Ayent
Encyclopedia
Ayent is a municipality
in the district of Hérens
in the canton
of Valais
in Switzerland
.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.6%. Out of the forested land, 20.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.5% is used for growing crops and 5.2% is pastures, while 3.2% is used for orchards or vine crops and 10.0% is used for alpine pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 1.1% is in lakes and 0.2% is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 8.2% is unproductive vegetation, 39.6% is too rocky for vegetation and 3.0% of the land is covered by glaciers.
The municipality is located on a high terrace on the right side of the Rhone
river. It consists of the villages and hamlets
of Botyre, Luc, Saxonne, La Place, Blignou, Fortunau, Saint-Romain, Signèse, Villa, Argnou and the tourist development of Anzère (which was built in 1969). There is no Ayent village in the municipality.
The reservoir Lac de Tseuzier
is located on the border with Icogne
.
of the municipal coat of arms
is Azure a Lion rampant Or langued and armed Gules holding in dexter a sword Argent.
Most of the population speaks French
(2,808 or 93.6%) as their first language, German
is the second most common (83 or 2.8%) and Portuguese
is the third (41 or 1.4%). There are 15 people who speak Italian
and 1 person who speaks Romansh.
, the gender distribution of the population was 49.7% male and 50.3% female. The population was made up of 1,537 Swiss men (44.0% of the population) and 196 (5.6%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,567 Swiss women (44.9%) and 190 (5.4%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 1,903 or about 63.4% were born in Ayent and lived there in 2000. There were 433 or 14.4% who were born in the same canton, while 294 or 9.8% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 274 or 9.1% were born outside of Switzerland.
The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 20.9% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 60.5% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 18.6%.
, there were 1,130 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,638 married individuals, 166 widows or widowers and 67 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.62 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.63 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 79% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage
or a rent-to-own agreement).
, there were 1,210 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. There were 318 households that consist of only one person and 77 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 1,248 households that answered this question, 25.5% were households made up of just one person and there were 24 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 374 married couples without children, 431 married couples with children There were 46 single parents with a child or children. There were 17 households that were made up of unrelated people and 38 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 925 single family homes (or 70.1% of the total) out of a total of 1,320 inhabited buildings. There were 294 multi-family buildings (22.3%), along with 65 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (4.9%) and 36 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (2.7%).
, a total of 1,153 apartments (39.0% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 1,028 apartments (34.8%) were seasonally occupied and 774 apartments (26.2%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 6.9 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.09%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
the most popular party was the CVP
which received 38.87% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP
(29.03%), the SVP
(12.79%) and the FDP
(10.25%). In the federal election, a total of 1,729 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 65.3%.
In the 2009 Conseil d'Etat/Staatsrat
election a total of 1,553 votes were cast, of which 86 or about 5.5% 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
election a total of 1,707 votes were cast, of which 108 or about 6.3% were invalid. The voter participation was 65.8%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 59.88%.
the total number of full-time equivalent
jobs was 622. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 73, of which 65 were in agriculture and 8 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 194 of which 26 or (13.4%) were in manufacturing and 164 (84.5%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 355. In the tertiary sector; 70 or 19.7% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 35 or 9.9% were in the movement and storage of goods, 99 or 27.9% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was in the information industry, 5 or 1.4% were the insurance or financial industry, 34 or 9.6% were technical professionals or scientists, 21 or 5.9% were in education and 10 or 2.8% were in health care.
, there were 187 workers who commuted into the municipality and 855 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 4.6 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 8.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 77.2% used a private car.
. Of the rest of the population, there were 16 members of an Orthodox church
(or about 0.53% of the population), and there were 20 individuals (or about 0.67% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 6 (or about 0.20% of the population) who were Islam
ic. There were 2 individuals who were Buddhist
, 1 person who was Hindu
and 2 individuals who belonged to another church. 132 (or about 4.40% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 96 individuals (or about 3.20% of the population) did not answer the question.
). Of the 299 who completed tertiary schooling, 57.9% were Swiss men, 27.1% were Swiss women, 7.7% were non-Swiss men and 7.4% were non-Swiss women.
, there were 4 students in Ayent who came from another municipality, while 92 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
Ayent is home to the Bibliothèque communale et scolaire library. The library has 10,332 books or other media, and loaned out 28,200 items in the same year. It was open a total of 260 days with average of 22 hours per week during that year.
Municipalities of Switzerland
Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...
in the district of Hérens
Hérens (district)
The district of Hérens is a district in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a population of .-Geography:Except for the municipality of Ayent, which lies on the north bank of the Rhône, the municipalities of Hérens are located in the Val d'Hérens on the south bank of the...
in the canton
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
of Valais
Valais
The Valais is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland in the southwestern part of the country, around the valley of the Rhône from its headwaters to Lake Geneva, separating the Pennine Alps from the Bernese Alps. The canton is one of the drier parts of Switzerland in its central Rhône valley...
in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
History
The Ayent area is first mentioned in 1052 as Agent. In 1250 it was mentioned as Argenta.Geography
Ayent has an area, , of 55.1 square kilometre. Of this area, 10.42 square kilometre or 18.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 13.35 square kilometre or 24.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.55 square kilometre or 4.6% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.75 square kilometre or 1.4% is either rivers or lakes and 27.97 square kilometre or 50.7% is unproductive land.Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.6%. Out of the forested land, 20.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.5% is used for growing crops and 5.2% is pastures, while 3.2% is used for orchards or vine crops and 10.0% is used for alpine pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 1.1% is in lakes and 0.2% is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 8.2% is unproductive vegetation, 39.6% is too rocky for vegetation and 3.0% of the land is covered by glaciers.
The municipality is located on a high terrace on the right side of the Rhone
Rhône
Rhone can refer to:* Rhone, one of the major rivers of Europe, running through Switzerland and France* Rhône Glacier, the source of the Rhone River and one of the primary contributors to Lake Geneva in the far eastern end of the canton of Valais in Switzerland...
river. It consists of the villages and hamlets
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
of Botyre, Luc, Saxonne, La Place, Blignou, Fortunau, Saint-Romain, Signèse, Villa, Argnou and the tourist development of Anzère (which was built in 1969). There is no Ayent village in the municipality.
The reservoir Lac de Tseuzier
Lac de Tseuzier
Lac de Tseuzier is an artificial lake in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. It is located in the municipalities of Ayent and Icogne. The reservoir has a volume of 51 mio m³ and a surface area of 0.85 km². It was formed by the dams of Zeuzier and Proz-Riond built in 1957.-External links:***...
is located on the border with Icogne
Icogne
Icogne is a municipality in the district of Sierre in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.-History:Icogne is first mentioned in 1233 as Ucogni. In 1249 it was mentioned as Ucogniez.-Geography:...
.
Coat of arms
The blazonBlazon
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...
of the municipal coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
is Azure a Lion rampant Or langued and armed Gules holding in dexter a sword Argent.
Demographics
Ayent has a population of . , 10.6% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 11.6%. It has changed at a rate of 12.4% due to migration and at a rate of 0% due to births and deaths.Most of the population speaks French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
(2,808 or 93.6%) as their first language, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
is the second most common (83 or 2.8%) and Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
is the third (41 or 1.4%). There are 15 people who speak Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
and 1 person who speaks Romansh.
, the gender distribution of the population was 49.7% male and 50.3% female. The population was made up of 1,537 Swiss men (44.0% of the population) and 196 (5.6%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,567 Swiss women (44.9%) and 190 (5.4%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 1,903 or about 63.4% were born in Ayent and lived there in 2000. There were 433 or 14.4% who were born in the same canton, while 294 or 9.8% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 274 or 9.1% were born outside of Switzerland.
The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 20.9% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 60.5% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 18.6%.
, there were 1,130 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,638 married individuals, 166 widows or widowers and 67 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.62 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.63 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 79% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...
or a rent-to-own agreement).
, there were 1,210 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. There were 318 households that consist of only one person and 77 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 1,248 households that answered this question, 25.5% were households made up of just one person and there were 24 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 374 married couples without children, 431 married couples with children There were 46 single parents with a child or children. There were 17 households that were made up of unrelated people and 38 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 925 single family homes (or 70.1% of the total) out of a total of 1,320 inhabited buildings. There were 294 multi-family buildings (22.3%), along with 65 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (4.9%) and 36 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (2.7%).
, a total of 1,153 apartments (39.0% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 1,028 apartments (34.8%) were seasonally occupied and 774 apartments (26.2%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 6.9 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.09%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Politics
In the 2007 federal electionSwiss federal election, 2007
Elections to the Swiss Federal Assembly, the federal parliament of Switzerland, were held on Sunday, 21 October 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, and 25 November 2007...
the most popular party was the CVP
Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland
The Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland is a Christian democratic political party in Switzerland. It is the fourth-largest party in the National Council, with 31 seats, and the largest in the Council of States, with 15 seats. It has one seat, that of Doris Leuthard, on the Swiss...
which received 38.87% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
(29.03%), the SVP
Swiss People's Party
The Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...
(12.79%) and the FDP
FDP.The Liberals
FDP.The Liberals is a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It is the joint-largest party in the Federal Council, third-largest party in the National Council, and second-largest in the Council of States....
(10.25%). In the federal election, a total of 1,729 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
Voter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...
was 65.3%.
In the 2009 Conseil d'Etat/Staatsrat
Conseil d'Etat (Switzerland)
In Switzerland, Conseil d'Etat is the name of the council constituting the cantonal government of French-speaking cantons. It is not to be confused with the Conseil des États which is a chamber of the Swiss parliament....
election a total of 1,553 votes were cast, of which 86 or about 5.5% 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
Swiss Council of States election, 2007
Elections were held to the Council of States of Switzerland in October and November 2007 as part of the 2007 federal election. All 46 members of the Council of States were elected from all cantons of Switzerland. The first round was held on 21 October...
election a total of 1,707 votes were cast, of which 108 or about 6.3% were invalid. The voter participation was 65.8%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 59.88%.
Economy
, Ayent had an unemployment rate of 4.8%. , there were 121 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 59 businesses involved in this sector. 208 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 34 businesses in this sector. 478 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 107 businesses in this sector. There were 1,499 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 42.6% of the workforce.the total number of full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent , is a unit to measure employed persons or students in a way that makes them comparable although they may work or study a different number of hours per week. FTE is often used to measure a worker's involvement in a project, or to track cost reductions in an organization...
jobs was 622. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 73, of which 65 were in agriculture and 8 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 194 of which 26 or (13.4%) were in manufacturing and 164 (84.5%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 355. In the tertiary sector; 70 or 19.7% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 35 or 9.9% were in the movement and storage of goods, 99 or 27.9% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was in the information industry, 5 or 1.4% were the insurance or financial industry, 34 or 9.6% were technical professionals or scientists, 21 or 5.9% were in education and 10 or 2.8% were in health care.
, there were 187 workers who commuted into the municipality and 855 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 4.6 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 8.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 77.2% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 2,593 or 86.4% were Roman Catholic, while 140 or 4.7% belonged to the Swiss Reformed ChurchSwiss Reformed Church
The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 16 members of an Orthodox church
Orthodox Christianity
The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...
(or about 0.53% of the population), and there were 20 individuals (or about 0.67% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 6 (or about 0.20% of the population) who were Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic. There were 2 individuals who were Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, 1 person who was Hindu
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
and 2 individuals who belonged to another church. 132 (or about 4.40% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....
or atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
, and 96 individuals (or about 3.20% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
In Ayent about 1,004 or (33.5%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 299 or (10.0%) have completed additional higher education (either University or a FachhochschuleFachhochschule
A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...
). Of the 299 who completed tertiary schooling, 57.9% were Swiss men, 27.1% were Swiss women, 7.7% were non-Swiss men and 7.4% were non-Swiss women.
, there were 4 students in Ayent who came from another municipality, while 92 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
Ayent is home to the Bibliothèque communale et scolaire library. The library has 10,332 books or other media, and loaned out 28,200 items in the same year. It was open a total of 260 days with average of 22 hours per week during that year.