| Subject Name: | Schmitten |
| Municipality Type: | municipality |
| Imagepath Flag: | CHE Schmitten GR Flag.svg |
| Imagepath Coa: | CHE Schmitten GR COA.svg |
| Canton: | Graubünden |
| Iso-Code-Region: | CH-GR |
| Coordinates: | 46.6833°N 49°W |
| Postal Code: | 7493 |
| Municipality Code: | 3514 |
| Area: | 11.32 |
| Elevation: | 1301 |
Schmitten (Romansh: Ferrera) is a municipality in the Albula Region in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland.
Schmitten is first mentioned in 1447 as Schmiten.
Schmitten has an area,, of 11.3km2. Of this area, 25.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 57.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.7% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (16.2%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).
Before 2017, the municipality was located in the Belfort sub-district of the Albula District, after 2017 it was part of the Albula Region.[1] It consists of the linear village of Schmitten which is located at an elevation of 1280m (4,200feet) on the right side of the Albula valley.
Schmitten has a population (as of) of ., 10.5% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 1.6%., the gender distribution of the population was 50.7% male and 49.3% female.[2] The age distribution,, in Schmitten is; 66 people or 10.6% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old. 46 people or 7.4% are 10 to 14, and 46 people or 7.4% are 15 to 19. Of the adult population, 74 people or 11.9% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 119 people or 19.2% are 30 to 39, 82 people or 13.2% are 40 to 49, and 73 people or 11.8% are 50 to 59. The senior population distribution is 43 people or 6.9% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 47 people or 7.6% are 70 to 79, there are 21 people or 3.4% who are 80 to 89, and there are 3 people or 0.5% who are 90 to 99.[3]
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 41.1% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (33.8%), the FDP (16.6%) and the SPS (7.6%).
In Schmitten about 75.9% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).
Schmitten has an unemployment rate of 0.63%., there were 4 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 2 businesses involved in this sector. 42 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 3 businesses in this sector. 25 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 4 businesses in this sector.
The historical population is given in the following table:[2]
| year | population |
|---|---|
| 1623 | 170 |
| 1850 | 205 |
| 1900 | 249 |
| 1950 | 329 |
| 1960 | 248 |
| 1970 | 233 |
| 1980 | 208 |
| 1990 | 252 |
| 2000 | 244 |
The Schmittentobel and Landwasser Viaducts of the Rhaetian Railway are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance.[4]
In the 14th and 15th centuries, the area was settled from Davos. Therefore, the municipality is traditionally German-speaking. Despite the neighboring Romansh-speaking villages, the percentage of Romansch speakers in Schmitten has always been well under 10%., most of the population speaks German (94.2%), with Portuguese being second most common (2.1%) and Romansh being third (1.2%).[5]
| Language | Census of 1980 | Census of 1990 | Census of 2000 | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | ||||||||
| German | align=right | 195 | align=right | 93.75% | align=right | 243 | align=right | 96.43% | align=right | 229 | align=right | 94.24% | |
| Romansh | align=right | 11 | align=right | 5.29% | align=right | 3 | align=right | 1.19% | align=right | 3 | align=right | 1.23% | |
| align=right | 2 | align=right | 0.96% | align=right | 0 | align=right | 0.00% | align=right | 2 | align=right | 0.82% | ||
| Population | align=right | 208 | align=right | 100% | align=right | 252 | align=right | 100% | align=right | 243 | align=right | 100% | |