Safien
Safien | |
|---|---|
 Coat of arms | |
Location of Safien  | |
  Safien  Safien | |
| Coordinates: 46°40′N 9°18′E / 46.667°N 9.300°E | |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Canton | Graubünden |
| District | Surselva |
| Area | |
| • Total | 100.58 km2 (38.83 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 1,315 m (4,314 ft) |
| Population (Dec 2011) | |
| • Total | 294 |
| • Density | 2.9/km2 (7.6/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (Central European Time) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (Central European Summer Time) |
| Postal code(s) | 7107 |
| SFOS number | 3651 |
| ISO 3166 code | CH-GR |
| Surrounded by | Casti-Wergenstein, Duvin, Flerden, Mathon, Nufenen, Pitasch, Portein, Präz, Riein, Sankt Martin, Sarn, Splügen, Sufers, Tenna, Tschappina, Vals |
| Twin towns | Bettingen (Switzerland) |
| Website | www SFSO statistics |
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Safien is a former municipality in the district of Surselva in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. The municipalities of Valendas, Versam, Safien and Tenna merged on 1 January 2013 into the new municipality of Safiental.[1]
History[edit]
Safien is first mentioned in 1219 as Stosavia.[2]
Geography[edit]
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Safien had an area, as of 2006[update], of 100.6 km2 (38.8 sq mi). Of this area, 45.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 18.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.8% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (35.4%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).[3]
The former municipality was the capital of the Safien sub-district of the Surselva district in the mid and upper Safien valley. The only other municipality in the sub-district was Tenna, which occupied the lower Safien valley. The valley is drained by the Rabiusa river.
The former municipality consists of the village of Safien-Platz (elevation: 1,350 m (4,430 ft)) and scattered hamlets and single farm houses throughout the valley.
Coat of arms[edit]
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules a Cross gyronny Argent and Sable[4] It is based on the simple design of the sub-district, with different colors.
Demographics[edit]
As of 2011[update], Safien has a population of 294.[5] The historical population is given in the following table:[2]
| year | population |
|---|---|
| 1803 | 770 |
| 1850 | 685 |
| 1900 | 455 |
| 1950 | 453 |
| 2000 | 308 |
| 2010 | 305 |
As of 2008[update], 0.3% of the population was made up of foreign nationals.[6]
As of 2000[update]:
- most of the population speaks Swiss German (96.1%), with Swiss Italian being second most common ( 1.6%) and Albanian being third ( 1.6%).[3]
- the gender distribution was 49.5% male and 50.5% female.[7]
- the age distribution was as follows:[6]
| Age group | Population | % of total |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0-9yrs) | 49 | 15.9% |
| Teenagers (10-19yrs) | 43 | 14.0% |
| Adults (20-29yrs) | 24 | 7.8% |
| Adults (30-39yrs) | 37 | 12.0% |
| Adults (40-49yrs) | 39 | 12.7% |
| Adults (50-59yrs) | 36 | 11.7% |
| Seniors (60-69yrs) | 30 | 9.7% |
| Seniors (70-79yrs) | 28 | 9.1% |
| Seniors (80-89yrs) | 18 | 5.8% |
| Seniors (90-99yrs) | 4 | 1.3% |
| Total | 308 | 100% |
Education[edit]
Around 61.7% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).[3] The nearest fachhochschules to Safien are in Chur, such as the Chur University of Applied Sciences and Fachhochschule Graubünden.
Politics[edit]
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 62.4% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (18.8%), the FDP (7.4%) and the CVP (5.4%).[3]
Economy[edit]
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As of 2005[update], Safien has an unemployment rate of 0.46%. Employment and businesses were organized as follows:[3]
| Sector | People Employed | Businesses Involved |
|---|---|---|
| Primary (raw materials) | 89 | 35 |
| Secondary (manufacturing) | 15 | 3 |
| Tertiary (service) | 32 | 12 |
References[edit]
- ^ Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (in German) accessed 2 January 2013
- ^ a b Safien in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
- ^ a b c d e Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 02-Dec-2009
- ^ Flags of the World.com[permanent dead link] accessed 02-Dec-2009
- ^ Swiss Federal Statistics Office – STAT-TAB[permanent dead link] Ständige und Nichtständige Wohnbevölkerung nach Region, Geschlecht, Nationalität und Alter (in German) accessed 3 October 2012
- ^ a b Graubunden Population Statistics Archived 2009-08-27 at the Wayback Machine (in German) accessed 21 September 2009
- ^ Graubunden in Numbers Archived 2009-09-24 at the Wayback Machine (in German) accessed 21 September 2009
External links[edit]
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| National | |
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