Merishausen

Merishausen is a municipality in the canton of Schaffhausen in Switzerland.HistoryMerishausen is first mentioned in 846 as Morinishusun.Coat of armsThe blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure a Mullet Or.GeographyMerishausen has an area, of 17.5km2. Of this area, 30.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 65.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.9% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.2%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes).The municipality is located in the Schaffhausen district on the German border. It is located on the Durach river along an important trade route between southern Germany and Switzerland.DemographicsMerishausen has a population of 779, of which 10.0% are foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, 50% are from Germany, 10.9% are from Italy, and 39.1% are from another country. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 7.4%. Most of the population speaks German (97.0%), with English being second most common ( 1.1%) and Italian being third ( 0.6%). The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 23.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 61.2% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 15.7%.In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 56% of the vote. The next two most popular parties were the SP (22.8%), and the FDP (21.2%).