Selma 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 Moesa

Moesa (district)

Moesa District is an administrative district in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has an area of and has a population of . The official language is Italian.It consists of three Kreise and seventeen municipalities:...

 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 local language is 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...

.

With a population at the end of 2008 of only 36, it is one of the smallest communities in Switzerland. The village has however declared its intention to remain an independent entity.

Geography

Selma has an area, , of 2.9 km² (1.1 sq mi). Of this area, 5.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 68.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.5% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (22.2%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

The municipality is located in the Calanca sub-district of the Moesa district.

Demographics

Selma has a population (as of ) of . , 8.3% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -4.9%. Most of the population speaks Italian (65.9%), with the rest (34.1%) speaking German.

, the gender distribution of the population was 48.7% male and 51.3% female. The age distribution, , in Selma is; 8 children or 18.2% of the population are between 0 to 9 years old. 2 teenagers or 4.5% are 10 to 14, and no one is between 15 and 19. Of the adult population, 2 people or 4.5% of the population are between 20 to 29 years old. 9 people or 20.5% are 30 to 39, 5 people or 11.4% are 40 to 49, and 7 people or 15.9% are 50 to 59. The senior population distribution is 5 people or 11.4% of the population are between 60 to 69 years old, 5 people or 11.4% are 70 to 79, there is 1 person who is 80 to 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 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...

 received 53.8% of the vote. Most of the rest of the votes went to the SP

Social Democratic Party of Switzerland

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

 with 36.3% of the vote.

In Selma about 84% 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...

).

Selma has an unemployment rate of 3.41%. , there were 2 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 1 business involved in this sector. people are employed in the secondary sector and there are businesses in this sector. 5 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 2 businesses in this sector.

The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1683	c. 300
1733	200
1830	93
1850	73
1900	71
1950	60
1970	34
1990	31
2000	44