Churwalden is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

in the

Plessur Region The Plessur Region is one of the eleven administrative districts in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. It had an area of and a population of (as of ).. It was created on 1 January 2017 as part of a reorganization of the Canton. Munici ...

in the

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ente ...

of Graubünden in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. It incorporates the former municipalities of Malix and

Parpan Parpan was a municipality in the district Plessur of the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. On 1 January 2010 the municipalities of Malix and Parpan merged into Churwalden. History Parpan is first mentioned in 1208 as ''Partipan''. Former ...

History

Churwalden is first mentioned in 1149 as ''silva Augeria''. In 1191 it was mentioned as ''de Curwalde''.

Geography

Churwalden has an area, (as of the 2004/09 survey) of . Of this area, about 43.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 39.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.7% is settled (buildings or roads) and 12.9% is unproductive land. In the 2004/09 survey a total of or about 2.6% of the total area was covered with buildings, an increase of over the 1984/85 amount. Of the agricultural land, is used for orchards and vineyards, is fields and grasslands and consists of alpine grazing areas. Since 1984/85 the amount of agricultural land has decreased by . Over the same time period the amount of forested land has increased by . Rivers and lakes cover in the municipality.Regionalporträts 2017: Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 18 May 2017 Before 2017, the municipality was located in Churwalden sub-district of the Plessur district on the Rabiusa river and near the Lenzerheide Pass. The village lies in the valley between the cantonal capital

Chur , neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Churwalden, Tschiertschen-Praden, Domat/Ems, Felsberg, Malix, Trimmis, Untervaz, Pfäfers , twintowns = Bad Homburg (Germany), Cabourg (France), Mayrhofen (Austria), Mondorf-les-Bains (Luxe ...

and the resort

Lenzerheide Lenzerheide ( Romansh: ''Lai'') is a mountain resort in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland at the foot of the Parpaner Rothorn. The village lies in the municipality Vaz/Obervaz in the district of Albula, sub-district Alvaschein. The ...

. The Lenzerheide Bergbahnen AG offers access to the skiing area of Lenzerheide as well as Stätzerhorn, Danis, Scalottas, and Rothorn. The longest

summer toboggan A summer toboggan is an amusement or recreational ride which uses a bobsled-like sled or cart to run down a track usually built on the side of a hill. There are two main types: an Alpine coaster or mountain coaster is a type of roller coaster ...

run (Rodelbahn) in Switzerland, long, is situated at Pradaschier. At the end of 2013 the ski resort was linked with

Arosa , neighboring_municipalities= Alvaneu, Davos, Langwies, Lantsch/Lenz, Molinis, Peist, Schmitten, Tschiertschen, Vaz/Obervaz, Wiesen , twintowns = Fukumitsu (Japan) Arosa is a town and a municipality in the Plessur Region in the canton o ...

by cable-car, creating the new ski resort of Arosa Lenzerheide. Since then transport passes work in both resorts. The municipality consists of the

linear village Linearity is the property of a mathematical relationship ('' function'') that can be graphically represented as a straight line. Linearity is closely related to '' proportionality''. Examples in physics include rectilinear motion, the linear ...

of Churwalden and the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...

of Passugg,

Araschgen Araschgen is a village near Chur in the Plessur district, Switzerland. It is part of the municipality of Churwalden. The village was first mentioned in the mid-14th century as ''Giraschga''. The mineral springs in the village were first ment ...

and scattered farm houses. The municipalities of Churwalden, Malix, and Parpan sought approval from the Canton to merge into a combined municipality to be known as Churwalden, and did so on 1 January 2010.Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 23 September 2009

Demographics

Churwalden has a population () of . , 18.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals. In 2015 a small minority (121 or 6.0% of the population) was born in Germany. Over the last 5 years (2010-2015) the population has changed at a rate of -5.23%. The

birth rate The birth rate for a given period is the total number of live human births per 1,000 population divided by the length of the period in years. The number of live births is normally taken from a universal registration system for births; populati ...

in the municipality, in 2015, was 10.3, while the

death rate Mortality rate, or death rate, is a measure of the number of deaths (in general, or due to a specific cause) in a particular population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit of time. Mortality rate is typically expressed in units of d ...

was 9.3 per thousand residents. Most of the population () speaks German (79.7%), with Turkish being second most common (3.9%) and Romansh being third (2.3%).Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 27-Oct-2009 , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 17.0% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) are 65.1% of the population and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 17.9%. In 2015 there were 879 single residents, 870 people who were married or in a civil partnership, 123 widows or widowers, 155 divorced residents and 3 people who did not answer the question. In 2015 there were 918 private households in Churwalden with an average household size of 2.17 persons. In 2015 about 59% of all buildings in the municipality were single family homes, which is greater than the percentage in the canton (49.4%) and about the same as the percentage nationally (57.4%). Of the 419 inhabited buildings in the municipality, in 2000, about 54.2% were single family homes and 26.7% were multiple family buildings. Additionally, about 32.0% of the buildings were built before 1919, while 7.9% were built between 1991 and 2000.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Thema 09 - Bau- und Wohnungswesen
accessed 5 May 2016 In 2014 the rate of construction of new housing units per 1000 residents was 6.29. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.92%. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width: auto height:200 barincrement:45 PlotArea = top:20 left:40 bottom:20 right:35 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:3000 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:600 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:200 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width: 35 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1623 from:start till:575 text:"575" bar:1850 from:start till:695 text:"695" bar:1860 from:start till:632 text:"632" bar:1870 from:start till:769 text:"769" bar:1880 from:start till:807 text:"807" bar:1888 from:start till:680 text:"680" bar:1900 from:start till:620 text:"620" bar:1910 from:start till:703 text:"703" bar:1920 from:start till:696 text:"696" bar:1930 from:start till:719 text:"719" bar:1941 from:start till:758 text:"758" bar:1950 from:start till:815 text:"815" bar:1960 from:start till:877 text:"877" bar:1970 from:start till:1052 text:"1,052" bar:1980 from:start till:1138 text:"1,138" bar:1990 from:start till:1247 text:"1,247" bar:2000 from:start till:1236 text:"1,236" bar:2010 from:start till:2117 text:"2,117" bar:2015 from:start till:2030 text:"2,030"

Heritage sites of national significance

The Catholic ''Church of St. Maria and Michael'',

Parpan Castle Parpan Castle is a castle in the municipality of Churwalden of the Canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance. See also * List of castles in Switzerland This list includes castles and fortresse ...

and the ''Wohnturm'' of the old

Churwalden Abbey Churwalden Abbey is a former Premonstratensian abbey in the municipality of Churwalden, Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It was founded around 1150, abandoned after the Protestant Reformation and was formally dissolved in July 1803. It is ...

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...

) are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance. St. Maria und Michael2jpg.JPG, Church St. Maria and Michael Churwalden Chor.jpg, Choir of the church of St. Maria and Michael Parpan Schlössli.JPG,

St. Maria und Michael Abtgebäude1.jpg, The Abbot's tower of Churwalden Abbey

Politics

In the 2015 federal election the most popular party was the SVP with 30.4% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (18.4%), the FDP (16.9%) and the BDP (14.5%). In the federal election, a total of 665 votes were cast, and the

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Univ ...

was 46.9%. The 2015 election saw a large change in the voting when compared to 2011. The percentage of the vote received by the SP increased from 13.2% in 2011 to 18.4% in 2015, the SVP increased from 23.8% to 30.4%, while the percentage that the received BDP dropped from 20.2% to 14.5%. In the

2007 federal election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not ...

the most popular party was the SVP which received 43.5% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (20.1%), the FDP (18%) and the CVP (17.6%).

Education

In Churwalden about 64% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either University or a ''

Fachhochschule A ''Fachhochschule'' (; plural ''Fachhochschulen''), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied art ...

'').

Economy

Churwalden is a semitourist community. , there were a total of 862 people employed in the municipality. Of these, a total of 102 people worked in 40 businesses in the primary economic sector. The

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in construc ...

employed 192 workers in 32 separate businesses. There were 7 small businesses with a total of 120 employees. Finally, the

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...

provided 568 jobs in 130 businesses. There were 7 small businesses with a total of 197 employees. In 2015 a total of 6.3% of the population received social assistance. In 2011 the unemployment rate in the municipality was 1.7%. In 2015 local hotels had a total of 37,210 overnight stays, of which 30.4% were international visitors. In 2015 the average cantonal, municipal and church tax rate in the municipality for a couple with two children making was 3.5% while the rate for a single person making was 15.1%, both of which are close to the average for the canton. The canton's tax rate is close to the national average. In 2013 the average income in the municipality per tax payer was and the per person average was , which is less than the cantonal average of and respectively as well as the national per tax payer average of and the per person average of .

Businesses

The ''Grischuna'' Bündnerfleisch is produced in Churwalden.

Religion

From the , 483 or 39.1% were

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

, while 476 or 38.5% belonged to the

Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), (EKS); french: Église évangélique réformée de Suisse (EERS); it, Chiesa evangelica riformata in Svizzera (CERiS); rm, Baselgia evangelica refurmada da la Svizra (BRRS) formerly named Federation o ...

. Of the rest of the population, there were 20 individuals (or about 1.62% of the population) who belonged to the Orthodox Church. There were 116 (or about 9.39% of the population) who are

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

. There were 17 individuals (or about 1.38% of the population) who belonged to another church (not listed on the census), 89 (or about 7.20% of the population) belonged to no church and/or were

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficien ...

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, and 35 individuals (or about 2.83% of the population) did not answer the question.Graubunden Population Statistics
accessed 21 September 2009

References

External links

Official website

The sledge run at Pradaschier
{{Authority control Municipalities of Graubünden Cultural property of national significance in Graubünden