Grône 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
Sierre
Sierre (; ; ) is the capital municipality of the district of Sierre, located in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. It has a population of 18,020.
Sierre is nicknamed City of the Sun () for its average of 300 days of sunshine a year.
It is t ...
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 ...
.
History
Grône is first mentioned around 1001-1100 as ''in Gruona''. The municipality was formerly known by its German name ''Grün'', however, that name is no longer used.
[
]
Geography
Grône has an area, , of . Of this area, or 19.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 64.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 7.8% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.6% is either rivers or lakes and or 8.0% 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 4.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.6%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.5% of the area Out of the forested land, 58.1% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 1.5% is used for growing crops and 2.7% is pastures, while 5.1% is used for orchards or vine crops and 10.0% is used for alpine pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 0.4% is in lakes and 0.2% is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 6.1% is unproductive vegetation and 2.0% is too rocky for vegetation.[
The municipality is located in the Sierre district. The main village lies in the Rhone valley with about ten ]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 ...
in the hills above the village. The hamlets include Loye, Daillet, Itravers and Erdesson. Erdesson was formerly known as Merdesson, but the name was changed after it was rebuilt following a devastating fire in 1912. In the early history of the municipality, the village was often destroyed due to the Rhone floods, so the settlements in the hills were much more important. In 1292, both Grône and Loye were both municipalities.
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 an Ibex rampant Argent on Coupeaux Vert.''
Demographics
Grône has a population () of . , 16.4% 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 14.6%. It has changed at a rate of 13.9% due to migration and at a rate of 1.6% due to births and deaths.
accessed 23-September-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 ...
is the second most common (54 or 2.9%) and Portuguese is the third (41 or 2.2%). There are 26 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 ...
and 1 person who speaks Romansh.[
, the population was 49.4% male and 50.6% female. The population was made up of 895 Swiss men (40.9% of the population) and 185 (8.5%) non-Swiss men. There were 923 Swiss women (42.2%) and 184 (8.4%) non-Swiss women.][Ständige Wohnbevolkerung nach Geschlecht und Heimat am 31.12.2009.xls]
accessed 24 August 2011 Of the population in the municipality, 860 or about 46.1% were born in Grône and lived there in 2000. There were 543 or 29.1% who were born in the same canton, while 189 or 10.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 221 or 11.8% were born outside of Switzerland.[
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 25.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 59.4% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 15.4%.][
, there were 736 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 956 married individuals, 94 widows or widowers and 80 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 744 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.5 persons per household.[ There were 198 households that consist of only one person and 52 households with five or more people. , a total of 727 apartments (67.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 290 apartments (27.1%) were seasonally occupied and 53 apartments (5.0%) 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 12.3 new units per 1000 residents.[ The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.85%.][
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
Politics
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 36.54% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (24.77%), the SP (13.25%) and the SVP (12.71%). In the federal election, a total of 904 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 62.3%.
In the 2009 Conseil d'État/Staatsrat election a total of 926 votes were cast, of which 78 or about 8.4% were invalid. The voter participation was 64.9%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 894 votes were cast, of which 52 or about 5.8% were invalid. The voter participation was 62.1%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 59.88%.
Economy
, Grône had an unemployment rate of 4.2%. , there were 44 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 22 businesses involved in this sector. 149 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 21 businesses in this sector. 242 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 54 businesses in this sector.[ There were 910 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 42.5% 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 343. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 18, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 141 of which 23 or (16.3%) were in manufacturing and 112 (79.4%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 184. In the tertiary sector; 34 or 18.5% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 32 or 17.4% were in the movement and storage of goods, 19 or 10.3% were in a hotel or restaurant, 4 or 2.2% were the insurance or financial industry, 4 or 2.2% were technical professionals or scientists, 49 or 26.6% were in education.
, there were 176 workers who commuted into the municipality and 699 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 4.0 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 10.4% used public transportation to get to work, and 74.4% used a private car.[
]
Religion
From the , 1,628 or 87.2% 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 63 or 3.4% 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 7 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.38% of the population), there was 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 12 individuals (or about 0.64% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
, and 18 (or about 0.96% of the population) who were 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 were 2 individuals who were 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 ...
and 3 individuals who were Hindu
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
. 73 (or about 3.91% 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 64 individuals (or about 3.43% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Grône about 660 or (35.4%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 166 or (8.9%) 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 166 who completed tertiary schooling, 69.3% were Swiss men, 25.3% were Swiss women, 3.0% were non-Swiss men.[
, there were 290 students in Grône who came from another municipality, while 73 residents attended schools outside the municipality.][
Grône is home to the ''Bibliothèque communale et scolaire'' library. The library has () 9,786 books or other media, and loaned out 6,042 items in the same year. It was open a total of 174 days with average of 11 hours per week during that year.Swiss Federal Statistical Office, list of libraries]
accessed 14 May 2010
References
External links
Official website
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grone
Municipalities of Valais