Grimisuat 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
Grimisuat is first mentioned around 1001-1100 as ''Grimisoch''. The municipality was formerly known by its unknown name ''Grimslen'', however, that name is no longer used.
[
]
Geography
Grimisuat has an area, , of . Of this area, or 47.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 22.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 27.7% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.9% is either rivers or lakes and or 2.0% 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 19.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 5.2%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.4%. Out of the forested land, 13.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 8.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.9% is used for growing crops and 18.0% is pastures, while 28.4% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 0.2% is in lakes and 0.7% is in rivers and streams.[
The municipality is located in the Sion district, on the right bank of the Rhone river. It consists of the village of Grimisuat and the ]hamlets
A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...
of Comera and Les Combes.
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, a Fleur-de-lys Argent between in chief two Mullets of Six Or.''
Demographics
Grimisuat has a population () of . , 11.5% 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 23.6%. It has changed at a rate of 13.9% due to migration and at a rate of 7.7% due to births and deaths.
accessed 26-September-2011German
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 (95 or 4.1%) 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 (42 or 1.8%). There are 25 people who speak 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 51.5% male and 48.5% female. The population was made up of 1,258 Swiss men (45.1% of the population) and 177 (6.4%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,176 Swiss women (42.2%) and 176 (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, 946 or about 40.6% were born in Grimisuat and lived there in 2000. There were 781 or 33.5% who were born in the same canton, while 284 or 12.2% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 288 or 12.4% were born outside of Switzerland.[
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 27.4% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 58.3% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 14.3%.][
, there were 949 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,189 married individuals, 110 widows or widowers and 83 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 834 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household.[ There were 185 households that consist of only one person and 78 households with five or more people. , a total of 819 apartments (85.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 96 apartments (10.1%) were seasonally occupied and 38 apartments (4.0%) 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 17.6 new units per 1000 residents.[ The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.17%.][
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
Politics
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 51.71% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (14.87%), the FDP (11.11%) and the SVP (11%). In the federal election, a total of 1,331 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 72.8%.
In the 2009 Conseil d'État/Staatsrat election a total of 1,115 votes were cast, of which 97 or about 8.7% were invalid. The voter participation was 61.0%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 1,308 votes were cast, of which 97 or about 7.4% were invalid. The voter participation was 72.5%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 59.88%.
Economy
, Grimisuat had an unemployment rate of 4.6%. , there were 114 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 52 businesses involved in this sector. 80 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 27 businesses in this sector. 375 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 56 businesses in this sector.[ There were 1,076 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 41.8% 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 413. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 65, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 69 of which 20 or (29.0%) were in manufacturing and 49 (71.0%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 279. In the tertiary sector; 59 or 21.1% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 14 or 5.0% were in the movement and storage of goods, 30 or 10.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was in the information industry, 4 or 1.4% were the insurance or financial industry, 21 or 7.5% were technical professionals or scientists, 31 or 11.1% were in education and 87 or 31.2% were in health care.
, there were 213 workers who commuted into the municipality and 807 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 3.8 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 8.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 78.5% used a private car.[
]
Religion
From the , 1,985 or 85.2% 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 138 or 5.9% 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 3 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.13% of the population), there were 4 individuals (or about 0.17% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 26 individuals (or about 1.12% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 28 (or about 1.20% 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. 86 (or about 3.69% 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 73 individuals (or about 3.13% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Grimisuat about 782 or (33.5%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 330 or (14.2%) 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 330 who completed tertiary schooling, 64.8% were Swiss men, 24.2% were Swiss women, 5.2% were non-Swiss men and 5.8% were non-Swiss women.[
, there were 82 students in Grimisuat who came from another municipality, while 203 residents attended schools outside the municipality.][
Grimisuat is home to the ''Bibliothèque/Médiathèque Communale'' library. The library has () 11,763 books or other media, and loaned out 28,140 items in the same year. It was open a total of 182 days with average of 12 hours per week during that year.Swiss Federal Statistical Office, list of libraries]
accessed 14 May 2010
References
External links
Official website
*
{{Authority control
Municipalities of Valais