Schnaus is a municipality

Municipalities of Switzerland

Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...

 in the district of Surselva

Surselva (district)

Surselva District is an administrative district in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has an area of and has a population of ....

 in the Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 canton

Cantons of Switzerland

The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...

 of Graubünden

Graubünden

Graubünden or Grisons is the largest and easternmost canton of Switzerland. The canton shares borders with the cantons of Ticino, Uri, Glarus and St. Gallen and international borders with Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein...

.

Geography

Schnaus has an area, , of 3 km² (1.2 sq mi). Of this area, 58.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 30.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.3% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (8.4%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

The municipality is located in the Ilanz sub-district of the Surselva district. S. liegt leicht erhöht über dem Vorderrhein an der Oberländerstrasse, die Alp da S. als Exklave östl. über dem Val da Siat. It consists of the village of Schnaus above the Vorderrhein

Vorderrhein

The Vorderrhein is one of the two sources of the Rhine. Its catchment area of is located predominantly in the Canton of Graubünden . The Vorderrhein is about long, thus more than 5% longer than the Hinterrhein...

 and the exclave of Alp da Schnaus eastward above the Val da Siat.

Demographics

Schnaus has a population (as of ) of . , 17.6% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 43%. Most of the population speaks Romansh(45.5%), with German being second most common (40.4%) and Serbo-Croatian being third (11.1%).

, the gender distribution of the population was 57.9% male and 42.1% female. The age distribution, , in Schnaus is; 17 children or 17.2% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 14 teenagers or 14.1% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 4 people or 4.0% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 21 people or 21.2% are between 30 and 39, 14 people or 14.1% are between 40 and 49, and 11 people or 11.1% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 9 people or 9.1% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 8 people or 8.1% are between 70 and 79, there is 1 person who is between 80 and 89.

In the 2007 federal election

Swiss federal election, 2007

Elections to the Swiss Federal Assembly, the federal parliament of Switzerland, were held on Sunday, 21 October 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, and 25 November 2007...

 the most popular party was the SVP

Swiss People's Party

The Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...

 which received 46.7% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP

Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland

The Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland is a Christian democratic political party in Switzerland. It is the fourth-largest party in the National Council, with 31 seats, and the largest in the Council of States, with 15 seats. It has one seat, that of Doris Leuthard, on the Swiss...

 (21.3%), the FDP

Free Democratic Party of Switzerland

The Free Democratic Party was a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It was one of the major parties in Switzerland until its merger with the smaller classical liberal Liberal Party, to form FDP.The Liberals on 1 January 2009....

 (16.7%) and the SP

Social Democratic Party of Switzerland

The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (15.3%).

In Schnaus about 57.7% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule

Fachhochschule

A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...

).

Schnaus has an unemployment rate of 4.89%. , there were 12 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 5 businesses involved in this sector. 2 people are employed in the secondary sector and there is 1 business in this sector. 10 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 3 businesses in this sector.

The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1850	126
1900	123
1950	134
1990	79
2000	99