Safien
title: "Safien" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["safiental", "villages-in-the-grisons", "former-municipalities-of-the-grisons"] topic_path: "general/safiental" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safien" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox Swiss town"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| subject_name | Safien |
| image_photo | {{multiple image |
| total_width | 280 |
| border | infobox |
| caption_align | center |
| perrow | 1/2 |
| image1 | Safien Platz.jpg |
| image2 | Mountain view from Safien.jpg |
| image3 | Chalets in Safien (south view).jpg |
| municipality_type | former |
| imagepath_flag | CHE Safien Flag.svg |
| imagepath_coa | Safien wappen.svg |
| canton | Graubünden |
| iso-code-region | CH-GR |
| district | Surselva |
| coordinates | |
| postal_code | 7107 |
| municipality_code | 3651 |
| area | 100.6 |
| elevation | 1315 |
| population | 294 |
| website | www.safien.ch |
| mayor | |
| mayor_title | |
| neighboring_municipalities | Casti-Wergenstein, Duvin, Flerden, Mathon, Nufenen, Pitasch, Portein, Präz, Riein, Sankt Martin, Sarn, Splügen, Sufers, Tenna, Tschappina, Vals |
| twintowns | Bettingen (Switzerland) |
| :: |
| subject_name = Safien | image_photo = {{multiple image | total_width = 280 | border = infobox | caption_align = center | perrow = 1/2 | image1 = Safien Platz.jpg | image2 = Mountain view from Safien.jpg | image3 = Chalets in Safien (south view).jpg | municipality_type = former | imagepath_flag = CHE Safien Flag.svg | imagepath_coa = Safien wappen.svg|pixel_coa= | languages = | canton = Graubünden | iso-code-region = CH-GR | district = Surselva |coordinates = | postal_code = 7107 | municipality_code = 3651 | area = 100.6 | elevation = 1315|elevation_description= | population = 294 | populationof = Dec 2011 | popofyear = 2011 | website = www.safien.ch | mayor = |mayor_asof=|mayor_party= | mayor_title = |list_of_mayors = | places = | demonym = | neighboring_municipalities= Casti-Wergenstein, Duvin, Flerden, Mathon, Nufenen, Pitasch, Portein, Präz, Riein, Sankt Martin, Sarn, Splügen, Sufers, Tenna, Tschappina, Vals | twintowns = Bettingen (Switzerland) |}}
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.
History
Safien is first mentioned in 1219 as Stosavia.
Geography
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Thalkirch_Kirche_Postauto.jpg" caption="Thalkirch church, Safien"] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Mountain_huts_in_Safien.jpg" caption="Mountain huts in Safien"] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Farm_shed_on_Safierstrasse_(south_view).jpg" caption="Farm shed on Safierstrasse"] ::
Safien had an area, , of 100.6 km2. 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).
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: 1350 m) 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 It is based on the simple design of the sub-district, with different colors.
Demographics
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Hay_farmer_on_Safierstrasse.jpg" caption="Hay farmer on Safierstrasse"] ::
, Safien has a population of 294. The historical population is given in the following table: ::data[format=table]
| year | population |
|---|---|
| 1803 | 770 |
| 1850 | 685 |
| 1900 | 455 |
| 1950 | 453 |
| 2000 | 308 |
| 2010 | 305 |
| :: |
, 0.3% of the population was made up of foreign nationals.
:
- most of the population speaks Swiss German (96.1%), with Swiss Italian being second most common ( 1.6%) and Albanian being third ( 1.6%).
- the gender distribution was 49.5% male and 50.5% female.
- the age distribution was as follows:
::data[format=table]
| 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). 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%).
Economy
| width = thumb | direction = vertical | image1=Hay harvest on Safierstrasse.jpg | image2=Hay harvest on Safierstrasse (north view).jpg | footer = Farmers harvesting hay on Safierstrasse in Safien
, Safien has an unemployment rate of 0.46%. Employment and businesses were organized as follows:
::data[format=table]
| Sector | People Employed | Businesses Involved |
|---|---|---|
| Primary (raw materials) | 89 | 35 |
| Secondary (manufacturing) | 15 | 3 |
| Tertiary (service) | 32 | 12 |
| :: |
References
References
- [http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/infothek/nomenklaturen/blank/blank/gem_liste/03.html Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz] published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office {{in lang. de accessed 2 January 2013
- {{usurped
- (December 2017). de accessed 3 October 2012
- {{HDS. 1483. Safien
- [http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/en/index/regionen/02/key.html Swiss Federal Statistical Office] accessed 02-Dec-2009
- [http://www.gr.ch/DE/institutionen/verwaltung/dvs/awt/dienstleistungen/volkswirtschaftlichegrundlagen/Seiten/default.aspx Graubunden in Numbers] {{webarchive. link. (2009-09-24 {{in lang). de accessed 21 September 2009
- [http://www.gr.ch/DE/institutionen/verwaltung/dvs/awt/dienstleistungen/volkswirtschaftlichegrundlagen/Seiten/Bevoelkerung.aspx Graubunden Population Statistics] {{webarchive. link. (2009-08-27 {{in lang). de accessed 21 September 2009
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::