Nax

Nax is first mentioned around 1001–1100 as Nas. Its village church collapsed in 1909 during a service, killing 31 and injuring 50. ==Geography==

Nax has an area, , of . Of this area, or 33.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 31.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 3.2% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.4% is either rivers or lakes and or 31.4% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 1.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.9%. Out of the forested land, 29.2% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.5% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.1% is used for growing crops and 5.4% is pastures and 27.1% is used for alpine pastures. Of the water in the village, 0.2% is in lakes and 0.2% is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 12.4% is unproductive vegetation and 19.0% is too rocky for vegetation. Nax is situated at the entrance to the Hérens valley near a rocky promontory which may provided its name, from the , nose. ==Coat of arms==

The blazon of the village coat of arms is Azure, issuant from Coupeaux Vert between two Bucks rampant respectant Argent a Pine Tree Vert trunked proper topped with a Bird volant Or, in chief two Mullets of Five of the last. ==Demographics==

Nax has a population () of 403. Most of the population () speaks French (362 or 94.5%) as their first language, German is the second most common (14 or 3.7%) and Italian is the third (3 or 0.8%). Of the population in the village 212 or about 55.4% were born in Nax and lived there in 2000. There were 66 or 17.2% who were born in the same canton, while 57 or 14.9% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 33 or 8.6% were born outside of Switzerland. There were 55 households that consist of only one person and 7 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 174 households that answered this question, 31.6% were households made up of just one person and there were 7 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 50 married couples without children, 45 married couples with children There were 9 single parents with a child or children. There were 2 households that were made up of unrelated people and 6 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing. , a total of 167 apartments (28.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 359 apartments (62.2%) were seasonally occupied and 51 apartments (8.8%) 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:560 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:361 text:"361" bar:1860 from:start till:387 text:"387" bar:1870 from:start till:437 text:"437" bar:1880 from:start till:446 text:"446" bar:1888 from:start till:431 text:"431" bar:1900 from:start till:483 text:"483" bar:1910 from:start till:494 text:"494" bar:1920 from:start till:527 text:"527" bar:1930 from:start till:537 text:"537" bar:1941 from:start till:552 text:"552" bar:1950 from:start till:516 text:"516" bar:1960 from:start till:471 text:"471" bar:1970 from:start till:375 text:"375" bar:1980 from:start till:356 text:"356" bar:1990 from:start till:400 text:"400" bar:2000 from:start till:383 text:"383" ==Politics==

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 35.92% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (25.32%), the FDP (16.05%) and the SVP (13.99%). In the federal election, a total of 248 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 67.2%. In the 2009 Conseil d'État/Staatsrat election a total of 227 votes were cast, of which 8 or about 3.5% were invalid. The voter participation was 63.6%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 244 votes were cast, of which 14 or about 5.7% were invalid. The voter participation was 68.5%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 59.88%. ==Economy==

, Nax had an unemployment rate of 0%. , there were people employed in the primary economic sector and about businesses involved in this sector. No one was employed in the secondary sector or the tertiary sector. , there were 29 workers who commuted into the village and 103 workers who commuted away. The village is a net exporter of workers, with about 3.6 workers leaving the village for every one entering. Of the working population, % used public transportation to get to work, and % used a private car. ==Religion==

From the , 330 or 86.2% were Roman Catholic, while 17 or 4.4% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. There were 1 individual who belonged to another church. 20 (or about 5.22% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 15 individuals (or about 3.92% of the population) did not answer the question. ==Education==

In Nax about 134 or (35.0%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 40 or (10.4%) have completed additional higher education (either University or a Fachhochschule). Of the 40 who completed tertiary schooling, 50.0% were Swiss men, 25.0% were Swiss women, 12.5% were non-Swiss men and 12.5% were non-Swiss women. , there were 14 students in Nax who came from another village, while 25 residents attended schools outside the village. ==References==