Grengiols

Grengiols is a municipality in the district of Raron in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. Grengiols is first mentioned in 1052 as Graneirolis. In 1228 it was mentioned as Griniruel and in 1297 as Graniols. The name probably comes from the Latin word graneirolas meaning a small granary. Grengiols has an area, , of . Of this area, 21.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 25.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.8% is settled (buildings or roads) and 52.4% is unproductive land. The municipality is located in the Östlich Raron district, on the southern slopes of the Rhone valley near the entrance to the Goms valley. It consists of the village of Grengiols with scattered settlements including; Hockmatte, Ze Hyschere, Bächerhyschere and others, on the road leading into the Goms valley and then over the Albrun Pass. The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules, two Keys Or in saltire in chief a papal Crown of the same. Grengiols has a population () of . , 2.3% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010 ) the population has changed at a rate of −3.6%. It has changed at a rate of −3.2% due to migration and at a rate of −2.4% due to births and deaths. Most of the population () speaks German (481 or 98.0%) as their first language, French is the second most common (4 or 0.8%) and English is the third (2 or 0.4%). the population was made up of 463 Swiss citizens and 11 non-citizen residents (2.32% of the population). Of the population in the municipality, 341 or about 69.5% were born in Grengiols and lived there in 2000. There were 93 or 18.9% who were born in the same canton, while 21 or 4.3% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 18 or 3.7% were born outside of Switzerland. children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 28.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 51.7% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 20%. there were 228 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 224 married individuals, 26 widows or widowers and 13 individuals who are divorced.