Wattwil

Wattwil
Coat of arms
Wattwil
Location of Wattwil
Coordinates: 47°18′N 9°5′E / 47.300°N 9.083°E / 47.300; 9.083Coordinates: 47°18′N 9°5′E / 47.300°N 9.083°E / 47.300; 9.083
Country	Switzerland
Canton	St. Gallen
District	Toggenburg
Government
• Mayor	Alois Gunzenreiner
Area
• Total	51.17 km2 (19.76 sq mi)
Elevation	610 m (2,000 ft)
Population (Dec 2015)
• Total	8,581
• Density	170/km2 (430/sq mi)
Postal code	9630
SFOS number	3379
Surrounded by	Brunnadern, Bütschwil, Ebnat-Kappel, Ernetschwil, Goldingen, Gommiswald, Hemberg, Krinau, Lichtensteig, Mosnang, Oberhelfenschwil, Sankt Gallenkappel
Website	www.wattwil.ch SFSO statistics

Wattwil is a municipality in the Wahlkreis (constituency) of Toggenburg in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the municipality of Krinau merged into Wattwil.

Since the merger, the new municipality has an area of 51.17 km² (19.76 sq mi).

Before the merger, Wattwil had an area, as of 2006^[update], of 44 km² (17 sq mi). Of this area, 52.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 37.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 8.3% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (1.8%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes).

Krinau had an area, as of 2006^[update], of 7.3 km² (2.8 sq mi). Of this area, 57.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 39.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.8% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.6%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes). It consisted of the village of Krinau and the hamlets of Altschwil, Au, Dreischlatt, Gurtberg, Schuflenberg, Krinäuli, Niederberg, Kapf and Gruben.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Or, two Unicorns' Heads couped addorsed Azure.

Wattwil has a population (as of 31 December 2015) of 8,581. Krinau had a population (as of 2011) of 260. As of 2007^[update], about 23.1% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, (as of 2000^[update]), 192 are from Germany, 335 are from Italy, 717 are from ex-Yugoslavia, 29 are from Austria, 388 are from Turkey, and 322 are from another country. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -2.6%. Most of the population (as of 2000^[update]) speaks German (86.9%), with Italian being second most common (2.9%) and Serbo-Croatian being third (2.6%). Of the Swiss national languages (as of 2000^[update]), 7,182 speak German, 28 people speak French, 238 people speak Italian, and 3 people speak Romansh.