Arbaz
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Arbaz 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
Sion Sion may refer to * an alternative transliteration of Zion People * Sion (name) or Siôn, a Welsh and other given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Shion or Sion, a Japanese given name Pl ...
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 ...
in
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 ...
.


History

Arbaz is first mentioned about 1185 as ''Alba''. In 1338 it was mentioned as ''Arba''.


Geography

Arbaz has an area, , of . Of this area, or 22.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 25.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 5.1% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.3% is either rivers or lakes and or 47.4% is unproductive land.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 3.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.3%. Out of the forested land, 19.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.9% is used for growing crops and 5.3% is pastures and 15.5% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 17.2% is unproductive vegetation and 30.3% is too rocky for vegetation. The municipality is located in the Sion district, at an elevation of between . Until 1877 it was part of the municipality of Ayent. The village of Arbaz was partially destroyed by fire in 1924, but has been rebuilt. Almost half of the houses in the village are vacation homes. It is situated on the north bank of the
Rhône River The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...
.


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 a Cross Gules, overall standing on issuant from base a triple mount Or a Lion rampant reguardant Or langued Gules.''


Demographics

Arbaz has a population () of . , 12.5% 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 35.9%. It has changed at a rate of 37% due to migration and at a rate of 1.6% due to births and deaths.
accessed 26-September-2011
Most of the population () speaks French (727 or 90.9%) 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 **Ger ...
is the second most common (40 or 5.0%) and
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 third (13 or 1.6%). There is 1 person who speaks
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 49.8% male and 50.2% female. The population was made up of 475 Swiss men (43.3% of the population) and 72 (6.6%) non-Swiss men. There were 485 Swiss women (44.2%) and 66 (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 municipality, 435 or about 54.4% were born in Arbaz and lived there in 2000. There were 154 or 19.3% who were born in the same canton, while 113 or 14.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 88 or 11.0% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 24.8% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 56.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 19.1%. , there were 301 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 430 married individuals, 46 widows or widowers and 23 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 322 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. There were 85 households that consist of only one person and 22 households with five or more people. , a total of 318 apartments (45.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 335 apartments (47.7%) were seasonally occupied and 49 apartments (7.0%) 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 5.2 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.72%. 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:800 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:200 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:40 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1821 from:start till:361 text:"361" bar:1850 from:start till:381 text:"381" bar:1860 from:start till:391 text:"391" bar:1870 from:start till:461 text:"461" bar:1880 from:start till:463 text:"463" bar:1888 from:start till:436 text:"436" bar:1900 from:start till:516 text:"516" bar:1910 from:start till:527 text:"527" bar:1920 from:start till:497 text:"497" bar:1930 from:start till:527 text:"527" bar:1941 from:start till:550 text:"550" bar:1950 from:start till:493 text:"493" bar:1960 from:start till:488 text:"488" bar:1970 from:start till:508 text:"508" bar:1980 from:start till:472 text:"472" bar:1990 from:start till:617 text:"617" bar:2000 from:start till:800 text:"800"


Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 42.43% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (21.32%), the SVP (16.47%) and the FDP (8.33%). In the federal election, a total of 483 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 65.6%. In the 2009 Conseil d'État/Staatsrat election a total of 436 votes were cast, of which 42 or about 9.6% were invalid. The voter participation was 59.1%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 465 votes were cast, of which 9 or about 1.9% were invalid. The voter participation was 65.8%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 59.88%.


Economy

, Arbaz had an unemployment rate of 3.4%. , there were 26 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 11 businesses involved in this sector. 69 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 12 businesses in this sector. 79 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 23 businesses in this sector. There were 347 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 42.1% 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 92. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 17, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 37 of which 13 or (35.1%) were in manufacturing and 24 (64.9%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 38. In the tertiary sector; 8 or 21.1% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 2 or 5.3% were in the movement and storage of goods, 7 or 18.4% were in a hotel or restaurant, 3 or 7.9% were in the information industry, 3 or 7.9% were the insurance or financial industry, 5 or 13.2% were technical professionals or scientists, 1 was 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 20 workers who commuted into the municipality and 254 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 12.7 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010
Of the working population, 8.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 76.3% used a private car.


Religion

From the , 657 or 82.1% 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 63 or 7.9% 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 5 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.63% of the population), and there were 25 individuals (or about 3.13% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 6 (or about 0.75% 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 1 individual who belonged to another church. 44 (or about 5.50% 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 ...
or
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 11 individuals (or about 1.38% of the population) did not answer the question.


Education

In Arbaz about 285 or (35.6%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 103 or (12.9%) 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 103 who completed tertiary schooling, 54.4% were Swiss men, 28.2% were Swiss women, 10.7% were non-Swiss men and 6.8% were non-Swiss women. , there were 2 students in Arbaz who came from another municipality, while 42 residents attended schools outside the municipality.


References


External links


Official website
* {{Authority control Municipalities of Valais Articles which contain graphical timelines