Niedergesteln

Niedergesteln is a municipality in the district of Raron in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. Niedergesteln is first mentioned around 1179-84 as Chastellon. In 1224 it was mentioned as Castellion. The municipality was formerly known by its French name Châtillon-le-Bas, however, that name is no longer used. Niedergesteln has an area, , of . Of this area, 12.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 28.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.0% is settled (buildings or roads) and 55.9% is unproductive land. The municipality is located in the Westlich Raron district, on the northern edge of the Rhone valley. The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Impalled Azure issuant from Coupeaux Vert a house Argent, and Gules two Cavalry Sabres Argent hilted Or in saltire between three Mullets [of Six] Or one and two. Niedergesteln has a population () of . , 4.6% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010 ) the population has changed at a rate of 13.5%. It has changed at a rate of 6.5% due to migration and at a rate of 6.8% due to births and deaths. Most of the population () speaks German (556 or 97.0%) as their first language, French is the second most common (8 or 1.4%) and Bulgarian is the third (3 or 0.5%). There are 2 people who speak Italian. the population was 48.8% male and 51.2% female. The population was made up of 315 Swiss men (46.3% of the population) and 17 (2.5%) non-Swiss men. There were 329 Swiss women (48.4%) and 19 (2.8%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 330 or about 57.6% were born in Niedergesteln and lived there in 2000. There were 178 or 31.1% who were born in the same canton, while 32 or 5.6% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 16 or 2.8% were born outside of Switzerland. children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 27.2% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 61.8% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 11%. there were 250 people who were single and never married in the municipality.