[1] Except for the municipality of Ayent, which lies on the north bank of the Rhône, the municipalities of Hérens are located in the Val d'Hérens on the south bank of the Rhône.

It comprises the following municipalities: After the conquest of Lower Valais by the bishopric of Sion (1476), the Val d’Hérens became subordinate to the reeve of Saint-Maurice.

[3] The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure, on three mounts Vert a Ram passant Argent horned Or between two Mullets Or in chief.

[1] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks French (8,582 or 95.0%) as their first language, German is the second most common (203 or 2.2%) and Portuguese is the third (100 or 1.1%).

[6][8] The historical population is given in the following chart:[9] In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 47.67% of the vote.

In the federal election, a total of 5,651 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 71.8%.

[11] In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 5,571 votes were cast, of which 285 or about 5.1% were invalid.

[12] From the 2000 census[update], 7,939 or 87.9% were Roman Catholic, while 363 or 4.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.