Scharans

Scharans (Romansh: Scharons) is a municipality in the Viamala Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.

History
Scharans is first mentioned in 1200 as agrum Schraunis.

Geography


Scharans has an area,, of 14.3 km2. Of this area, 26.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 62% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.9% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (9%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

Before 2017, the municipality was located in the Domleschg sub-district, of the Hinterrhein district, after 2017 it was part of the Viamala Region. It consists of the haufendorf (an irregular, unplanned and quite closely packed village, built around a central square) of Scharans and the hamlets of St. Agata, Stufels, Parnegl and Prin. It is located on a low terrace on the right hand side of the Albula and Hinterrhein rivers.

Demographics
Scharans has a population (as of ) of. , 5.1% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 14.9%.

, the gender distribution of the population was 49.1% male and 50.9% female. The age distribution,, in Scharans is; 267 people or 8.7% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old. 155 people or 5.1% are 10 to 14, and 281 people or 9.2% are 15 to 19. Of the adult population, 460 people or 15.0% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 541 people or 17.6% are 30 to 39, 462 people or 15.1% are 40 to 49, and 385 people or 12.5% are 50 to 59. The senior population distribution is 209 people or 6.8% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 189 people or 6.2% are 70 to 79, there are 103 people or 3.4% who are 80 to 89, and there are 17 people or 0.6% who are 90 to 99.

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 37.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS (34.4%), the FDP (15.8%) and the CVP (6.6%).

In Scharans about 74.9% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).

Scharans has an unemployment rate of 1.08%. , there were 32 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 15 businesses involved in this sector. 21 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 6 businesses in this sector. 236 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 23 businesses in this sector.

From the, 1,180 or 38.4% are Roman Catholic, while 1,510 or 49.2% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there are less than 5 individuals who belong to the Christian Catholic faith, there are 76 individuals (or about 2.48% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 60 individuals (or about 1.96% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There are 19 (or about 0.62% of the population) who are Islamic. There are 11 individuals (or about 0.36% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 135 (or about 4.40% of the population) belong to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 78 individuals (or about 2.54% of the population) did not answer the question.

The historical population is given in the following table:

Languages
Most of the population speaks German (95.7%), with Romansh being second most common ( 2.1%) and Italian being third ( 0.9%).

Heritage sites of national significance
The Haus Bardill (formerly known as Haus Gees) is listed as a Swiss heritage sites of national significance.