Fideris

Fideris is first mentioned in 1370 as Fidris. ==Geography==

Fideris has an area, (as of the 2004/09 survey) of . Of this area, about 58.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 28.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and 9.4% is unproductive land. In the 2004/09 survey a total of or about 1.3% of the total area was covered with buildings. Of the agricultural land, is fields and grasslands and consists of alpine grazing areas. Since 1985 the amount of agricultural land has decreased by . Over the same time period the amount of forested land has increased by . Rivers and lakes cover in the municipality. Before 2017, the municipality was located in the Jenaz sub-district of the Prättigau/Davos district, after 2017 it was part of the Prättigau/Davos Region. It is a cross shaped linear village which lies on the Prättigau-Schanfigg route. It consists of the village of Fideris which is made up of the sections of Strahlegg and Fideris-Au. In 1994, devotees of the Skanda Vale spiritual community in Wales bought a chalet near Fideris, and in 2016 this was inaugurated as a temple in its own right, now called Somaskanda Ashram. This temple draws pilgrims and devotees from across Europe. ==Demographics==

Fideris has a population () of . , 7.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 4 years (2010–2014) the population has changed at a rate of −4.24%. The birth rate in the municipality, in 2014, was 8.5, while the death rate was 5.1 per thousand residents. In 2014 there were 243 private households in Fideris with an average household size of 2.36 persons. Of the 210 inhabited buildings in the municipality, in 2000, about 62.9% were single family homes and 15.2% were multiple family buildings. Additionally, about 42.9% of the buildings were built before 1919, while 11.4% were built between 1991 and 2000. In 2013 the rate of construction of new housing units per 1,000 residents was 3.43. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.59%. Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width: auto height:200 barincrement:45 PlotArea = top:20 left:40 bottom:20 right:35 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:700 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:100 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:20 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width: 35 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1850 from:start till:460 text:"460" bar:1860 from:start till:437 text:"437" bar:1870 from:start till:369 text:"369" bar:1880 from:start till:398 text:"398" bar:1888 from:start till:405 text:"405" bar:1900 from:start till:363 text:"363" bar:1910 from:start till:354 text:"354" bar:1920 from:start till:407 text:"407" bar:1930 from:start till:406 text:"406" bar:1941 from:start till:480 text:"480" bar:1950 from:start till:524 text:"524" bar:1960 from:start till:549 text:"549" bar:1970 from:start till:554 text:"554" bar:1980 from:start till:492 text:"492" bar:1990 from:start till:586 text:"586" bar:2000 from:start till:586 text:"586" bar:2010 from:start till:613 text:"613" bar:2014 from:start till:587 text:"587" ==Languages==

Most of the population () speaks German (96.4%), with Portuguese being second most common ( 1.2%) and Romansh being third ( 0.7%). In the early Middle Ages the entire population spoke Romansh. However, in the 14th century the Walser migration brought Walser German speaking immigrants to the valley. By the time of the Protestant Reformation the majority of the inhabitants of the village spoke German. ==Politics==

In the 2015 federal election the most popular party was the SVP with 32.4% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (18.1%), the BDP (16.8%) and the SP (15.5%). In the federal election, a total of 203 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 42.6%. The 2015 election saw a large change in the voting when compared to 2011. The percentage of the vote received by the FDP increased sharply from 10.4% in 2011 to 18.1% in 2015, while the percentage that the BDP dropped from 26.5% to 16.8%. In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 39.8% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (38.7%), the SP (15%) and the CVP (3.3%). ==Education==

In Fideris about 72.1% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). ==Economy==

Fideris is a mixed agro-industrial community, a municipality where agriculture and manufacturing play a significant role in the economy. , there were a total of 232 people employed in the municipality. Of these, 56 people worked in 19 businesses in the primary economic sector. The secondary sector employed 68 workers in 18 separate businesses. Finally, the tertiary sector provided 108 jobs in 27 businesses. There was one small business with a total of 43 employees. In 2014 a total of 3.4% of the population received social assistance. In 2015 the average cantonal, municipal and church tax rate in the municipality for a couple with two children making was 4% while the rate for a single person making was 17.2%. In 2013 the average income in the municipality per tax payer was and the per person average was , which is less than the cantonal average of and respectively It is also less than the national per tax payer average of and the per person average of . ==Transportation==

The municipality has a railway station, , on the Landquart–Davos Platz line. It has limited service to and . ==Heritage sites of national significance==

The Türmlihaus and House Nr. 41 are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance. The historical American Van Leer family claims lineage from this area through Swiss archives. ==References==