The district of Brig is a district in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. It has a population of (as of ).
Municipalities
It includes the following
municipalities
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 ...
:
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 ''Or, an Eagle with dragon's tail displayed Sable, crowned, beaked, langued, membered and tailed Gules.''
Demographics
Brig has a population () of . Most of the population () speaks German (21,176 or 91.9%) as their first language, Italian is the second most common (434 or 1.9%) and French is the third (316 or 1.4%). There are 17 people who speak Romansh.
, the gender distribution of the population was 48.5% male and 51.5% female. The population was made up of 10,437 Swiss men (42.6% of the population) and 1,449 (5.9%) non-Swiss men. There were 11,126 Swiss women (45.4%) and 1,512 (6.2%) non-Swiss women.Ständige Wohnbevolkerung nach Geschlecht und Heimat am 31.12.2009.xls accessed 24 August 2011
Of the population in the district 9,899 or about 42.9% were born in Brig and lived there in 2000. There were 7,813 or 33.9% who were born in the same canton, while 2,196 or 9.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 2,463 or 10.7% were born outside of Switzerland.
, there were 9,857 people who were single and never married in the district. There were 11,064 married individuals, 1,331 widows or widowers and 800 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000 accessed 2 February 2011
There were 2,556 households that consist of only one person and 645 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 9,179 households that answered this question, 27.8% were households made up of just one person and there were 125 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 2,450 married couples without children, 3,165 married couples with children. There were 475 single parents with a child or children. There were 147 households that were made up of unrelated people and 261 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:
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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:24000
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bar:1850 from:start till:4236 text:"4,236"
bar:1860 from:start till:5190 text:"5,190"
bar:1870 from:start till:5140 text:"5,140"
bar:1880 from:start till:5531 text:"5,531"
bar:1888 from:start till:5566 text:"5,566"
bar:1900 from:start till:9941 text:"9,941"
bar:1910 from:start till:9439 text:"9,439"
bar:1920 from:start till:9997 text:"9,997"
bar:1930 from:start till:10186 text:"10,186"
bar:1941 from:start till:10985 text:"10,985"
bar:1950 from:start till:12223 text:"12,223"
bar:1960 from:start till:14152 text:"14,152"
bar:1970 from:start till:17299 text:"17,299"
bar:1980 from:start till:19624 text:"19,624"
bar:1990 from:start till:21537 text:"21,537"
bar:2000 from:start till:23052 text:"23,052"
Mergers and name changes
On 1 October 1972 the former municipalities of Brig, Brigerbad and Glis merged to form the new municipality of Brig-Glis. accessed 4 April 2011
On 1 January 2013 the former municipalities of
Birgisch
Birgisch is a former municipality in the district of Brig in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipalities of Birgisch and Mund merged into the municipality of Naters.Mund
Mund is a former municipality in the district of Brig in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipalities of Mund and Birgisch merged into the municipality of Naters.Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz accessed 9 February 2013
Politics
In the 2007 Swiss federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 54.67% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (21.66%), the SP (15.85%) and the FDP (5.48%). In the federal election, a total of 10,625 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 59.0%.
In the 2009 Conseil d'État/Staatsrat election a total of 9,701 votes were cast, of which 969 or about 10.0% were invalid. The voter participation was 54.1%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the
2007 Swiss Council of States election
Elections were held to the Council of States of Switzerland in October and November 2007 as part of the 2007 federal election. All 46 members of the Council of States were elected from all cantons of Switzerland. The first round was held on 21 O ...
a total of 10,530 votes were cast, of which 603 or about 5.7% were invalid. The voter participation was 59.0%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 59.88%.Ständeratswahl 2007 accessed 24 August 2011
Religion
From the , 19,711 or 85.5% 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 1,067 or 4.6% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 265 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.15% of the population), there were 4 individuals (or about 0.02% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 365 individuals (or about 1.58% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
, and 592 (or about 2.57% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 31 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 ...
, 25 individuals who were
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 10 individuals who belonged to another church. 453 (or about 1.97% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 707 individuals (or about 3.07% of the population) did not answer the question.
Weather
Brig municipality has an average of 85 days of rain or snow per year and on average receives of
precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
. The wettest month is November during which time Brig receives an average of of rain or snow. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 7.5 days. The month with the most days of precipitation is January, with an average of 7.9, but with only of rain or snow. The driest month of the year is September with an average of of precipitation over 5.4 days., the Brig weather station elevation is 666 meters above sea level.
Education
In Brig about 8,589 or (37.3%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 2,232 or (9.7%) 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 2,232 who completed tertiary schooling, 65.6% were Swiss men, 20.6% were Swiss women, 8.2% were non-Swiss men and 5.6% were non-Swiss women.