Bürchen (Walliser German: Birchu) is a municipality in the district of Raron in the German-speaking part of the canton of Valais in Switzerland.

[3] Bürchen has an area, as of 2011[update], of 13.4 square kilometers (5.2 sq mi).

It consists several hamlets on a high terrace above the southern side of the Rhone valley.

The proposed merger of the municipalities of Eggerberg, Ausserberg, Bürchen, Baltschieder, Visp and Visperterminen was rejected by the residents.

[4] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (658 or 97.9%) as their first language, French is the second most common (5 or 0.7%) and Albanian is the third (3 or 0.4%).

[4] The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][12] The entire Turtig/Wandfluh region (which is shared between Bürchen, Raron and Unterbäch) is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

[15] In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 439 votes were cast, of which 7 or about 1.6% were invalid.

[4] There were 296 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 34.1% of the workforce.

The number of jobs in the primary sector was 30, of which 22 were in agriculture and 8 were in forestry or lumber production.

In the tertiary sector; 5 or 7.4% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 12 or 17.6% were in the movement and storage of goods, 34 or 50.0% were in a hotel or restaurant, 5 or 7.4% were the insurance or financial industry, 1 was a technical professional or scientist, 5 or 7.4% were in education.

[4] From the 2000 census[update], 606 or 90.2% were Roman Catholic, while 21 or 3.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

The education system in the Canton of Valais allows young children to attend one year of non-obligatory Kindergarten.

All the lower and upper secondary students from Bürchen attend their school in a neighboring municipality.