More than 198,000 people live in the canton of Grisons. Of these, around 37,000 are foreign nationals. At 7,106 km2, Grisons is the largest canton in Switzerland, covering 1/6 of Switzerland’s total area. Around 35,400 people live in the canton’s main city Chur, one of the oldest settlements in Switzerland (as of 2018).

The canton is divided into 11 regions and 108 municipalities. Around 50% of the municipalities have fewer than 1,000 inhabitants (as of 2018).

There are three official languages in the canton of Grisons:

German, Romansh and Italian.

German

For most inhabitants of the canton, German is the native language, i.e. they write High German and speak Swiss German.

Romansh

In the Engadin, in the Münster Valley, in Central Grisons and in the Surselva, Romansh is the standard language. Romansh is not only a language; it is also a family of 5 idioms: Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Puter and Vallader.

Italian

Italian is spoken in the four valleys Puschlav, Bergell, Misox and Calanca.