Ernen

Ernen is first mentioned in 1214 as Aragnon. In 1220 it was mentioned as Arengnon and in 1510 it was Aernen. ==Geography==

Ernen has an area, , of . Of this area, 36.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 35.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.5% is settled (buildings or roads) and 27.0% is unproductive land. ==Coat of arms==

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per pale Gules and Argent, two Greek Crosses couped palewise counterchanged. ==Demographics==

Ernen has a population () of . In 2008, 5.2% of the population were resident foreign nationals. Over the 10 years 1999–2009, the population changed at a rate of -8.3%. It has changed at a rate of 0% due to migration and at a rate of -7.1% due to births and deaths. Most of the population in 2000 spoke German (367 or 95.3%) as their first language, Serbo-Croatian is the second most common (5 or 1.3%) and Dutch is the third (3 or 0.8%). There are 2 people who speak French, 1 person who speaks Italian. Of the population in the municipality, 207 or about 53.8% were born in Ernen and lived there in 2000. There were 97 or 25.2% who were born in the same canton, while 48 or 12.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 26 or 6.8% born outside of Switzerland. In 2000, there were 231 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household. In 2000, 163 apartments (29.0% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 285 apartments (50.6%) were seasonally occupied and 115 apartments (20.4%) were empty. Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:960 height:210 PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:500 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:100 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:20 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1850 from:start till:414 text:"414" bar:1860 from:start till:492 text:"492" bar:1870 from:start till:434 text:"434" bar:1880 from:start till:456 text:"456" bar:1888 from:start till:417 text:"417" bar:1900 from:start till:355 text:"355" bar:1910 from:start till:334 text:"334" bar:1920 from:start till:308 text:"308" bar:1930 from:start till:311 text:"311" bar:1941 from:start till:319 text:"319" bar:1950 from:start till:299 text:"299" bar:1960 from:start till:344 text:"344" bar:1970 from:start till:330 text:"330" bar:1980 from:start till:317 text:"317" bar:1990 from:start till:390 text:"390" bar:2000 from:start till:385 text:"385" bar:2018 from:start till:492 text:"492" ==Heritage sites of national significance==

The Erner Galgen, the Jost-Sigristen House, and the Tellen House are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire village of Ernen is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites. ==Politics==

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 52.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (19.58%), the SP (17.28%) and the Green Party (4.67%). In the federal election, a total of 204 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 46.9%. In the 2009 Conseil d'Etat/Staatsrat election a total of 191 votes were cast, of which 27 or about 14.1% were invalid. The voter participation was 45.7%, which is much less than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 204 votes were cast, of which 6 or about 2.9% were invalid. The voter participation was 46.9%, which is much less than the cantonal average of 59.88%. ==Economy==

, Ernen had an unemployment rate of 0.3%. , there were 30 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 14 businesses involved in this sector. 35 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 7 businesses in this sector. 108 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 26 businesses in this sector. , there were 62 workers who commuted into the municipality and 82 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.3 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 8.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 55% used a private car. ==Religion==

From the , 337 or 87.5% were Roman Catholic, while 25 or 6.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 7 individuals (or about 1.82% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. 14 (or about 3.64% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 5 individuals (or about 1.30% of the population) did not answer the question. ==Education==

In Ernen about 130 or (33.8%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 38 or (9.9%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 38 who completed tertiary schooling, 71.1% were Swiss men, 13.2% were Swiss women. During that school year, there were no kindergarten classes (KG1 or KG2) and there were no kindergarten students. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of primary school. In Ernen there were a total of 2 classes and 19 students in the primary school. The secondary school program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling (orientation classes), followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. All the lower and upper secondary students from Ernen attend their school in a neighboring municipality. , there were 44 students in Ernen who came from another municipality, while 29 residents attended schools outside the municipality. ==Cultural events==

In 2016, Ernen hosts a musical festival (the 43rd edition) lasting most of July and August, with a widely varied program. ==References==