Turtmann
Encyclopedia
Turtmann is a municipality
in the district of Leuk in the canton
of Valais
in Switzerland
.
The municipality is located in the Leuk district, south of the Rhone
river down in the Rhone valley at the entrance to the Turtmann valley. It consists of the village of Turtmann and the hamlets
of Tännu and Ried.
The municipalities of Turtmann and Unterems
are considering a merger on at a date in the future into the new municipality with an, , undetermined name.
of the municipal coat of arms
is Gules, a Bend wavy Argent a Griffin passant coward Or holding in dexter a sword of the second in chief two Mullets of Six of the third in base Coupeaux Vert and fleur-de-lys of the third.
Most of the population speaks German
(923 or 93.0%) as their first language, Albanian
is the second most common (36 or 3.6%) and Italian
is the third (15 or 1.5%). There are 7 people who speak French
and 1 person who speaks Romansh.
, the gender distribution of the population was 47.2% male and 52.8% female. The population was made up of 413 Swiss men (42.6% of the population) and 44 (4.5%) non-Swiss men. There were 477 Swiss women (49.2%) and 35 (3.6%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 569 or about 57.4% were born in Turtmann and lived there in 2000. There were 243 or 24.5% who were born in the same canton, while 57 or 5.7% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 101 or 10.2% were born outside of Switzerland.
The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 30.7% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 56.9% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 12.4%.
, there were 443 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 459 married individuals, 58 widows or widowers and 32 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.71 which is more people per room than 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 75.7% 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 350 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.8 persons per household. There were 87 households that consist of only one person and 53 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 360 households that answered this question, 24.2% were households made up of just one person and there were 10 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 79 married couples without children, 151 married couples with children There were 18 single parents with a child or children. There were 5 households that were made up of unrelated people and 10 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 123 single family homes (or 55.7% of the total) out of a total of 221 inhabited buildings. There were 59 multi-family buildings (26.7%), along with 25 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (11.3%) and 14 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (6.3%).
, a total of 325 apartments (85.5% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 33 apartments (8.7%) were seasonally occupied and 22 apartments (5.8%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.1 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 2.25%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
the most popular party was the CVP
which received 62.45% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP
(25.62%), the SP
(6.16%) and the FDP
(4.64%). In the federal election, a total of 561 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 77.6%.
In the 2009 Conseil d'Etat/Staatsrat
election a total of 544 votes were cast, of which 15 or about 2.8% were invalid. The voter participation was 73.4%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election
election a total of 558 votes were cast, of which 26 or about 4.7% were invalid. The voter participation was 77.2%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 59.88%.
the total number of full-time equivalent
jobs was 307. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 42, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 140 of which 93 or (66.4%) were in manufacturing and 44 (31.4%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 125. In the tertiary sector; 42 or 33.6% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 22 or 17.6% were in the movement and storage of goods, 21 or 16.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 3 or 2.4% were the insurance or financial industry, 12 or 9.6% were technical professionals or scientists, 5 or 4.0% were in education and 4 or 3.2% were in health care.
, there were 193 workers who commuted into the municipality and 277 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.4 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 19.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 51.7% used a private car.
. Of the rest of the population, there was 1 member of an Orthodox church
, and there were 10 individuals (or about 1.01% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 77 (or about 7.76% of the population) who were Islam
ic. There was 1 person who was Buddhist
. 11 (or about 1.11% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 40 individuals (or about 4.03% of the population) did not answer the question.
). Of the 62 who completed tertiary schooling, 80.6% were Swiss men, 14.5% were Swiss women.
During the 2010-2011 school year there were a total of 91 students in the Turtmann school system. The education system
in the Canton of Valais allows young children to attend one year of non-obligatory Kindergarten
. During that school year, there 2 kindergarten classes (KG1 or KG2) and 25 kindergarten students. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of primary school. In Turtmann there were a total of 6 classes and 91 students in the primary school. The secondary school
program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling (orientation classes), followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. All the lower and upper secondary students from Turtmann attend their school in a neighboring municipality.
, there were 78 students from Turtmann who 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 Leuk 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
Turtmann is first mentioned in 1050 as Curtmannonis. In 1210 it was mentioned as Torthemanei and Tortemagny.Geography
Turtmann has an area, , of 6.8 square kilometre. Of this area, 46.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 36.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 14.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and 3.2% is unproductive land.The municipality is located in the Leuk district, south 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 down in the Rhone valley at the entrance to the Turtmann valley. It consists of the village of Turtmann and the 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 Tännu and Ried.
The municipalities of Turtmann and Unterems
Unterems
Unterems is a municipality in the district of Leuk in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.-Geography:Unterems has an area, , of . Of this area, 39.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 53.6% is forested...
are considering a merger on at a date in the future into the new municipality with an, , undetermined name.
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 Gules, a Bend wavy Argent a Griffin passant coward Or holding in dexter a sword of the second in chief two Mullets of Six of the third in base Coupeaux Vert and fleur-de-lys of the third.
Demographics
Turtmann has a population of . , 8.4% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of -5.6%. It has changed at a rate of -4.2% due to migration and at a rate of 0.7% 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....
(923 or 93.0%) as their first language, Albanian
Albanian language
Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...
is the second most common (36 or 3.6%) and 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...
is the third (15 or 1.5%). There are 7 people who speak 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...
and 1 person who speaks Romansh.
, the gender distribution of the population was 47.2% male and 52.8% female. The population was made up of 413 Swiss men (42.6% of the population) and 44 (4.5%) non-Swiss men. There were 477 Swiss women (49.2%) and 35 (3.6%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 569 or about 57.4% were born in Turtmann and lived there in 2000. There were 243 or 24.5% who were born in the same canton, while 57 or 5.7% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 101 or 10.2% were born outside of Switzerland.
The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 30.7% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 56.9% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 12.4%.
, there were 443 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 459 married individuals, 58 widows or widowers and 32 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.71 which is more people per room than 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 75.7% 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 350 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.8 persons per household. There were 87 households that consist of only one person and 53 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 360 households that answered this question, 24.2% were households made up of just one person and there were 10 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 79 married couples without children, 151 married couples with children There were 18 single parents with a child or children. There were 5 households that were made up of unrelated people and 10 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 123 single family homes (or 55.7% of the total) out of a total of 221 inhabited buildings. There were 59 multi-family buildings (26.7%), along with 25 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (11.3%) and 14 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (6.3%).
, a total of 325 apartments (85.5% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 33 apartments (8.7%) were seasonally occupied and 22 apartments (5.8%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.1 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 2.25%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Sights
The entire village of Turtmann is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage SitesInventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
The Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites 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:...
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 62.45% 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...
(25.62%), the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
(6.16%) 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....
(4.64%). In the federal election, a total of 561 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 77.6%.
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 544 votes were cast, of which 15 or about 2.8% were invalid. The voter participation was 73.4%, which is much more than 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 558 votes were cast, of which 26 or about 4.7% were invalid. The voter participation was 77.2%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 59.88%.
Economy
, Turtmann had an unemployment rate of 2.1%. , there were 82 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 31 businesses involved in this sector. 147 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 17 businesses in this sector. 155 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 42 businesses in this sector. There were 447 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 34.9% 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 307. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 42, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 140 of which 93 or (66.4%) were in manufacturing and 44 (31.4%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 125. In the tertiary sector; 42 or 33.6% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 22 or 17.6% were in the movement and storage of goods, 21 or 16.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 3 or 2.4% were the insurance or financial industry, 12 or 9.6% were technical professionals or scientists, 5 or 4.0% were in education and 4 or 3.2% were in health care.
, there were 193 workers who commuted into the municipality and 277 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.4 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 19.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 51.7% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 833 or 84.0% were Roman Catholic, while 24 or 2.4% 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 was 1 member of an Orthodox church
Orthodox Christianity
The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...
, and there were 10 individuals (or about 1.01% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 77 (or about 7.76% 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 was 1 person who was 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...
. 11 (or about 1.11% 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 40 individuals (or about 4.03% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
In Turtmann about 347 or (35.0%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 62 or (6.3%) 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 62 who completed tertiary schooling, 80.6% were Swiss men, 14.5% were Swiss women.
During the 2010-2011 school year there were a total of 91 students in the Turtmann school system. The education system
Education in Switzerland
The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system mainly to the cantons...
in the Canton of Valais allows young children to attend one year of non-obligatory Kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
. During that school year, there 2 kindergarten classes (KG1 or KG2) and 25 kindergarten students. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of primary school. In Turtmann there were a total of 6 classes and 91 students in the primary school. The secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling (orientation classes), followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. All the lower and upper secondary students from Turtmann attend their school in a neighboring municipality.
, there were 78 students from Turtmann who attended schools outside the municipality.