Schmerikon is a municipality in the Wahlkreis (constituency) of See-Gaster in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. In the local Swiss German dialect it is called Schmerike. Geography Schmerikon is located at the head of Lake Zurich, on the section of the lake known as the Obersee and where the Linth river enters the lake. Part of the municipality is a natural reserve, particularly along the lake shore. Schmerikon has an area, , of . Of this area, 38.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 23% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 27% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (11.1%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes). Coat of arms The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules two Crescents addorsed Or and in chief a Cross pattee Argent. Demographics Schmerikon has a population (as of ) of . , about 25.9% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, (), 22 are from Germany, 239 are from Italy, 363 are from ex-Yugoslavia, 17 are from Austria, 140 are from Turkey, and 97 are from another country. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 8.2%. Most of the population () speaks German (83.4%), with Italian being second most common (4.7%) and Serbo-Croatian being third (3.2%). Of the Swiss national languages (), 2,654 speak German, 11 people speak French, 150 people speak Italian, and 1 person speaks Romansh. The age distribution, , in Schmerikon is; 365 children or 11.5% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 420 teenagers or 13.2% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 471 people or 14.8% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 494 people or 15.5% are between 30 and 39, 459 people or 14.4% are between 40 and 49, and 435 people or 13.7% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 262 people or 8.2% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 177 people or 5.6% are between 70 and 79, there are 79 people or 2.5% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 20 people or 0.6% who are between 90 and 99. there were 351 persons (or 11.0% of the population) who were living alone in a private dwelling. There were 673 (or 21.2%) persons who were part of