Simplon, Valais

Simplon (; ; ), earlier known as Simpeln, is a municipality in the district of Brig in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.

The area was part of Italy since the Roman Empire, but it was colonized by the Germans after 1000 AD, so the Bishop of Sion bought it from the counts of Novara in 1291. Simplon is first mentioned in 1267 as Simpilion. In 1285 it was mentioned as Xeinplon.

Simplon has a population of as of 2008, 2.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 6.2%. It has changed at a rate of 4.6% due to migration and at a rate of 3.2% due to births and deaths. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (322 or 96.7%) as their first language, French is the second most common (4 or 1.2%) and Italian is the third (3 or 0.9%). Of the population in the municipality 246 or about 73.9% were born in Simplon and lived there in 2000. There were 64 or 19.2% who were born in the same canton, while 13 or 3.9% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 7 or 2.1% were born outside of Switzerland. as of 2000, there were 116 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.7 persons per household. In 2000, a total of 108 apartments (55.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 73 apartments (37.6%) were seasonally occupied and 13 apartments (6.7%) were empty.

The old Hospice (Hospice for travelers over the Simplon Pass) is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The village of Simplon, the hamlet of Eggen and the Simplon Pass area are all part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites. The Simplon Hospice was begun in 1801 on orders from Napoleon, but was not finished until 30 years later with the support of the Canons of Great Saint Bernard.

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 69.29% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (14.9%), the SVP (12.97%) and the FDP (1.67%). In the federal election, a total of 175 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 65.8%. In the 2009 Conseil d'État/Staatsrat election a total of 192 votes were cast, of which 9 or about 4.7% were invalid. The voter participation was 71.4%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 174 votes were cast, of which 4 or about 2.3% were invalid. The voter participation was 67.2%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 59.88%.

as of 2010, Simplon had an unemployment rate of 0.2%. as of 2008, there were 42 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 22 businesses involved in this sector. 59 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 7 businesses in this sector. 78 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 19 businesses in this sector. In 2000, there were 74 workers who commuted into the municipality and 43 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.7 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 43.2% of the workforce coming into Simplon are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 10.9% used public transportation to get to work, and 31.4% used a private car. During that school year, there were no kindergarten classes (KG1 or KG2) and there were no kindergarten students. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of primary school. In Simplon there were a total of 2 classes and 13 students in the primary school. The secondary school program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling (orientation classes), followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. All the lower secondary students from Simplon attend their school in a neighboring municipality. All the upper secondary students attended school in another municipality. as of 2000, there was one student in Simplon who came from another municipality, while 2 residents attended schools outside the municipality.