Mergoscia is a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.

To avoid paying a tithe to the nobles of Locarno, at the beginning of the 15th century, the village split from Locarno to join the valley community of Verzasca and Valle Maggia.

[3] Mergoscia has an area, as of 1997[update], of 12.14 square kilometers (4.69 sq mi).

Out of the forested land, 53.9% of the total land area is heavily forested, while 10.7% is covered in small trees and shrubbery and 2.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees.

[4] The municipality is located in the Locarno district, above Lago di Vogorno in the Verzasca Valley.

Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks Italian (71.8%), with German being second most common (24.3%) and French being third (2.2%).

The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 11 and the non-Swiss population change was an increase of 7 people.

[6] The age distribution, as of 2009[update], in Mergoscia is; 19 children or 8.7% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 24 teenagers or 11.0% are between 10 and 19.

[7] The historical population is given in the following table:[3] In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the FDP which received 36.43% of the vote.

In the federal election, a total of 56 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 35.9%.

[12] In the 2007[update] Gran Consiglio election, there were a total of 154 registered voters in Mergoscia, of which 84 or 54.5% voted.

[7] There were 72 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 34.7% of the workforce.

[7] From the 2000 census[update], 129 or 71.3% were Roman Catholic, while 25 or 13.8% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

In the lower secondary school system, students either attend a two-year middle school followed by a two-year pre-apprenticeship or they attend a four-year program to prepare for higher education.

The upper secondary school includes several options, but at the end of the upper secondary program, a student will be prepared to enter a trade or to continue on to a university or college.

In Ticino, vocational students may either attend school while working on their internship or apprenticeship (which takes three or four years) or may attend school followed by an internship or apprenticeship (which takes one year as a full-time student or one and a half to two years as a part-time student).