Summary – The article gives an overview of the area of Zermatt in a very unique way from otherwise. It gives a political overview.
Well, unlike anywhere else is quite interesting for the fact that there are a just a couple thousand voters who actually vote and it’s still an organised election where political parties are formed. As of now it is administered by Christian Democratic People’s Party of Switzerland. It has been ruling since 2007 when it won by almost a two-third share of the total votes.
It is a Tourist Paradise!
Being more of a tourist paradise, a majority of the population works in the restaurant and hotel industry. Zermatt is predominantly Roman Catholic with three-fourth of its population following the religion. A small minority of a little more than a hundred preach the teachings of the Orthodox Church. There are Muslims and Atheists who fill up the remaining population gap. Except for these, a handful of Jewish and Buddhists live in Zermatt as well.
Education and Its Influence
Zermatt does well on statistics involving education. The only ones who are illiterates are little kids who are young enough to learn anything. About one-third of the population has completed non-mandatory upper secondary education. An additional 7.8%has completed higher education from a reputed University. Attending Kindergarten is not an obligation in Zermatt. Anyways, one can go for it if the idea appears good enough. It’s followed by 6 years of compulsory primary education. Upper secondary education is in another district, but the administration makes sure that each and every student goes through it.
Zermatt will Surprise you!
Zermatt does not have any UNESCO world heritage site as such but grinding stone at Hubelwang which is believed to be pre-historic ranks as a Swiss heritage site of importance. Another one sharing the status is petroglyphs. Now the interesting and shocking fact is that Zermatt, despite its tourist importance has a meagre population of 5,786 as of December 2012. And the interesting fact is that more than one third of the population consists of foreign nationals. Anyways, it’s growing positively at a rate of 6.4%.
Language Skills
More than two third of the population speak German as their first language. One-eighth speak Portuguese and a few speak Italian. Zermatt has a handful of French speakers as well. Children make a fifth of the population, working adults, a fourth and the remaining gap is filled by senior citizens.
People in Zermatt live in an individualist society. Rather many even prefer to live alone. Rather say about half of the population never married so the place has a large number of singles.
