Romansh-speaking Switzerland loses two municipalities

The church in Salouf, a village in the municipality of Surses Keystone / Arno Balzarini

Romansh, one of Switzerland’s four national languages, is losing ground – literally. The two municipalities of Surses and Muntogna da Schons in the eastern canton of Graubünden are now part of German-speaking Switzerland.

This is the only change in language boundaries since the previous calculation in 2017, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) said on Tuesday.

Even though the Romansh community has lost a couple of municipalities, the number of speakers – around 40,000 – has remained stable “for decades”, the FSO said. About 40% live in Romansh territory, mostly in Graubünden.

The FSO points out that the increase in the number of German speakers in traditionally Romansh-speaking municipalities in Graubünden means several localities joined German-speaking Switzerland, particularly in the second half of the 20th century.

Since 2000, however, the linguistic boundaries have remained stable, with the exception now of Surses (around 2,500 inhabitants) and Muntogna da Schons (around 400).

Municipalities

Municipalities, also known as communes, are the lowest administrative division of Switzerland, below the federal government and the 26 cantons. They are governed by their own elected representatives and often enjoy considerable discretionary powers, deciding on matters of education, health, transport and public security. They also collect taxes.

At the start of 2022 there were 2,148 municipalitiesExternal link in Switzerland, ranging in size from more than 400,000 inhabitants (Zurich) down to around 40.

The number of municipalities is decreasing due to mergers. This is controversial, and proposals to combine smaller, less viable municipalities into larger ones evoke plenty of opposition at the local level. Still, the urge to merge is growing in many parts of the country.