An introduction to Switzerland

There’s far more to Switzerland than political neutrality and melted cheese. Learn more about this beautiful central European federation.

Geography

Location: Switzerland is in Central Europe, east of France, north of Italy, west of Austria and Liechtenstein and south of Germany.

Geographic coordinates: 47 00 N, 8 00 E

Area: Total: 41,277 sq km
Country comparison to the world: 136

Land: 39,997 sq km
Water: 1,280 sq km

Switzerland’s land boundaries: 1,852 km
Border countries: Austria 164 km, France 573 km, Italy 740 km, Liechtenstein 41 km, Germany 334 km.

Coastline: 0 km.

Climate: Temperate, but varies with altitude; cold, cloudy, rainy and 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.
Highest point: Dufourspitze 4,634 m

Natural resources: Hydro-electric power potential, timber, salt.

People and society in Switzerland

Nationality:
Noun: Swiss (singular and plural)
Adjective: Swiss

Ethnic groups in Switzerland: German 65%, French 18%, Italian 10%, Romansh 1%, other 6%

Languages: German 63.7%, French 20.4%, Italian 6.5%, Serbo-Croatian 1.5%, Albanian 1.3%, Portuguese 1.2%, Spanish 1.1%, English 1%, Romansh 0.5%, other 2.8%.
N.B. German, French, Italian, and Romansh are all national and official languages.

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%.

Population of Switzerland: 7,655,628 (July 2012 est.)
Country comparison to the world: 96

Age structure:
0-14 years: 15.2% (male 602,894/female 560,175)
15-64 years: 67.8% (male 2,612,557/female 2,569,318)
65 years and over: 17% (male 543,074/female 751,943)

Median age:
Total: 41.7 years
Male: 40.6 years
Female: 42.8 years

Population growth rate: 0.199% (2012 ext.)
Switzerland comparison to the world: 176

Birth rate: 9.51 births/1,000 population (2012 est.)
Country comparison to the world: 199

Death rate: 8.8 deaths/1,000 population (July 2012 est.)
Country comparison to the world: 74

Major cities – population: Basel 830,000, Berne (capital) 346,000, Geneva 1.240 million, Lugano 145.000 and Zurich 1.143 million.

Health expenditures: 11.3% of GDP
Country comparison to the world: 15

Doctors’ density: 4.07 doctors/1,000 population
Country comparison to the world: 11

Hospital bed density: 5.31 beds/1,000 population
Country comparison to the world: 36

Education expenditures: 5.2% of GDP
Country comparison to the world: 53