Flims
Encyclopedia
Flims is a municipality
in the district of Imboden
in the Swiss
canton
of Graubünden
. The town of Flims is dominated by the Flimserstein which you can see from almost anywhere in the area.
Flims consists of the village of Flims (called Flims Dorf) and the hamlets
of Fidaz and Scheia as well as Flims-Waldhaus, the initial birthplace of tourism in Flims, where most of the hotels were built before and after around 1900.
Flims has an area of 50.5 km² (19.5 sq mi). Of this area, 33.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 28.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.6% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (33.9%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).
The municipality is located in the Trin sub-district, of the Imboden district. Flims is located on a terrace north of the Rhine valley, forming the Ruinaulta
gorge here. The country-side has numerous streams and lakes north of the village, from which the name derives; "fluminae" in latin means "many streams". The main river is called Flem while Caumasee
and Crestasee
to the south of the town do not have tributaries for lying in the debris area of prehistoric Flims Rockslide, where the landscape is very rough and completely forested as there was no agriculture possible ever.
The lowest point of the municipality is at the Rhine river in the Ruinaulta at 630 meters, while Piz Segnas
reaches 3099 m. Both Piz Segnas and neighbouring Piz Dolf
show the line of the Glarus thrust
in its upper part, now a UNESCO world heritage. The easiest access to the area is an aerial cableway to Fil de Cassons
from Flims or any of various hikes to this ridge lying southeast of Piz Dolf. One route uses the ascent via Val Bargis, a wild valley running around Flimserstein.
Into the 1990s, Flims dairymen delivered their milk to a dairy store in town from which villagers collected their raw or pasteurized milk daily. The location of the store is now being used as tourist information centre and the milk is being treated elswhere.
The small, quiet village was traditionally a winter home for dairymen whose animals grazed on the lush green slopes of summer. Cabins reminiscent of Heidi
still dot the hillsides and ski slopes of Weisse Arena. The dairymen's winter homes are easily identified by their structure which includes stalls on ground level, home on upper level. The style allowed for rising heat from the animals to help heat the home during bitter winter months.
In 1877, in the Belle Époque
, the first hotel for recreation opened, the Park Hotel. The hotel also took over the lake Caumasee and built swimming baths. In 1940 the first purpose built holiday homes were built, nowadays more than half of all flats and homes are being used for recreation purposes.
Ancient Flims was populated since the bronce age, the remains of a medieval castle (Burg Belmont) can be reached by foot from the end of the public road at Fidaz within 40 minutes.
The Swiss climate
is generally temperate, with a peak of precipitation
in summer. The wettest month is August during which time Flims receives an average of 128 mm (5 in) of precipitation falling for an average of 12.8 days. The driest month of the year is October with an average of 82 mm (3.2 in) of precipitation over 12.8 days. From October to March a lot of Switzerland suffers from fog, which does not reach Flims normally. During this period weather can remain stable for weeks and temperatures are often inverted, which means that modestly higher areas such as Flims are actually warmer than lower lying areas.
and snowboarding
) and is now part of the Weisse Arena resort which combines the formerly separate resorts of Flims, Laax
and Falera
. It is regular host to international competitions such as the FIS
World Championship in skiing and the Burton
European Open in snowboarding. In 2004 the resort was featured in the popular Xbox
snowboarding video game, Amped 2
, and then in 2005 in the sequel Amped 3
on the Xbox 360
. Due to the easy access the Weisse Arena cable-cars provide to the mountains, the town has become a popular winter and summer tourist locale.
Today Flims is a year round resort popular not only with winter sports of snowboarding, cross country skiing, downhill skiing and sledding, but also summer sports including hiking, rock climbing, paragliding, mountain biking and swimming in Caumasee, a spring-fed, iridescent-blue-water lake. The area of Conn is a good point of view over the Ruinaulta
(Rhine gorge), an impressive rafting
and canoeing
aera. There are annual figure skating
camps run by Viktor Kudriavtsev
and Marina Kudriatseva. Skaters who have been regulars at the camps include Swiss national team members Jamal Othman
, Sarah Meier
, and Stéphane Lambiel
, as well as international skaters Evan Lysacek
, Gregor Urbas
, Karel Zelenka
, Kiira Korpi
, and Ari-Pekka Nurmenkari
.
The Schlössli in Flims is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance
.
The mountains north of Flims are listed as an UNESCO world heritage site
for their visibility of tectonic activity
.
, the gender distribution of the population was 50.1% male and 49.9% female. The age distribution, , in Flims is; 219 people or 8.6% of the population are between 0 to 9 years old. 138 people or 5.4% are 10 to 14, and 184 people or 7.2% are 15 to 19. Of the adult population, 371 people or 14.6% of the population are between 20 to 29 years old. 443 people or 17.4% are 30 to 39, 354 people or 13.9% are 40 to 49, and 338 people or 13.3% are 50 to 59. The senior population distribution is 245 people or 9.6% of the population are between 60 to 69 years old, 147 people or 5.8% are 70 to 79, there are 90 people or 3.5% who are 80 to 89, and there are 20 people or 0.8% who are 90 to 99.
In the 2007 federal election
the most popular party was the SVP
which received 33.4% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP
(32.8%), the SPS
(20.2%) and the CVP
(12.3%).
The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Flims about 71.3% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule
).
Flims has an unemployment rate of 2.25%. , there were 73 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 27 businesses involved in this sector. 205 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 33 businesses in this sector. 1,156 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 179 businesses in this sector.
From the , 932 or 36.6% are Roman Catholic, while 1,239 or 48.6% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
. Of the rest of the population, there are 63 individuals (or about 2.47% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 7 individuals (or about 0.27% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There are 35 (or about 1.37% of the population) who are Islam
ic. There are 9 individuals (or about 0.35% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 148 (or about 5.81% of the population) belong to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 116 individuals (or about 4.55% of the population) did not answer the question.
The historical population is given in the following table:
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 Imboden
Imboden (district)
Imboden District is an administrative district in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has an area of and has a population of .It consists of two Kreise and seven municipalities:-Languages:...
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...
. The town of Flims is dominated by the Flimserstein which you can see from almost anywhere in the area.
Flims consists of the village of Flims (called Flims Dorf) and the hamlets
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
of Fidaz and Scheia as well as Flims-Waldhaus, the initial birthplace of tourism in Flims, where most of the hotels were built before and after around 1900.
Geography
The municipality is located in the Trin sub-district, of the Imboden district. Flims is located on a terrace north of the Rhine valley, forming the Ruinaulta
Ruinaulta
Ruinaulta is a canyon created by the Vorderrhein in the debris of the Flims Rockslide just upstream of its confluence with the Hinter Rhine at Reichenau, Eastern Switzerland. It is sometimes known as the Rhine Canyon, or Swiss Grand Canyon...
gorge here. The country-side has numerous streams and lakes north of the village, from which the name derives; "fluminae" in latin means "many streams". The main river is called Flem while Caumasee
Caumasee
Caumasee is a lake near Flims, in the Grisons, Switzerland. It is one of the lakes on the Flims Rockslide deposits. The lake is fed from underground sources...
and Crestasee
Crestasee
Crestasee is a small lake shared by the municipalities of Flims and Trin in the Grisons, Switzerland. From 1892 a guest house on its northern end served as pension and still is a restaurant today in its original state....
to the south of the town do not have tributaries for lying in the debris area of prehistoric Flims Rockslide, where the landscape is very rough and completely forested as there was no agriculture possible ever.
The lowest point of the municipality is at the Rhine river in the Ruinaulta at 630 meters, while Piz Segnas
Piz Segnas
Piz Segnas is a mountain in the Glarus Alps, located on the border between the cantons of Glarus and Graubünden. Piz Sardona is lying on the same ridge to the north, from where the Trinserhorn or Piz Dolf lies to the southeast. The Tschingelhoerner with the famous Martinsloch is next to the west...
reaches 3099 m. Both Piz Segnas and neighbouring Piz Dolf
Piz Dolf
Piz Dolf or Trinserhorn is a mountain in the Glarus Alps, located on the border between the cantons of St. Gallen and Graubünden....
show the line of the Glarus thrust
Glarus thrust
The Glarus thrust is a major thrust fault in the Alps of eastern Switzerland. Along the thrust the Helvetic nappes were thrusted more than 100 km to the north over the external Aarmassif and Infrahelvetic complex...
in its upper part, now a UNESCO world heritage. The easiest access to the area is an aerial cableway to Fil de Cassons
Fil de Cassons
Fil de Cassons is a mountain in the Glarus Alps, located near Flims in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland.The southern face is referred to as "Flimserstein" , dominating the appearance of the town of Flims...
from Flims or any of various hikes to this ridge lying southeast of Piz Dolf. One route uses the ascent via Val Bargis, a wild valley running around Flimserstein.
History
Flims is first mentioned in 765 as Fleme.Into the 1990s, Flims dairymen delivered their milk to a dairy store in town from which villagers collected their raw or pasteurized milk daily. The location of the store is now being used as tourist information centre and the milk is being treated elswhere.
The small, quiet village was traditionally a winter home for dairymen whose animals grazed on the lush green slopes of summer. Cabins reminiscent of Heidi
Heidi
Heidi is a Swiss work of fiction, published in two parts as Heidi's years of learning and travel and Heidi makes use of what she has learned.It is a novel about the events in the life of a young girl in her grandfather's care, in the Swiss Alps...
still dot the hillsides and ski slopes of Weisse Arena. The dairymen's winter homes are easily identified by their structure which includes stalls on ground level, home on upper level. The style allowed for rising heat from the animals to help heat the home during bitter winter months.
In 1877, in the Belle Époque
Belle Époque
The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque was a period in European social history that began during the late 19th century and lasted until World War I. Occurring during the era of the French Third Republic and the German Empire, it was a period characterised by optimism and new technological and medical...
, the first hotel for recreation opened, the Park Hotel. The hotel also took over the lake Caumasee and built swimming baths. In 1940 the first purpose built holiday homes were built, nowadays more than half of all flats and homes are being used for recreation purposes.
Ancient Flims was populated since the bronce age, the remains of a medieval castle (Burg Belmont) can be reached by foot from the end of the public road at Fidaz within 40 minutes.
Languages
Most of the population speaks German (80.0%), with Romansh being second most common ( 6.7%).| Languages in Flims | ||||||
| Languages | Census 1980 | Census 1990 | Census 2000 | |||
| Number | Percent | Number | Percent | Number | Percent | |
| 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.... |
1439 | 67.0 % | 1802 | 80.0 % | 2038 | 80.0 % |
| Romanish | 432 | 20.0 % | 200 | 9.0 % | 171 | 7.0 % |
| 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... |
91 | 4.0 % | 62 | 3.0 % | 60 | 3.0 % |
| Population | 2136 | 100 % | 2258 | 100 % | 2549 | 100 % |
Weather
Climate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...
is generally temperate, with a peak 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...
in summer. The wettest month is August during which time Flims receives an average of 128 mm (5 in) of precipitation falling for an average of 12.8 days. The driest month of the year is October with an average of 82 mm (3.2 in) of precipitation over 12.8 days. From October to March a lot of Switzerland suffers from fog, which does not reach Flims normally. During this period weather can remain stable for weeks and temperatures are often inverted, which means that modestly higher areas such as Flims are actually warmer than lower lying areas.
Sports
Originally growing as a summer spa town in a distinctly wind sheltered and wide open area, especially since the building of big Hotels from 1877 on, it is nowadays also famous for winter sports (mainly skiingSkiing
Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....
and snowboarding
Snowboarding
Snowboarding is a sport that involves descending a slope that is covered with snow on a snowboard attached to a rider's feet using a special boot set onto mounted binding. The development of snowboarding was inspired by skateboarding, sledding, surfing and skiing. It was developed in the U.S.A...
) and is now part of the Weisse Arena resort which combines the formerly separate resorts of Flims, Laax
Laax
Laax is a municipality in the district of Surselva in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.-Geography:Laax has an area, , of . Of this area, 35.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 30.6% is forested...
and Falera
Falera
Falera is a municipality in the district of Surselva in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.Falera is a part of the Alpenarena along with the towns of Flims and Laax and is the most secluded of the three.- History :...
. It is regular host to international competitions such as the FIS
International Ski Federation
The International Ski Federation, known by its name in French, Fédération Internationale de Ski is the main international organisation for ski sports...
World Championship in skiing and the Burton
Burton (Snowsports)
Burton Snowboards is a manufacturer of snowboards. Founded by Jake Burton Carpenter in 1977, the company specializes in a product line aimed at snowboarders: snowboards, bindings, boots, outerwear, and accessories....
European Open in snowboarding. In 2004 the resort was featured in the popular Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
snowboarding video game, Amped 2
Amped 2
Amped 2 is a sequel to Microsoft's snowboarding game Amped, which was an Xbox launch title. The game was introduced as part of the XSN Sports lineup, which included such games as NFL Fever, Top Spin and Rallisport Challenge.- Career Mode :The career mode in Amped 2 is much like other extreme...
, and then in 2005 in the sequel Amped 3
Amped 3
The game received moderate to good reviews, with critics citing the game's highly original art style as making up for the occasionally repetitive gameplay. One such reviewer was GameSpot, giving the game a score of 7.6, which they classed as "Good". The Review collation site GameRankings gave the...
on the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
. Due to the easy access the Weisse Arena cable-cars provide to the mountains, the town has become a popular winter and summer tourist locale.
Today Flims is a year round resort popular not only with winter sports of snowboarding, cross country skiing, downhill skiing and sledding, but also summer sports including hiking, rock climbing, paragliding, mountain biking and swimming in Caumasee, a spring-fed, iridescent-blue-water lake. The area of Conn is a good point of view over the Ruinaulta
Ruinaulta
Ruinaulta is a canyon created by the Vorderrhein in the debris of the Flims Rockslide just upstream of its confluence with the Hinter Rhine at Reichenau, Eastern Switzerland. It is sometimes known as the Rhine Canyon, or Swiss Grand Canyon...
(Rhine gorge), an impressive rafting
Rafting
Rafting or white water rafting is a challenging recreational outdoor activity using an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other bodies of water. This is usually done on white water or different degrees of rough water, in order to thrill and excite the raft passengers. The development of this...
and canoeing
Canoeing
Canoeing is an outdoor activity that involves a special kind of canoe.Open canoes may be 'poled' , sailed, 'lined and tracked' or even 'gunnel-bobbed'....
aera. There are annual figure skating
Figure skating
Figure skating is an Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform spins, jumps, footwork and other intricate and challenging moves on ice skates. Figure skaters compete at various levels from beginner up to the Olympic level , and at local, national, and international competitions...
camps run by Viktor Kudriavtsev
Viktor Kudriavtsev
Viktor Kudriavtsev is a Russian figure skating coach and choreographer. Among his current and former students are 1998 Olympic Champion Ilia Kulik, Elena Sokolova, Ilia Klimkin, Victoria Volchkova, Alexander Shubin, Andrejs Vlascenko, and Evan Lysacek...
and Marina Kudriatseva. Skaters who have been regulars at the camps include Swiss national team members Jamal Othman
Jamal Othman
Jamal Aziz Othman is a Swiss figure skater. He is the 2009 Swiss national champion and a five-time national silver medalist.-Career:...
, Sarah Meier
Sarah Meier (figure skater)
Sarah Meier is a Swiss figure skater. She is the 2011 European champion, 2007 & 2008 European silver medalist, the 2006–2007 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist and an eight-time Swiss national champion.-Biography:-Early career:Sarah Meier first stepped on the ice at the age of two years...
, and Stéphane Lambiel
Stéphane Lambiel
Stéphane Lambiel is a Swiss figure skater and a choreographer. He is a two-time World Champion, the 2006 Olympic silver medalist, a two-time Grand Prix Champion and a nine-time Swiss national champion...
, as well as international skaters Evan Lysacek
Evan Lysacek
Evan Frank Lysacek is an American figure skater. He is the 2010 Olympic champion, the 2009 World champion, the 2005 & 2007 Four Continents champion, the 2007 & 2008 U.S. national champion, and the 2009/2010 Grand Prix Final champion....
, Gregor Urbas
Gregor Urbas
Gregor Urbas is a Slovenian figure skater. He is the nine-time Slovenian national champion.-Post-2002:-Pre-2002:* J = Junior level; QR = Qualifying Round-External links:...
, Karel Zelenka
Karel Zelenka
Karel Zelenka is an Czech-Italian figure skater. He is a five-time Italian national champion.-Biography:...
, Kiira Korpi
Kiira Korpi
Kiira Linda Katriina Korpi is a Finnish figure skater. She is the 2007 and 2011 European bronze medalist, 2010 Trophée Eric Bompard champion and a two-time Finnish National Champion .- Personal life :...
, and Ari-Pekka Nurmenkari
Ari-Pekka Nurmenkari
Ari-Pekka Nurmenkari is a Finnish figure skater. He is a seven-time Finnish national champion and has represented Finland at the World Figure Skating Championships...
.
Heritage sites of national significance
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...
.
The mountains north of Flims are listed as an UNESCO world heritage site
Glarus thrust
The Glarus thrust is a major thrust fault in the Alps of eastern Switzerland. Along the thrust the Helvetic nappes were thrusted more than 100 km to the north over the external Aarmassif and Infrahelvetic complex...
for their visibility of tectonic activity
Tectonics
Tectonics is a field of study within geology concerned generally with the structures within the lithosphere of the Earth and particularly with the forces and movements that have operated in a region to create these structures.Tectonics is concerned with the orogenies and tectonic development of...
.
Demographics
Flims has a population (as of ) of . , 19.0% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 8%., the gender distribution of the population was 50.1% male and 49.9% female. The age distribution, , in Flims is; 219 people or 8.6% of the population are between 0 to 9 years old. 138 people or 5.4% are 10 to 14, and 184 people or 7.2% are 15 to 19. Of the adult population, 371 people or 14.6% of the population are between 20 to 29 years old. 443 people or 17.4% are 30 to 39, 354 people or 13.9% are 40 to 49, and 338 people or 13.3% are 50 to 59. The senior population distribution is 245 people or 9.6% of the population are between 60 to 69 years old, 147 people or 5.8% are 70 to 79, there are 90 people or 3.5% who are 80 to 89, and there are 20 people or 0.8% who are 90 to 99.
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 33.4% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were 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....
(32.8%), the SPS
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
(20.2%) and 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...
(12.3%).
The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Flims about 71.3% 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...
).
Flims has an unemployment rate of 2.25%. , there were 73 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 27 businesses involved in this sector. 205 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 33 businesses in this sector. 1,156 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 179 businesses in this sector.
From the , 932 or 36.6% are Roman Catholic, while 1,239 or 48.6% 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 are 63 individuals (or about 2.47% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 7 individuals (or about 0.27% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There are 35 (or about 1.37% 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 9 individuals (or about 0.35% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 148 (or about 5.81% 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 116 individuals (or about 4.55% of the population) did not answer the question.
The historical population is given in the following table:
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1850 | 906 |
| 1900 | 789 |
| 1950 | 1,148 |
| 1960 | 1,444 |
| 1970 | 1,936 |
| 1980 | 2,136 |
| 1990 | 2,258 |
| 2000 | 2,549 |