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Surava

Former municipality in Graubünden, Switzerland

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Surava is a village and former municipality in the district of Albula in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Alvaschein, Mon, Stierva, Tiefencastel, Alvaneu, Brienz/Brinzauls and Surava merged to form the new municipality of Albula/Alvra.

01History

Surava is first mentioned about 1580 as Surraguas.

Ruins of Belfort Castle, above Surava
Ruins of Belfort Castle, above Surava

02Geography

Before the merger, Surava had a total area of 7.0 km2 (2.7 mi2). Of this area, 10.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 78.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 4.3% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (6.8%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

The former municipality is located in the Belfort sub-district of the Albula District. It consists of the linear village of Surava on the right bank of the Albula river. In 1883 the municipality of Brienz-Surava split into Brienz/Brinzauls and Surava.

03Demographics

Surava had a population (as of 2013) of 196. As of 2008, 7.0% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -22%.

As of 2000, the gender distribution of the population was 52.8% male and 47.2% female. The age distribution, as of 2000, in Surava is; 9 people or 12.0% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old. 6 people or 8.0% are 10 to 14, and 7 people or 9.3% are 15 to 19. Of the adult population, 4 people or 5.3% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 10 people or 13.3% are 30 to 39, 14 people or 18.7% are 40 to 49, and 10 people or 13.3% are 50 to 59. The senior population distribution is 4 people or 5.3% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 3 people or 4.0% are 70 to 79, there are 7 people or 9.3% who are 80 to 89, and there are 1 people or 1.3% who are 90 to 99.

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 43.7% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (32.6%), the FDP (18.6%) and the SPS (5.1%).

In Surava about 66.2% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).

Surava has an unemployment rate of 0.67%. As of 2005, there were 8 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 3 businesses involved in this sector. 22 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 7 businesses in this sector. 35 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 8 businesses in this sector.

The historical population is given in the following table:

year population
1725 89
1850 159
1900 148
1950 203
1960 136
1970 93
1980 62
1990 73
2000 150
Aerial view (1954)
Aerial view (1954)

04Language

Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (78.4%), with Romansh being second most common (10.8%) and Albanian being third ( 2.8%).

Languages in Surava
LanguagesCensus 1980Census 1990Census 2000
NumberPercentNumberPercentNumberPercent
German11660.42%16176.67%19678.40%
Romanish6634.38%4521.43%2710.80%
Italian105.21%20.95%41.60%
Population192100%210100%250100%
Watch videos about SuravaExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Surava, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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