Safien

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]

Safien
Former municipality
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Safien
Safien Show map of Switzerland Safien Show map of Canton of Graubünden
Coordinates: 46°40′N 9°18′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.safien.ch SFSO statistics

History

Safien is first mentioned in 1219 as Stosavia.^[2]

Geography

Thalkirch church, Safien

Mountain huts in Safien

Farm shed on Safierstrasse

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

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

Hay farmer on Safierstrasse

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

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

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

Farmers harvesting hay on Safierstrasse in Safien

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