 0.23% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 1 individual who belonged to another church. 42 (or about 3.21% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 31 individuals (or about 2.37% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Vollèges about 461 or (35.2%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 92 or (7.0%) 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 ...

or a '' Fachhochschule''). Of the 92 who completed tertiary schooling, 71.7% were Swiss men, 25.0% were Swiss women. , there were 135 students from Vollèges who attended schools outside the municipality.