Stein, St. Gallen
Stein is a former municipality in the "Wahlkreis" (constituency) of Toggenburg in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. The municipalities of Nesslau-Krummenau and Stein merged on 1 January 2013 into the new municipality of Nesslau. Geography. Stein had an area, , of . Of this area, 57.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 37.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (3.3%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes). Coat of arms. The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is "Or on a mount of the same  a Stone Cliff vert." This is a simple example of canting as means "stone". The stone on the coat of arms is the "Goggeienberg", a small, local crag. Demographics. Stein had a population (as of Dec 2011) of 374. , about 3.7% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, (), 5 are from Germany, 1 person is from Italy,2 are from ex-Yugoslavia, and 2 are from another country. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -7.4%. Most of the population () speaks German (98.2%), with Finnish being second most common  ( 0.8%) and Italian being third ( 0.3%). Of the Swiss national languages (), 391 speak German, 1 person speaks, Italian, The age distribution, , in Stein is; 61 children or 15.3% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 56 teenagers or 14.1% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 38 people or 9.5% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 52 people or 13.1% are between 30 and 39, 48 people or 12.1% are between 40 and 49, and 62 people or 15.6% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 38  people or 9.5% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 21 people or 5.3% are between 70 and 79, there are 19 people or 4.8% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 3 people or 0.8% who are between 90 and 99. In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 36.8% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (23.7%), the FDP (15.1%) and the SP (7.8%). In Stein about 67.2% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary  education or additional higher education (either university or a "Fachhochschule"). Out of the total population in Stein, , the highest education level completed by 129 people (32.4% of the population) was Primary, while 136 (34.2%) have completed their secondary education, 27 (6.8%) have attended a Tertiary school, and 5 (1.3%) are not in school. The remainder did not answer this question. Sights. The village of Stein has a pair of notable churches. The Reformed church was built in 1497 and renovated in 1929. The north tower has a gabled roof. The Catholic church of St. Jacob was built in 1927-28 , but the Rococo pulpit dates from 1770. Economy. , Stein had an unemployment rate of 0.79%. , there were 80 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 32 businesses involved in this sector. 20 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 6 businesses in this sector. 52 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 11 businesses in this sector. Religion. From the , 173 or 43.5% are Roman Catholic, while 187 or 47.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there is 1 individual who belongs to the Orthodox Church, and there  are 25 individuals (or about 6.28% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There are 2 (or about 0.50% of the population) who are Islamic. 9 (or about 2.26% of the population) belong to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 1 individuals (or about 0.25% of the population) did not answer the question.