Naters 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

Brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the ...

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 ...

. 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

History

Naters is first mentioned in 1018 as ''Nares''.

Geography

Naters has an area, , of . Of this area, 16.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 9.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.8% is settled (buildings or roads) and 72.7% is unproductive land. The municipality is located in the Brig district, on the right bank of the Rhone river on the gently sloping alluvial country around the Kelchbach. It covers the entire Natischer mountain between Kelchbach and the Mass. It consists of the villages of Naters, Hegdorn, Geimen, Mehlbaum, Rischinen and Blatten, and the mountain village and ski resort of

Belalp Belalp is a village and ski resort in the Swiss canton of Valais, situated at approximately above sea level in the municipality of Naters. Because of its altitude, Belalp is a vantage point offering views of the Dom and Fletschhorn mountains a ...

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, between two Crosiers Or in saltire in chief a Mitre of the same.''

Demographics

Naters has a population () of . , 11.9% 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 6.9%. It has changed at a rate of 5.7% due to migration and at a rate of -0.1% due to births and deaths.
accessed 28-August-2011 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 **Ger ...

(6,902 or 91.8%) as their first language,

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 second most common (188 or 2.5%) 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 (101 or 1.3%). There are 79 people who speak French and 7 people who speak Romansh. , the gender distribution of the population was 48.4% male and 51.6% female. The population was made up of 3,403 Swiss men (42.0% of the population) and 512 (6.3%) non-Swiss men. There were 3,671 Swiss women (45.3%) and 510 (6.3%) non-Swiss women.Ständige Wohnbevolkerung nach Geschlecht und Heimat am 31.12.2009.xls
accessed 24 August 2011 Of the population in the municipality 3,252 or about 43.3% were born in Naters and lived there in 2000. There were 2,579 or 34.3% who were born in the same canton, while 687 or 9.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 796 or 10.6% were born outside of Switzerland. The age distribution of the population () is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 24.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 59.9% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16%. , there were 3,026 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 3,774 married individuals, 451 widows or widowers and 264 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 3,020 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. There were 869 households that consist of only one person and 198 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 3,100 households that answered this question, 28.0% were households made up of just one person and there were 40 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 885 married couples without children, 1,032 married couples with children. There were 147 single parents with a child or children. There were 47 households that were made up of unrelated people and 80 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing. there were 932 single family homes (or 54.9% of the total) out of a total of 1,699 inhabited buildings. There were 546 multi-family buildings (32.1%), along with 120 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (7.1%) and 101 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (5.9%).Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen
accessed 28 January 2011 , a total of 2,882 apartments (69.1% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 1,049 apartments (25.1%) were seasonally occupied and 242 apartments (5.8%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 10.9 new units per 1000 residents. 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:7600 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:1500 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:300 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1798 from:start till:700 text:"ca. 700" bar:1850 from:start till:763 text:"763" bar:1860 from:start till:964 text:"964" bar:1870 from:start till:915 text:"915" bar:1880 from:start till:1014 text:"1,014" bar:1888 from:start till:1075 text:"1,075" bar:1900 from:start till:3953 text:"3,953" bar:1910 from:start till:2524 text:"2,524" bar:1920 from:start till:2809 text:"2,809" bar:1930 from:start till:2876 text:"2,876" bar:1941 from:start till:3033 text:"3,033" bar:1950 from:start till:3243 text:"3,243" bar:1960 from:start till:3797 text:"3,797" bar:1970 from:start till:5517 text:"5,517" bar:1980 from:start till:6662 text:"6,662" bar:1990 from:start till:7252 text:"7,252" bar:2000 from:start till:7515 text:"7,515"

Heritage sites of national significance

The

Ossuary An ossuary is a chest, box, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the ...

at Beinhausweg and the Church of St. Mauritius are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The urbanized village of Naters, the village of Blatten and the entire hamlet of Bodmen are 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 ...

. File:Beinhaus Naters.jpg , Ossuary File:Kirche Naters.jpg , Church of St. Mauritius

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 46.41% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (28.69%), the SP (19.11%) and the FDP (4.14%). In the federal election, a total of 3,617 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 59.6%. In the 2009 Conseil d'État/Staatsrat election a total of 3,301 votes were cast, of which 296 or about 9.0% were invalid. The voter participation was 54.6%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 3,587 votes were cast, of which 189 or about 5.3% were invalid. The voter participation was 59.6%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 59.88%.

Economy

Naters railway station, Valais, Switzerland

, Naters had an unemployment rate of 2.3%. , there were 142 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 71 businesses involved in this sector. 564 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 59 businesses in this sector. 1,009 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 187 businesses in this sector. There were 3,581 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 40.5% 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 1,381. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 57, of which 50 were in agriculture and 7 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 536 of which 184 or (34.3%) were in manufacturing, 2 or (0.4%) were in mining and 350 (65.3%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 788. In the tertiary sector; 162 or 20.6% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 30 or 3.8% were in the movement and storage of goods, 176 or 22.3% were in a hotel or restaurant, 35 or 4.4% were the insurance or financial industry, 97 or 12.3% were technical professionals or scientists, 70 or 8.9% were in education and 132 or 16.8% were in health care. , there were 925 workers who commuted into the municipality and 2,480 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.7 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 15.4% of the workforce coming into Naters are coming from outside Switzerland.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 23.4% used public transportation to get to work, and 41.9% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 6,525 or 86.8% 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 lette ...

, while 282 or 3.8% 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 86 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.14% of the population), there were 2 individuals (or about 0.03% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 86 individuals (or about 1.14% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 233 (or about 3.10% 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 ...

, 3 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 5 individuals who belonged to another church. 100 (or about 1.33% 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 225 individuals (or about 2.99% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Naters about 2,860 or (38.1%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 594 or (7.9%) 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 594 who completed tertiary schooling, 70.5% were Swiss men, 20.0% were Swiss women, 5.6% were non-Swiss men and 3.9% were non-Swiss women. During the 2010-2011 school year there were a total of 762 students in the Naters 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 cent ...

. During that school year, there 7 kindergarten classes (KG1 or KG2) and 151 kindergarten students. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

. In Naters there were a total of 25 classes and 536 students in the primary school. The

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling (orientation classes), followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. There were 226 lower secondary students who attended school in Naters. All the upper secondary students attended school in another municipality. , there were 324 students in Naters who came from another municipality, while 289 residents attended schools outside the municipality. Naters is home to the ''Gemeindebibliothek'' (municipal library of Naters). The library has () 17,945 books or other media, and loaned out 47,534 items in the same year. It was open a total of 264 days with average of 16 hours per week during that year.Swiss Federal Statistical Office, list of libraries
accessed 14 May 2010

Sport

The village is home to

FC Naters FC Naters is a Swiss football club from the town of Naters in Canton Valais. The team currently plays in Liga 1., the third highest tier in the Swiss football pyramid. History FC Naters was founded in 1958 and played their first game on 16 ...

. The team currently plays in Liga 1., the third highest tier in the Swiss football pyramid. Professional hockey player

Nico Hischier Nico Hischier (; born 4 January 1999) is a Swiss professional ice hockey centre and captain of the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL). Hischier made his professional debut in his native Switzerland in 2015, spending time bo ...

, and his brother

Luca The last universal common ancestor (LUCA) is the most recent population from which all organisms now living on Earth share common descent—the most recent common ancestor of all current life on Earth. This includes all cellular organisms; th ...

, were born and raised in Naters and learned to play the game of hockey in nearby

Visp Visp (french: Viège) is the capital of the district of Visp in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. Geography Visp lies in the Rhône valley, at the confluence of the Vispa and the Rhône, west of Brig-Glis. Visp has an area, , of . Of ...

. Nico was a highly rated prospect leading up to the

2017 NHL Draft The 2017 NHL Entry Draft was the 55th NHL Entry Draft. The draft was held on June 23–24, 2017, at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. The first three selections were Nico Hischier going to the New Jersey Devils, Nolan Patrick going to t ...

, where he was selected 1st overall by the

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional sports, professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

. He became the first Swiss player in NHL history to be chosen with the first overall pick.

Notable people

Josef Ritler Josef Ritler (born 1939 in Naters, canton of Valais), also known as "Sepp Ritler" or "Seppi Ritler", is a Swiss journalist, who worked as a writer and photographer for the newspaper ''Blick'' for 40 years.Nico Hischier Nico Hischier (; born 4 January 1999) is a Swiss professional ice hockey centre and captain of the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL). Hischier made his professional debut in his native Switzerland in 2015, spending time bo ...

, hockey player

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Municipalities of Valais Cultural property of national significance in Valais