Vollèges
Encyclopedia
Vollèges is a municipality
in the district of Entremont in the canton
of Valais
in Switzerland
.
of the municipal coat of arms
is Azure, on a base Vert a Pine tree eradicated Vert trunked and rooted Maroon in front of two cliffs Argent, in chief two Mullets of Five Or.
Most of the population speaks French
(1,283 or 98.0%) as their first language, German
is the second most common (12 or 0.9%) and Italian
is the third (5 or 0.4%).
, the gender distribution of the population was 50.1% male and 49.9% female. The population was made up of 730 Swiss men (47.1% of the population) and 46 (3.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 731 Swiss women (47.2%) and 43 (2.8%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 835 or about 63.8% were born in Vollèges and lived there in 2000. There were 275 or 21.0% who were born in the same canton, while 111 or 8.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 64 or 4.9% were born outside of Switzerland.
The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 30.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 54.5% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 15.2%.
, there were 568 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 646 married individuals, 65 widows or widowers and 30 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.65 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 86.5% 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 440 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.9 persons per household. There were 91 households that consist of only one person and 83 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 447 households that answered this question, 20.4% were households made up of just one person and there were 7 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 106 married couples without children, 205 married couples with children There were 23 single parents with a child or children. There were 8 households that were made up of unrelated people and 7 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 444 single family homes (or 79.6% of the total) out of a total of 558 inhabited buildings. There were 72 multi-family buildings (12.9%), along with 28 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (5.0%) and 14 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (2.5%).
, a total of 431 apartments (65.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 197 apartments (29.8%) were seasonally occupied and 32 apartments (4.8%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.2 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.26%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
the most popular party was the CVP
which received 62.24% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP
(11.11%), the SP
(9.82%) and the SVP
(7.55%). In the federal election, a total of 671 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 58.7%.
In the 2009 Conseil d'Etat/Staatsrat
election a total of 587 votes were cast, of which 31 or about 5.3% were invalid. The voter participation was 52.5%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election
election a total of 647 votes were cast, of which 44 or about 6.8% were invalid. The voter participation was 58.3%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 59.88%.
the total number of full-time equivalent
jobs was 308. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 46, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 130 of which 80 or (61.5%) were in manufacturing and 46 (35.4%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 132. In the tertiary sector; 39 or 29.5% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 22 or 16.7% were in the movement and storage of goods, 10 or 7.6% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 1.5% were in the information industry, 11 or 8.3% were the insurance or financial industry, 10 or 7.6% were technical professionals or scientists, .
, there were 56 workers who commuted into the municipality and 373 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 6.7 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 9.6% used public transportation to get to work, and 72.3% used a private car.
. Of the rest of the population, there were 4 individuals (or about 0.31% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 3 (or about 0.23% of the population) who were Islam
ic. There were 1 individual who belonged to another church. 42 (or about 3.21% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 31 individuals (or about 2.37% of the population) did not answer the question.
). Of the 92 who completed tertiary schooling, 71.7% were Swiss men, 25.0% were Swiss women.
, there were 135 students from Vollèges 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 Entremont 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....
.
Geography
Vollèges has an area, , of 17.9 square kilometre. Of this area, 24.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 56.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 6.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and 13.3% is unproductive land.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, on a base Vert a Pine tree eradicated Vert trunked and rooted Maroon in front of two cliffs Argent, in chief two Mullets of Five Or.
Demographics
Vollèges has a population of . , 5.1% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 10.6%. It has changed at a rate of 10.3% due to migration and at a rate of 4.1% 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...
(1,283 or 98.0%) 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 (12 or 0.9%) 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 (5 or 0.4%).
, the gender distribution of the population was 50.1% male and 49.9% female. The population was made up of 730 Swiss men (47.1% of the population) and 46 (3.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 731 Swiss women (47.2%) and 43 (2.8%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 835 or about 63.8% were born in Vollèges and lived there in 2000. There were 275 or 21.0% who were born in the same canton, while 111 or 8.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 64 or 4.9% were born outside of Switzerland.
The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 30.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 54.5% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 15.2%.
, there were 568 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 646 married individuals, 65 widows or widowers and 30 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.65 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 86.5% 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 440 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.9 persons per household. There were 91 households that consist of only one person and 83 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 447 households that answered this question, 20.4% were households made up of just one person and there were 7 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 106 married couples without children, 205 married couples with children There were 23 single parents with a child or children. There were 8 households that were made up of unrelated people and 7 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 444 single family homes (or 79.6% of the total) out of a total of 558 inhabited buildings. There were 72 multi-family buildings (12.9%), along with 28 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (5.0%) and 14 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (2.5%).
, a total of 431 apartments (65.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 197 apartments (29.8%) were seasonally occupied and 32 apartments (4.8%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.2 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.26%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Sights
The entire village of Vollèges and the hamlet of Vens are 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 62.24% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were 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....
(11.11%), the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
(9.82%) and 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...
(7.55%). In the federal election, a total of 671 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 58.7%.
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 587 votes were cast, of which 31 or about 5.3% were invalid. The voter participation was 52.5%, 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 647 votes were cast, of which 44 or about 6.8% were invalid. The voter participation was 58.3%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 59.88%.
Economy
, Vollèges had an unemployment rate of 3.3%. , there were 103 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 39 businesses involved in this sector. 137 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 22 businesses in this sector. 164 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 35 businesses in this sector. There were 541 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 37.2% 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 308. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 46, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 130 of which 80 or (61.5%) were in manufacturing and 46 (35.4%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 132. In the tertiary sector; 39 or 29.5% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 22 or 16.7% were in the movement and storage of goods, 10 or 7.6% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 1.5% were in the information industry, 11 or 8.3% were the insurance or financial industry, 10 or 7.6% were technical professionals or scientists, .
, there were 56 workers who commuted into the municipality and 373 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 6.7 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 9.6% used public transportation to get to work, and 72.3% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 1,189 or 90.8% were Roman Catholic, while 41 or 3.1% 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 4 individuals (or about 0.31% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 3 (or about 0.23% 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 1 individual who belonged to another church. 42 (or about 3.21% 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 31 individuals (or about 2.37% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
In Vollèges about 461 or (35.2%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 92 or (7.0%) 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 92 who completed tertiary schooling, 71.7% were Swiss men, 25.0% were Swiss women.
, there were 135 students from Vollèges who attended schools outside the municipality.