Mels

Coat of arms

Mels

Location of Mels

Coordinates: 47°3′N 9°25′E / 47.050°N 9.417°ECoordinates: 47°3′N 9°25′E / 47.050°N 9.417°E

Country

Government

• Mayor

Guido Fischer

Area

• Total

139.15 km² (53.73 sq mi)

Elevation

500 m (1,600 ft)

Population (Dec 2015)

• Total

8,620

• Density

62/km² (160/sq mi)

Postal code

8887

SFOS number

3293

Surrounded by

Bad Ragaz, Fläsch (GR), Flums, Glarus Süd (GL), Pfäfers, Sargans, Vilters-Wangs, Wartau

Website

www.mels.ch
SFSO statistics

Mels is a municipality in the Wahlkreis (constituency) of Sarganserland in the Seeztal, canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Mels is first mentioned in 765 as Maile though this comes from a later copy of the original document. In 1018 it was mentioned as Meilis.

Mels has an area, as of 2006^[update], of 139.2 km² (53.7 sq mi). Of this area, 42.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 29.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.6% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (25.5%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes).

The municipality is located in the Sarganserland Wahlkreis. In terms of area, it is the largest municipality in the canton and covers the Weisstannen valley and a part of the Seez valley. Northwest of town is Castels hill and west of the Nidberg is Castels fortress. It consists of the village of Mels, the settlements of Heiligkreuz bei Mels, Plons, Ragnatsch, the hamlets of Butz, St. Martin, Mädris and Tils, the alpine settlement of Vermol as well as the Walser villages of Schwendi and Weisstannen.

Chapfensee is a reservoir located in the municipality.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure two Keys Or in saltire.

Mels has a population (as of 31 December 2015) of 8,620. As of 2007^[update], about 14.4% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, (as of 2000^[update]), 30 are from Germany, 228 are from Italy, 563 are from ex-Yugoslavia, 21 are from Austria, 90 are from Turkey, and 144 are from another country. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 7.4%. Most of the population (as of 2000^[update]) speaks German (90.8%), with Albanian being second most common ( 2.5%) and Italian being third ( 2.2%). Of the Swiss national languages (as of 2000^[update]), 7,114 speak German, 10 people speak French, 169 people speak Italian, and 32 people speak Romansh.

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Wikipedia