Sion District

Sion District de Sion
District
Flag Coat of arms
Country	Switzerland
Canton	Valais
Capital	Sion
Area
• Total	125.6 km2 (48.5 sq mi)
Population  (2020)
• Total	48,447
• Density	390/km2 (1,000/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Municipalities	5

The district of Sion is a district of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a population of 48,447 (as of 31 December 2020). ^[1]

Municipalities

It comprises the following municipalities:

Municipality	Population (31 December 2020) [1]	Area km² [2]
Arbaz	1,360	19.29
Grimisuat	3,584	4.44
Savièse	7,937	70.92
Sion	34,978	34.86
Veysonnaz	588	1.1
Total	48,447	125.51

Coat of arms

The blazon of the district coat of arms is Per pale Argent two Mullets of Five Gules, and Gules. ^[3]

Demographics

Sion has a population (as of December 2020 ^[update] ) of 48,447. ^[1] Most of the population (as of 2000 ^[update] ) speaks French (31,488 or 85.1%) as their first language, German is the second most common (1,878 or 5.1%) and Portuguese is the third (1,029 or 2.8%). There are 915 people who speak Italian and 20 people who speak Romansh. ^[4]

As of 2008 ^[update] , the gender distribution of the population was 48.3% male and 51.7% female. The population comprised 15,250 Swiss men (36.8% of the population) and 4,787 (11.5%) non-Swiss men. There were 16,910 Swiss women (40.8%) and 4,537 (10.9%) non-Swiss women. ^[5] Of the population in the district 14,700 or about 39.7% were born in Sion and lived there in 2000. There were 9,873 or 26.7% who were born in the same canton, while 3,986 or 10.8% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 7,258, or 19.6% were born outside of Switzerland. ^[4]

As of 2000 ^[update] , 15,728 people were single and never married in the district. There were 17,375 married individuals, 2,099 widows or widowers and 1,791 individuals who are divorced. ^[4]

4,974 households consist of only one person and 967 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 15,344 households that answered this question, 32.4% were households made up of just one person and 146 adults lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 3,694 married couples without children, 4,762 married couples with children There were 1,065 single parents with a child or children. 245 households were made up of unrelated people and 458 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing. ^[4]

The historical population is given in the following chart: ^[6]

Mergers and name changes

• On 17 November 1962, Bramois merged into the municipality of Sion. ^[7]
• On 1 January 2013 the former municipality of Salins merged into the municipality of Sion. ^[8]
• On 1 January 2017 the former municipality of Les Agettes merged into the municipality of Sion.

Politics

In the 2007 federal election, the most popular party was the CVP which received 37.31% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (18.59%), the SVP (15.81%) and the FDP (13.65%). In the federal election, a total of 15,459 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 59.9%. ^[9]

In the 2009 Conseil d'État/Staatsrat election, a total of 13,603 votes were cast, of which 1,334 or about 9.8% were invalid. The voter participation was 52.7%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 54.67%. ^[10] In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 15,234 votes were cast, of which 1,196 or about 7.9% were invalid. The voter participation was 60.0%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 59.88%. ^[11]

Religion

From the 2000 census ^[update] , 29,644 or 80.1% were Roman Catholic, while 1,708 or 4.6% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 241 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.65% of the population), there were 22 individuals (or about 0.06% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 629 individuals (or about 1.70% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 16 individuals (or about 0.04% of the population) who were Jewish, and 1,429 (or about 3.86% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 93 individuals who were Buddhist, 52 individuals who were Hindu and 25 individuals who belonged to another church. 1,704 (or about 4.61% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 1,735 individuals (or about 4.69% of the population) did not answer the question. ^[4]

Weather

Sion town has an average of 82.6 days of rain or snow per year and on average receives 598 mm (23.5 in) of precipitation. The wettest month is December during which time Sion receives an average of 61 mm (2.4 in) of rain or snow. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 7.4 days. The month with the most days of precipitation is August, with an average of 8.2, but with only 55 mm (2.2 in) of rain or snow. The driest month of the year is April with an average of 36 mm (1.4 in) of precipitation over 5.9 days. ^[12]

Education

In Sion about 11,917 or (32.2%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 4,922 or (13.3%) have completed additional higher education (either University or a Fachhochschule ). Of the 4,922 who completed tertiary schooling, 56.8% were Swiss men, 30.7% were Swiss women, 7.0% were non-Swiss men and 5.6% were non-Swiss women. ^[4]

References

1. "Ständige und nichtständige Wohnbevölkerung nach institutionellen Gliederungen, Geburtsort und Staatsangehörigkeit". bfs.admin.ch (in German). Swiss Federal Statistical Office - STAT-TAB. 31 December 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
2. Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics 2009 data (in German) accessed 25 March 2010
3. Flags of the World.com accessed 25-August-2011
4. STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000 Archived 2013-08-09 at the Wayback Machine (in German) accessed 2 February 2011
5. Ständige Wohnbevolkerung nach Geschlecht und Heimat am 31.12.2009.xls (in German and French) accessed 24 August 2011
6. Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Bevölkerungsentwicklung nach Region, 1850-2000 Archived 2014-09-30 at the Wayback Machine (in German) accessed 29 January 2011
7. Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz Archived 2015-11-13 at the Wayback Machine (in German) accessed 4 April 2011
8. Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz Archived 2015-11-13 at the Wayback Machine (in German) accessed 9 February 2013
9. Swiss Federal Statistical Office, Nationalratswahlen 2007: Stärke der Parteien und Wahlbeteiligung, nach Gemeinden/Bezirk/Canton (in German) accessed 28 May 2010
10. Staatsratswahlen vom 1. März 2009 (in German) accessed 24 August 2011
11. Ständeratswahl 2007 (in German) accessed 24 August 2011
12. "Temperature and Precipitation Average Values-Table, 1961-1990" (in German, French, and Italian). Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology - MeteoSwiss. Archived from the original on 27 June 2009. Retrieved 8 May 2009., the Sion weather station elevation is 482 meters above sea level.

46°14′00″N7°20′57″E / 46.23333°N 7.34917°E / 46.23333; 7.34917