Bad Ragaz
Encyclopedia
Bad Ragaz 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 Wahlkreis (constituency) of Sarganserland in the 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 St. Gallen in Switzerland
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....

.

It is the home of a famous natural spring and is a popular spa and health resort destination. Bad Ragaz is also surprisingly known as one of the best pizza towns in all of Europe. The most famous pizzeria, Monica's, is owned by the Di Pietro family and has been in operation since 1679. One of the largest spa hotels is the Grand Hotel Quellenhof.

Geography

Bad Ragaz has an area, , of 25.4 km² (9.8 sq mi). Of this area, 45.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 34.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 9.6% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (10.1%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes).

The municipality is in the Sarganserland WahlkreisBez. Sargans. The spa
Spa
The term spa is associated with water treatment which is also known as balneotherapy. Spa towns or spa resorts typically offer various health treatments. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters goes back to prehistoric times. Such practices have been popular worldwide, but are...

 and recreation village is in the south-east of the canton at the end of the Tamina
Tamina
The Tamina River in Switzerland originates near the Egghorn . First her course follows a North to South direction through the Marchtal....

 valley. It lies on the north-south and east-west routes over the Graubünden Alps
Grison Alps
The Grison Alps are the mountains of the Graubünden canton of Switzerland . There are many significant peaks in the Grison Alps, including the Tödi and the highest peak, Piz Bernina...

. Until 1937 Bad Ragaz was known as Ragaz.

Coat of arms

The blazon
Blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...

 of the municipal coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

 is Azure a Dove volant displayed Argent beaked and membered Or having a sprig Gules in the beak.

Demographics

Bad Ragaz has a population (as of ) of . , about 25.1% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, , 122 are from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, 144 are from Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, 508 are from ex-Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...

, 59 are from Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, 1 person is from Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

, and 312 are from another country. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 8.3%. Most of the population speaks German (84.9%), with Serbo-Croatian being second most common ( 4.3%) and Italian being third ( 2.9%). Of the Swiss national languages , 4,184 speak German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

, 30 people speak French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, 141 people speak Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

, and 45 people speak Romansh.

The age distribution, , in Bad Ragaz is; 503 children or 10.2% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 626 teenagers or 12.7% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 591 people or 12.0% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 810 people or 16.4% are between 30 and 39, 756 people or 15.3% are between 40 and 49, and 640 people or 13.0% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 476 people or 9.7% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 318 people or 6.5% are between 70 and 79, there are 174 people or 3.5% who are between 80 and 89,and there are 35 people or 0.7% who are between 90 and 99.

there were 765 persons (or 15.5% of the population) who were living alone in a private dwelling. There were 1,181 (or 24.0%) persons who were part of a couple (married or otherwise committed) without children, and 2,390 (or 48.5%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 290 (or 5.9%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 36 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 24 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 35 who lived household made up of unrelated persons,and 208 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing.

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 40.3% 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...

 (21.4%), 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....

 (13.7%) and the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (12.7%).

The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Bad Ragaz about 68.9% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either University or a Fachhochschule
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...

). Out of the total population in Bad Ragaz, , the highest education level completed by 1,070 people (21.7% of the population) was Primary, while 1,975 (40.1%) have completed Secondary, 558 (11.3%) have attended a Tertiary school, and 175 (3.6%) are not in school. The remainder did not answer this question.

The historical population is given in the following table:
year population
1800 954
1850 1,366
1880 1,993
1900 1,866
1950 2,584
1970 3,713
1990 4,325

Heritage sites of national significance

The Village Baths with the water cure
Water cure (therapy)
A water cure in the therapeutic sense is a course of medical treatment by hydrotherapy.-Overview:In the mid-19th century there was a popular revival of the water cure in Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States...

 rooms at Bartholoméplatz 1, the chapel of St. Leonhard and the ruins of Freudenberg Castle
Freudenberg Castle
Freudenberg Castle is a castle in the municipality of Bad Ragaz of the Canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.-References:...

 are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significan ce
Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance
The Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance is a register of some 8,300 items of cultural property in Switzerland...

.

Economy

, Bad Ragaz had an unemployment rate of 1.62%. , there were 103 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 23 businesses involved in this sector. 687 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 71 businesses in this sector. 1,911 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 244 businesses in this sector.

the average unemployment rate was 3.0%. There were 331 businesses in the municipality of which 64 were involved in the secondary sector of the economy while 248 were involved in the third.

there were 1,510 residents who worked in the municipality, while 1,217 residents worked outside Bad Ragaz and 1,189 people commuted into the municipality for work.

Religion

From the , 2,862 or 58.1% are Roman Catholic, while 1,105 or 22.4% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
Swiss Reformed Church
The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...

. Of the rest of the population, there is 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic
Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland
The Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland is the Swiss member church of the Union of Utrecht, also known as Old Catholic Church, originally founded by the jansenists, with a later influx of discontented Catholics following their disappointment with the First Vatican Council. It has 14,000...

 faith, there are 249 individuals (or about 5.05% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 64 individuals (or about 1.30% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There are 2 individuals (or about 0.04% of the population) who are Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

, and 166 (or about 3.37% of the population) who are Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic. There are 42 individuals (or about 0.85% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 277 (or about 5.62% of the population) belong to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....

 or atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...

, and 161 individuals (or about 3.27% of the population) did not answer the question.

Weather

Bad Ragaz has an average of 120.5 days of rain or snow per year and on average receives 830 mm (32.7 in) of precipitation
Precipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...

. The wettest month is August during which time Bad Ragaz receives an average of 109 mm (4.3 in) of rain or snow. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 12.7 days. The driest month of the year is October with an average of 49 mm (1.9 in) of precipitation over 12.7 days.
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