Bitsch () is a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
in the district of
Raron
Raron () is a municipality in the district of Raron in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.
History
Raron is first mentioned around 1101–1200 as ''Rarogni''. In 1146 it was mentioned as ''Rarun''.
A settlement on the Heidnischbiel, a buria ...
in the
canton of
Valais
Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion, Switzer ...
in
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
.
Geography
Bitsch has an area, , of . Of this area, 22.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 49.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 9.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and 18.2% is unproductive land.
[
The municipality is located in the Östlich-Raron district, on the southern facing slopes of the mountains. It consists of scattered, small ]hamlets
A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...
including the main hamlet of Wasen.
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 an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...
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 last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
is ''Azure, on Coupeaux Vert a Chamois rampant Sable langued Gules between an edelweiss and a rhododendron proper.''
Demographics
Bitsch has a population () of . , 7.7% of the population are resident foreign nationals.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Superweb database – Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008]
Retrieved 19 June 2010 Over the last 10 years (2000–2010 ) the population has changed at a rate of 8.8%. It has changed at a rate of 8% due to migration and at a rate of 4.3% due to births and deaths.
Retrieved 4 October 2011German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
(721 or 96.5%) as their first language, Dutch
Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
** Dutch people as an ethnic group ()
** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship ()
** Dutch language ()
* In specific terms, i ...
is the second most common (8 or 1.1%) and French
French may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France
** French people, a nation and ethnic group
** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices
Arts and media
* The French (band), ...
is the third (7 or 0.9%). There are 7 people who speak Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
.[
, the population was made up of 775 Swiss citizens and 65 non-citizen residents (7.74% of the population).][
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 30.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 60% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 9.8%.][
, there were 340 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 347 married individuals, 32 widows or widowers and 28 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 – 2000]
Retrieved 2 February 2011
, there were 268 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.7 persons per household.[ There were 54 households that consist of only one person and 28 households with five or more people. , a total of 254 apartments (66.0% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 107 apartments (27.8%) were seasonally occupied and 24 apartments (6.2%) were empty.][Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB – Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 – Gebäude und Wohnungen]
Retrieved 28 January 2011 , the construction rate of new housing units was 2.4 new units per 1000 residents.[ The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 2.41%.][
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
Sights
The entire hamlet of Wasen is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
The Federal Inventory of Heritage Sites (ISOS) is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage.
Sites of national importance
Types
The types are based on t ...
.
Politics
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 55.66% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (23.45%), the SP (13.69%) and the FDP (5.44%). In the federal election, a total of 337 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 is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...
was 55.9%.
In the 2009 Conseil d'État/Staatsrat election a total of 354 votes were cast, of which 34 or about 9.6% were invalid. The voter participation was 58.3%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 338 votes were cast, of which 8 or about 2.4% were invalid. The voter participation was 56.2%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 59.88%.
Economy
, Bitsch had an unemployment rate of 1.5%. , there were 24 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 15 businesses involved in this sector. 61 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 10 businesses in this sector. 189 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 ...
, with 20 businesses in this sector.[ There were 353 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 38.2% of the workforce.
the total number of ]full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit of measurement 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 use ...
jobs was 224. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 6, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 59 of which 37 or (62.7%) were in manufacturing and 4 (6.8%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 159. In the tertiary sector; 63 or 39.6% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 12 or 7.5% were in the movement and storage of goods, 5 or 3.1% were in a hotel or restaurant, 5 or 3.1% were the insurance or financial industry, 5 or 3.1% were technical professionals or scientists, 5 or 3.1% were in education and 59 or 37.1% were in health care.
, there were 153 workers who commuted into the municipality and 250 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.6 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 12.4% of the workforce coming into Bitsch are coming from outside Switzerland.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Statweb]
Retrieved 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 15% used public transportation to get to work, and 63.2% used a private car.[
]
Religion
From the , 658 or 88.1% were Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
, while 32 or 4.3% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The P ...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 10 individuals (or about 1.34% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
ic. There was 1 person who was Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
. 22 (or about 2.95% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...
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 28 individuals (or about 3.75% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Bitsch about 297 or (39.8%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education
Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education.
Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...
, and 61 or (8.2%) have completed additional higher education (either university
A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
or a ''Fachhochschule
A (; plural ), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a Hochschule, German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts, such as engineering, te ...
''). Of the 61 who completed tertiary schooling, 67.2% were Swiss men, 18.0% were Swiss women and 8.2% were non-Swiss women.[
During the 2010–2011 school year there were a total of 60 students in the Bitsch school system. The ]education system
The educational system generally refers to the structure of all institutions and the opportunities for obtaining education within a country. It includes all pre-school institutions, starting from family education, and/or early childhood education ...
in the Canton of Valais allows young children to attend one year of non-obligatory Kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...
. During that school year, there was one kindergarten class (KG1 or KG2) and 15 kindergarten students. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
. In Bitsch there were a total of 4 classes and 60 students in the primary school. The secondary school
A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...
program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling (orientation classes), followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. All the lower and upper secondary students from Bitsch attend their school in a neighboring municipality.Obligatorische Schulzeit
Retrieved 24 August 2011
, there was one student in Bitsch who came from another municipality, while 49 residents attended schools outside the municipality.[
]
References
External links
Official website
*
{{Authority control
Municipalities of Valais