Switzerland
|
| Basic Facts |
| Country name |
conventional long form: Swiss Confederation
conventional short form: Switzerland local long form: Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft (German); Confederation Suisse (French); Confederazione Svizzera (Italian) local short form: Schweiz (German); Suisse (French); Svizzera (Italian) |
| Gevernment type | formally a confederation, but similar in structure to a federal republic |
| 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 |
| Flag description | red square with a bold, equilateral white cross in the center that does not extend to the edges of the flag |
| Currency | Swiss franc (CHF) |
| Internet country code | .ch |
| Ports and terminals | Basel |
| Agriculture products | grains, fruits, vegetables; meat, eggs |
| Industries | machinery, chemicals, watches, textiles, precision instruments |
| Geography |
| Location | Central Europe, east of France, north of Italy |
| Coordinates | 47 00 N, 8 00 E |
| Continent | Europe |
| Area |
total: 41,290 sq km
land: 39,770 sq km water: 1,520 sq km |
| Boundaries |
total: 1,852 km
border countries: Austria 164 km, France 573 km, Italy 740 km, Liechtenstein 41 km, Germany 334 km |
| 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 |
| Natural resources | hydropower potential, timber, salt |
| Natural hazards | avalanches, landslides, flash floods |
| People |
| Population | 7,523,934 (July 2006 est.) |
| Ethnic groups | German 65%, French 18%, Italian 10%, Romansch 1%, other 6% |
| Religions | Roman Catholic 41.8%, Protestant 35.3%, Orthodox 1.8%, other Christian 0.4%, Muslim 4.3%, 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 |
