Bad Ragaz is a municipality in the Wahlkreis (constituency) of Sarganserland in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.
It is the home of a famous natural spring and is a popular spa and health resort destination.
History
Bad Ragaz is first mentioned circa 843 as Ragaces.
thumb|Aerial view from 300 m by [[Walter Mittelholzer (1922)]]
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure a Dove volant displayed Argent beaked and membered Or having a sprig Gules in the beak.
Demographics
Bad Ragaz has a population (as of ) of . , about 25.1% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, (), 122 are from Germany, 144 are from Italy, 508 are from ex-Yugoslavia, 59 are from Austria, 1 person is from Turkey, and 312 are from another country. Over the last 10 years the population has grown by 8.3%. Most of the population () speaks German (84.9%), with Serbo-Croatian being second most common (4.3%) and Italian being third (2.9%). Of the Swiss national languages (), 4,184 speak German, 30 people speak French, 141 people speak Italian, and 45 people speak Romansh.
{|class="wikitable"
!Age
|0–9||10–19||20–29||30–39||40–49||50–59||60–69||70–79||80–89||90–99
|-
!Numbers
|503||626||591||810||756||640||476||318||174||35
|-
!
|10.2%||12.7%||12.0%||16.4%||15.3%||13.0%||9.7%||6.5%||3.5%||0.7%
|}
there were 765 persons (or 15.5% of the population) who were living alone in a private dwelling. There were 1,181 (or 24.0%) persons who were part of a couple (married or otherwise committed) without children, and 2,390 (or 48.5%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 290 (or 5.9%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 36 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 24 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 35 who lived household made up of unrelated persons, and 208 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing.
{| class="wikitable"
! Year
! Population
|-
| 1800
| 954
|-
| 1850
| 1,366
|-
| 1880
| 1,993
|-
| 1900
| 1,866
|-
| 1950
| 2,584
|-
| 1970
| 3,713
|-
| 1990
| 4,325
|-
|}
Personalities
thumb|120px|Friedrich Wilhelm Schelling 1835
- Friedrich Wilhelm Schelling (1775–1854), German philosopher, died in Bad Ragaz
- Chlodwig, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst died in Bad Ragaz in 1901
- Carl Garré (1857 in Ragaz – 1928) a surgeon who proved that Staphylococcus aureus causes carbuncles and boils by experimenting on himself
- O.G. Khouw (1874–1927), a colonial Dutch-Indonesian philanthropist and landlord who died in Bad Ragaz
- Hans Werner Widrig (b. 1941), a Member of the National Council from 1987-1991 and 1995-2003
Bad Ragaz is also closely associated with the fictional character Heidi.
Heritage sites of national significance
The Village Baths () with the water cure rooms () at Bartholoméplatz 1, the chapel of St. Leonhard and the ruins of Freudenberg Castle are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance.
<gallery>
File:Freudenberg Plan.jpg|Floorplan of Castle Freudenberg
File:Freudenberg Ruine.jpg|View of the castle site
File:Bad Ragaz-Gottfried-Honegger-265.jpg|Chapel of St. Leonhard
</gallery>
Economy
thumb|Railway station
, Bad Ragaz had an unemployment rate of 1.62%. , there were 103 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 23 businesses involved in this sector. 687 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 71 businesses in this sector. 1,911 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 244 businesses in this sector. There were 331 businesses in the municipality of which 64 were involved in the secondary sector of the economy while 248 were involved in the third.
there were 1,510 residents who worked in the municipality, while 1,217 residents worked outside Bad Ragaz and 1,189 people commuted into the municipality for work.
The headquarters of the gas analysis, detection, and control instrument manufacturing company INFICON is located in Bad Ragaz.
Religion
From the , 2,862 or 58.1% were Roman Catholic, while 1,105 or 22.4% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. There was 1 individual of the Christian Catholic faith; 249 individuals who belonged to the Orthodox Church; and 64 individuals who belonged to another Christian church. There were 2 Jews, and 166 Muslims. Forty-two people belonged to another church (not listed in the census); 277 belonged to no church, were agnostic or atheist; and 161 did not answer the question.
Wartensteinbahn was funicular between Bad Ragaz and Wartenstein, 206 m above (1892-1964).
Climate
Between 1961 and 1990 Bad Ragaz had an average of 120.5 days of rain or snow per year and on average received of precipitation. The wettest month was August during which time Bad Ragaz receives an average of of rain or snow. During this month there was precipitation for an average of 12.7 days. The driest month of the year was October with an average of of precipitation over 12.7 days.