Lax, Switzerland
Encyclopedia
Lax is a municipality
in the district of Goms in the canton
of Valais
in Switzerland
.
The municipality is located above the Deisch valley on a small plateau on the right bank of the Rhone
.
of the municipal coat of arms
is Azure, a mountain fesswise Argent, in chief three pine trees eradicated Vert trunked proper.
Most of the population speaks German
(273 or 94.1%) as their first language, Serbo-Croatian
is the second most common (12 or 4.1%) and Dutch
is the third (2 or 0.7%)., 1 person who speaks Italian
.
, the gender distribution of the population was 53.9% male and 46.1% female. The population was made up of 137 Swiss men (44.8% of the population) and 28 (9.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 124 Swiss women (40.5%) and 17 (5.6%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 140 or about 48.3% were born in Lax and lived there in 2000. There were 89 or 30.7% who were born in the same canton, while 20 or 6.9% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 34 or 11.7% were born outside of Switzerland.
The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 23.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 65.2% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 11.7%.
, there were 124 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 144 married individuals, 15 widows or widowers and 7 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.63 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 67.6% 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 112 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household. There were 31 households that consist of only one person and 10 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 113 households that answered this question, 27.4% were households made up of just one person. Of the rest of the households, there are 29 married couples without children, 41 married couples with children There were 8 single parents with a child or children. There were 3 households that were made up of unrelated people and 1 household that was made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 64 single family homes (or 38.8% of the total) out of a total of 165 inhabited buildings. There were 81 multi-family buildings (49.1%), along with 13 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (7.9%) and 7 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (4.2%).
, a total of 111 apartments (29.1% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 128 apartments (33.6%) were seasonally occupied and 142 apartments (37.3%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.3 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 2.31%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
the most popular party was the CVP
which received 63.01% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP
(16.57%), the SP
(13.19%) and the Green Party
(3.5%). In the federal election, a total of 129 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 56.3%.
In the 2009 Conseil d'Etat/Staatsrat
election a total of 109 votes were cast, of which 7 or about 6.4% were invalid. The voter participation was 50.9%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election
election a total of 124 votes were cast, of which 7 or about 5.6% were invalid. The voter participation was 55.6%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 59.88%.
the total number of full-time equivalent
jobs was 82. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 9, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 26 of which 5 or (19.2%) were in manufacturing and 21 (80.8%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 47. In the tertiary sector; 10 or 21.3% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 9 or 19.1% were in a hotel or restaurant, 5 or 10.6% were in the information industry, 7 or 14.9% were the insurance or financial industry, 11 or 23.4% were technical professionals or scientists, 1 was in education.
, there were 46 workers who commuted into the municipality and 94 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.0 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 13.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 57.7% used a private car.
From the , 248 or 85.5% were Roman Catholic, while 11 or 3.8% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
. Of the rest of the population, there were 14 members of an Orthodox church
(or about 4.83% of the population), and there was 1 individual who belongs to another Christian church. There were 7 (or about 2.41% of the population) who were Islam
ic. 2 (or about 0.69% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 7 individuals (or about 2.41% of the population) did not answer the question.
). Of the 24 who completed tertiary schooling, 95.8% were Swiss men, 4.2% were Swiss women.
, there were 8 students in Lax who came from another municipality, while 25 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
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 Goms 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
Lax is first mentioned in 1295 as Lacx. Lax is next documented as a community named Zend Goms Lax in 1308. The first division of irrigation was in 1347; the current system feeds seven farms around the small town. The first local regulations date from 1436.Geography
Lax has an area, , of 5 square kilometre. Of this area, 37.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 38.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 6.4% is settled (buildings or roads) and 17.6% is unproductive land.The municipality is located above the Deisch valley on a small plateau on the right bank 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...
.
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 mountain fesswise Argent, in chief three pine trees eradicated Vert trunked proper.
Demographics
Lax has a population of . , 13.7% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of -4.7%. It has changed at a rate of -9.7% due to migration and at a rate of 3.7% due to births and deaths.Most of the population speaks 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....
(273 or 94.1%) as their first language, Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...
is the second most common (12 or 4.1%) and Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
is the third (2 or 0.7%)., 1 person who speaks 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...
.
, the gender distribution of the population was 53.9% male and 46.1% female. The population was made up of 137 Swiss men (44.8% of the population) and 28 (9.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 124 Swiss women (40.5%) and 17 (5.6%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 140 or about 48.3% were born in Lax and lived there in 2000. There were 89 or 30.7% who were born in the same canton, while 20 or 6.9% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 34 or 11.7% were born outside of Switzerland.
The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 23.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 65.2% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 11.7%.
, there were 124 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 144 married individuals, 15 widows or widowers and 7 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.63 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 67.6% 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 112 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household. There were 31 households that consist of only one person and 10 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 113 households that answered this question, 27.4% were households made up of just one person. Of the rest of the households, there are 29 married couples without children, 41 married couples with children There were 8 single parents with a child or children. There were 3 households that were made up of unrelated people and 1 household that was made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 64 single family homes (or 38.8% of the total) out of a total of 165 inhabited buildings. There were 81 multi-family buildings (49.1%), along with 13 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (7.9%) and 7 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (4.2%).
, a total of 111 apartments (29.1% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 128 apartments (33.6%) were seasonally occupied and 142 apartments (37.3%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.3 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 2.31%.
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 63.01% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were 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...
(16.57%), the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
(13.19%) and the Green Party
Green Party of Switzerland
The Green Party of Switzerland is the fifth-largest party in the National Council of Switzerland, and the largest party that is not represented on the Federal Council.-History:...
(3.5%). In the federal election, a total of 129 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 56.3%.
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 109 votes were cast, of which 7 or about 6.4% were invalid. The voter participation was 50.9%, 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 124 votes were cast, of which 7 or about 5.6% were invalid. The voter participation was 55.6%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 59.88%.
Economy
, Lax had an unemployment rate of 3%. , there were 15 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 8 businesses involved in this sector. 27 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 3 businesses in this sector. 52 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 16 businesses in this sector. There were 163 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 36.8% 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 82. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 9, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 26 of which 5 or (19.2%) were in manufacturing and 21 (80.8%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 47. In the tertiary sector; 10 or 21.3% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 9 or 19.1% were in a hotel or restaurant, 5 or 10.6% were in the information industry, 7 or 14.9% were the insurance or financial industry, 11 or 23.4% were technical professionals or scientists, 1 was in education.
, there were 46 workers who commuted into the municipality and 94 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.0 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 13.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 57.7% used a private car.
Religion
The principal landmark is the neo-gothic church of Saint Anne, designed by Antonio Croci, which dates from 1868.From the , 248 or 85.5% were Roman Catholic, while 11 or 3.8% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
Swiss 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 14 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 4.83% of the population), and there was 1 individual who belongs to another Christian church. There were 7 (or about 2.41% 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. 2 (or about 0.69% 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 7 individuals (or about 2.41% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
In Lax about 120 or (41.4%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 24 or (8.3%) 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 24 who completed tertiary schooling, 95.8% were Swiss men, 4.2% were Swiss women.
, there were 8 students in Lax who came from another municipality, while 25 residents attended schools outside the municipality.