Collombey Muraz

History

Collombey is first mentioned in 1263 as de Columberio. Muraz was mentioned in 1283 as de Mura.

A 14 km (8.7 mi) long canal, Stockalper Canal was built in the 17th century by Baron Kaspar Stockalper, at that time master of salt in Valais, to connect Collombey-Muraz to Lake Geneva and transport the imported salt in a cheap and convenient way.

Geography

Collombey-Muraz has an area, as of 2009, of 29.8 square kilometers (11.5 sq mi). Of this area, 11.21 km² (4.33 sq mi) or 37.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 11.99 km² (4.63 sq mi) or 40.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.72 km² (1.44 sq mi) or 12.5% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.7 km² (0.27 sq mi) or 2.3% is either rivers or lakes and 2.19 km² (0.85 sq mi) or 7.3% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 3.3% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 5.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.9%. Out of the forested land, 36.1% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 24.8% is used for growing crops and 1.9% is pastures and 10.3% is used for alpine pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 0.5% is in lakes and 1.8% is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 4.0% is unproductive vegetation and 3.4% is too rocky for vegetation.

The municipality is located in the Monthey district, on the left bank of the Rhone river. It consists of the villages of Collombey-le-Grand, Collombey-le-Petit, Muraz and Illarsaz.

Lac de Conche is located in the municipality.

Coat of arms

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure Walls embattled and towered Argent masoned and doored Sable between three Doves volant of the second. The doves and walls (French: colombes et murs make this an example of canting.

Demographics

Collombey-Muraz has a population (as of December 2015) of 8,638. As of 2008, 22.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010 ) the population has changed at a rate of 30.1%. It has changed at a rate of 21.6% due to migration and at a rate of 7.5% due to births and deaths.

Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks French (5,123 or 90.0%) as their first language, German is the second most common (144 or 2.5%) and Italian is the third (140 or 2.5%). There are 3 people who speak Romansh.

As of 2008, the population was 49.8% male and 50.2% female. The population was made up of 2,613 Swiss men (37.4% of the population) and 872 (12.5%) non-Swiss men. There were 2,763 Swiss women (39.5%) and 743 (10.6%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 1,585 or about 27.8% were born in Collombey-Muraz and lived there in 2000. There were 1,517 or 26.6% who were born in the same canton, while 1,383 or 24.3% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 1,068 or 18.8% were born outside of Switzerland.

As of 2000, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 28.8% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 62.8% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 8.3%.

As of 2000, there were 2,437 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 2,782 married individuals, 209 widows or widowers and 267 individuals who are divorced.

As of 2000, there were 2,117 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household. There were 522 households that consist of only one person and 191 households with five or more people. In 2000, a total of 2,031 apartments (91.8% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 128 apartments (5.8%) were seasonally occupied and 54 apartments (2.4%) were empty. As of 2009, the construction rate of new housing units was 14.2 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, in 2010, was 2%.

The historical population is given in the following chart:

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 38.08% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (21.86%), the SP (16.26%) and the FDP (15.14%). In the federal election, a total of 1,858 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 47.9%.

In the 2009 Conseil d'Etat/Staatsrat election a total of 1,370 votes were cast, of which 126 or about 9.2% were invalid. The voter participation was 34.7%, which is much less than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 1,805 votes were cast, of which 169 or about 9.4% were invalid. The voter participation was 47.1%, which is much less than the cantonal average of 59.88%.

Economy

As of 2010, Collombey-Muraz had an unemployment rate of 4.7%. As of 2008, there were 110 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 27 businesses involved in this sector. 1,128 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 107 businesses in this sector. 1,342 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 210 businesses in this sector. There were 2,892 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 39.2% of the workforce.

In 2008 the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 2,219. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 92, of which 66 were in agriculture and 26 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 1,061 of which 488 or (46.0%) were in manufacturing and 548 (51.6%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 1,066. In the tertiary sector; 544 or 51.0% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 48 or 4.5% were in the movement and storage of goods, 99 or 9.3% were in a hotel or restaurant, 11 or 1.0% were in the information industry, 12 or 1.1% were the insurance or financial industry, 69 or 6.5% were technical professionals or scientists, 70 or 6.6% were in education and 111 or 10.4% were in health care.

In 2000, there were 991 workers who commuted into the municipality and 2,114 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.1 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 3.1% of the workforce coming into Collombey-Muraz are coming from outside Switzerland, while 0.0% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work. Of the working population, 9% used public transportation to get to work, and 74.6% used a private car.

Religion

From the 2000 census, 4,033 or 70.8% were Roman Catholic, while 772 or 13.6% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 26 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.46% of the population), there were 8 individuals (or about 0.14% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 147 individuals (or about 2.58% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 6 individuals (or about 0.11% of the population) who were Jewish, and 148 (or about 2.60% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 11 individuals who were Buddhist, 3 individuals who were Hindu and 5 individuals who belonged to another church. 362 (or about 6.36% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 240 individuals (or about 4.21% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Collombey-Muraz about 2,064 or (36.2%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 503 or (8.8%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 503 who completed tertiary schooling, 53.3% were Swiss men, 27.6% were Swiss women, 11.5% were non-Swiss men and 7.6% were non-Swiss women.

As of 2000, there were 22 students in Collombey-Muraz who came from another municipality, while 214 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Collombey-Muraz is home to the Bibliothèque communale library. The library has (as of 2008) 13,019 books or other media, and loaned out 34,135 items in the same year. It was open a total of 121 days with average of 14 hours per week during that year.