Unterbäch

Geschichte

Unterbäch is a municipality in the district of Raron in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.HistoryUnterbäch is first mentioned about 1280 as Underbechque. On 18 August 1957, Unterbäch was the first community in Switzerland to establish the communal voting and election rights for women.GeographyUnterbäch has an area, of 22km2. Of this area, 27.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 27.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.6% is settled (buildings or roads) and 43.0% is unproductive land.The municipality is located in the Westlich Raron district, on a high terrace above the left bank of the Rhone river.Coat of armsThe blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules, a Patriarchal Cross Or issuant from Coupeaux Vert.DemographicsUnterbäch has a population of., 3.1% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010 ) the population has changed at a rate of -9.7%. It has changed at a rate of -6.2% due to migration and at a rate of -3.8% due to births and deaths.Most of the population speaks German (410 or 96.2%) as their first language, Albanian is the second most common (8 or 1.9%) and French is the third (3 or 0.7%)., the population was 47.9% male and 52.1% female. The population was made up of 190 Swiss men (46.5% of the population) and 6 (1.5%) non-Swiss men. There were 207 Swiss women (50.6%) and 6 (1.5%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 256 or about 60.1% were born in Unterbäch and lived there in 2000. There were 90 or 21.1% who were born in the same canton, while 46 or 10.8% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 31 or 7.3% were born outside of Switzerland.