Ausserberg

Ausserberg is a municipality in the district of Raron in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. Ausserberg is first mentioned in 1378 as Leucrun. In 1401 it was mentioned as mons episcopi and in 1523 it was mons exterior. Ausserberg has an area, , of . Of this area, 23.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 45.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.3% is settled (buildings or roads) and 28.7% is unproductive land. The municipality is located in the Westlich Raron district, on the northern slope of the Rhone valley between the Baltschiederbach and the Bietschhorn mountain. It consists of a number of scattered settlements with the central village of Trogdorf at an elevation of . The proposed merger of the municipalities of Eggerberg, Ausserberg, Bürchen, Baltschieder, Visp and Visperterminen was rejected by the residents. The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure, on Coupeaux of Five Vert issuant from a Mullet of Five Argent and surrounded by four other, a Cross pattee Or from which issuing an Eagle displayed bicephalous Sable beaked of the third and langued Gules. Ausserberg has a population () of . , 5.7% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010 ) the population has changed at a rate of 0.3%. It has changed at a rate of 1.4% due to migration and at a rate of -1.1% due to births and deaths. Most of the population () speaks German (619 or 98.6%) as their first language, Serbo-Croatian is the second most common (4 or 0.6%) and French is the third (3 or 0.5%). There is 1 person who speaks Italian. the population was 48.6% male and 51.4% female. The population was made up of 306 Swiss men (46.6% of the population) and 13 (2.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 320 Swiss women (48.8%) and 17 (2.6%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 470 or about 74.8% were born in Ausserberg and lived there in 2000. There were 88 or 14.0% who were born in the same canton, while 40 or 6.4% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 15 or 2.4% were born outside of Switzerland.