| Switzerland |
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| Background: The Swiss Confederation was founded in 1291 as a defensive alliance among three cantons. In succeeding years, other localities joined the original three. The Swiss Confederation secured its independence from the Holy Roman Empire in 1499. Switzerland's sovereignty and neutrality have long been honored by the major European powers, and the country was not involved in either of the two World Wars. The political and economic integration of Europe over the past half century, as well as Switzerland's role in many UN and international organizations, has strengthened Switzerland's ties with its neighbors. However, the country did not officially become a UN member until 2002. Switzerland remains active in many UN and international organizations but retains a strong commitment to neutrality. |
| Geography and Environmental |
Capital: name: Bern
geographic coordinates: 46 57 N, 7 26 E
time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October |
| Area Total: 41,290 sq km |
| Area Land: 39,770 sq km |
| Area Water: 1,520 sq km |
| Area Comparative: slightly less than twice the size of New Jersey |
| Coastline: 0 km (landlocked) |
| Climate: temperate, but varies with altitude; cold, cloudy, rainy/snowy winters; cool to warm, cloudy, humid summers with occasional showers |
| Terrain: mostly mountains (Alps in south, Jura in northwest) with a central plateau of rolling hills, plains, and large lakes |
| Elevation Extremes Lowest Point: Lake Maggiore 195 m |
| Elevation Extremes Highest Point: Dufourspitze 4,634 m |
| Natural Resources: hydropower potential, timber, salt |
| Land Use Arable Land: 9.91% |
| Land Use Permanent Crops: 0.58% |
| Land Use Other: 89.51% (2005) |
| Irrigated Land: 250 sq km (2003) |
| Natural Hazards: avalanches, landslides, flash floods |
| Environment Current Issues: air pollution from vehicle emissions and open-air burning; acid rain; water pollution from increased use of agricultural fertilizers; loss of biodiversity |
| Geography Note: landlocked; crossroads of northern and southern Europe; along with southeastern France, northern Italy, and southwestern Austria, has the highest elevations in the Alps |
| Population |
| Population: 7,554,661 (July 2007 est.) |
| Age Structure 0 to 14 Years: 16.1% (male 630,341/female 584,167) |
| Age Structure 15 to 64 Years: 68.2% (male 2,596,996/female 2,553,108) |
| Age Structure 65 Years And Over: 15.8% (male 489,895/female 700,154) (2007 est.) |
| Median Age Total: 40.4 years |
| Median Age Male: 39.3 years |
| Median Age Female: 41.4 years (2007 est.) |
| Population Growth Rate: 0.381% (2007 est.) |
| Birth Rate: 9.66 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Death Rate: 8.51 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Sex Ratio At Birth: 1.05 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio Under 15 Years: 1.079 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio 15 to 64 Years: 1.017 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio 65 Years And Over: 0.7 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio Total Population: 0.969 male(s)/female (2007 est.) |
| Infant Mortality Rate Total: 4.28 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Infant Mortality Rate Male: 4.77 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Infant Mortality Rate Female: 3.77 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) |
| Life Expectancy At BirthTotalPopulation: 80.62 years |
| Life Expectancy At Birth Male: 77.8 years |
| Life Expectancy At Birth Female: 83.59 years (2007 est.) |
| Total Fertility Rate: 1.44 children born/woman (2007 est.) |
| HIV AIDS Adult Prevalence Rate: 0.4% (2001 est.) |
| HIV AIDS People Living With HIV AIDS: 13,000 (2001 est.) |
| HIV AIDS Deaths: less than 100 (2003 est.) |
| Religions: Roman Catholic 41.8%, Protestant 35.3%, Muslim 4.3%, Orthodox 1.8%, other Christian 0.4%, other 1%, unspecified 4.3%, none 11.1% (2000 census) |
Languages: German (official) 63.7%, French (official) 20.4%, Italian (official) 6.5%, Serbo-Croatian 1.5%, Albanian 1.3%, Portuguese 1.2%, Spanish 1.1%, English 1%, Romansch 0.5%, other 2.8% (2000 census)
note: German, French, Italian, and Romansch are all national languages, but only the first three are official languages |
| Literacy Definition: age 15 and over can read and write |
| Literacy Total Population: 99% |
| Literacy Male: 99% |
| Literacy Female: 99% (2003 est.) |
| Administrative Divisions: 26 cantons (cantons, singular - canton in French; cantoni, singular - cantone in Italian; kantone, singular - kanton in German); Aargau, Appenzell Ausser-Rhoden, Appenzell Inner-Rhoden, Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt, Bern, Fribourg, Geneve, Glarus, Graubunden, Jura, Luzern, Neuchatel, Nidwalden, Obwalden, Sankt Gallen, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, Solothurn, Thurgau, Ticino, Uri, Valais, Vaud, Zug, Zurich |
| Legal System: civil law system influenced by customary law; judicial review of legislative acts, except with respect to federal decrees of general obligatory character; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations |
| Economy |
| Overview: Switzerland is a peaceful, prosperous, and stable modern market economy with low unemployment, a highly skilled labor force, and a per capita GDP larger than that of the big Western European economies. The Swiss in recent years have brought their economic practices largely into conformity with the EU's to enhance their international competitiveness. Switzerland remains a safehaven for investors, because it has maintained a degree of bank secrecy and has kept up the franc's long-term external value. Reflecting the anemic economic conditions of Europe, GDP growth stagnated during the 2001-03 period, improved during 2004-05 to 1.8% annually and to 2.9% in 2006. Even so, unemployment has remained at less than half the EU average. |
| GDP Purchasing Power Parity: $252.9 billion (2006 est.) |
| GDP Real Growth Rate: 2.9% (2006 est.) |
| GDP Composition By Sector Agriculture: 1.5% |
| GDP Composition By Sector Industry: 34% |
| GDP Composition By Sector Services: 64.5% (2003 est.) |
| Labor Force: 3.81 million (2006 est.) |
Labor Force By Occupation: agriculture: 4.6%
industry: 26.3%
services: 69.1% (1998) |
| Unemployment Rate: 3.3% (2006 est.) |
Household Income Or Consumption By Percentage Share: lowest 10%: 2.6%
highest 10%: 25.2% (1992) |
| Inflation Rate Consumer Prices: 1.2% (2006 est.) |
| Industries: machinery, chemicals, watches, textiles, precision instruments, tourism, banking, and insurance |
| Industrial Production Growth Rate: 6.5% (2006 est.) |
| Energy |
| Electricity Production: 61.97 billion kWh (2004) |
| Electricity Production By Source Fossil Fuel: 1.3% |
| Electricity Production By Source Hydro: 59.5% |
| Electricity Production By Source Nuclear: 37.1% |
| Electricity Production By Source Other: 2% (2001) |
| Electricity Consumption: 56.93 billion kWh (2004) |
| Electricity Exports: 27.8 billion kWh (2004) |
| Electricity Imports: 27.1 billion kWh (2004) |
| Oil Production: 2,241 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
| Oil Consumption: 268,100 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
| Natural Gas Production: 0 cu m (2004 est.) |
| Natural Gas Consumption: 3.311 billion cu m (2004 est.) |
| Natural Gas Exports: 0 cu m (2004 est.) |
| Natural Gas Imports: 3.311 billion cu m (2004 est.) |
| Exports: $166.3 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
| Exports Commodities: machinery, chemicals, metals, watches, agricultural products |
| Exports Partners: Germany 19.4%, US 10.9%, Italy 9.1%, France 8.7%, UK 5.4%, Spain 4.1% (2005) |
| Imports: $162.3 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
| Imports Commodities: machinery, chemicals, vehicles, metals; agricultural products, textiles |
| Imports Partners: Germany 31.6%, Italy 10.5%, France 10%, US 5.6%, Netherlands 4.8%, Austria 4.6%, UK 4.4% (2005) |
| Debt External: $1.077 trillion (30 June 2006) |
| Communications |
| Telephones Main Lines In Use: 5.123 million (2005) |
| TelephonesMobileCellular: 6.847 million (2005) |
| Telephone System General Assessment: excellent domestic and international services |
| Telephone System Domestic: extensive cable and microwave radio relay networks |
| Telephone System International: country code - 41; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean) |
| Radio Broadcast Stations: AM 4, FM 113 (plus many low-power stations), shortwave 2 (1998) |
| Radios: 7.1 million (1997) |
| Television Broadcast Stations: 115 (plus 1,919 repeaters) (1995) |
| Televisions: 3.31 million (1997) |
| Internet Service Providers-ISPs: 44 (Switzerland and Liechtenstein) (2000) |
| Internet Users: 5.098 million (2005) |
| Transportation |
| Railways Total: 4,583 km |
| Railways Standard Gauge: 3,234 km 1.435-m gauge (3,223 km electrified) |
| Railways Narrow Gauge: 1,339 km 1.000-m gauge (1,338 km electrified); 10 km 0.800-m gauge (10 km electrified) (2005) |
| Waterways: 65 km (Rhine River between Basel-Rheinfelden and Schaffhausen-Bodensee) (2003) |
| Airports: 65 (2006) |
| Military Expenditures Percent Of GDP: 1% (2005 est.) |
| Disputes International: none |
| IllicitDrugs: a major international financial center vulnerable to the layering and integration stages of money laundering; despite significant legislation and reporting requirements, secrecy rules persist and nonresidents are permitted to conduct business through offshore entities and various intermediaries; transit country for and consumer of South American cocaine, Southwest Asian heroin, and Western European synthetics; domestic cannabis cultivation and limited ecstasy production |