Bitsch

Geschichte

Bitsch is a municipality in the district of Raron in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.GeographyBitsch has an area, of 4.1km2. Of this area, 22.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 49.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 9.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and 18.2% is unproductive land.The municipality is located in the Östlich-Raron district, on the southern facing slopes of the mountains. It consists of scattered, small hamlets including the main hamlet of Wasen.Coat of armsThe blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure, on Coupeaux Vert a Chamois rampant Sable langued Gules between an edelweiss and a rhododendron proper.DemographicsBitsch has a population of., 7.7% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010 ) the population has changed at a rate of 8.8%. It has changed at a rate of 8% due to migration and at a rate of 4.3% due to births and deaths.Most of the population speaks German (721 or 96.5%) as their first language, Dutch is the second most common (8 or 1.1%) and French is the third (7 or 0.9%). There are 7 people who speak Italian., the population was made up of 775 Swiss citizens and 65 non-citizen residents (7.74% of the population). Of the population in the municipality, 277 or about 37.1% were born in Bitsch and lived there in 2000. There were 329 or 44.0% who were born in the same canton, while 83 or 11.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 42 or 5.6% were born outside of Switzerland.