Federal President (rotating): Ueli Maurer (until 1 Jan 2014)
Population
288,725
7,996,026
Life Expectancy
74.750 years
82.280 years
Capital City
Bridgetown
Bern
Largest city
Bridgetown (population: 98,511)
Zurich (population: 341,730)
Human Development Index
0.889
0.955
GDP per capita
$25,500 US
$54,600 US
Literacy Rate
99.7%
99%
Corruption Perception Index
7
9
Percentage of Women in Parliament
13.7%
27.2%
Wealthiest Citizens
NA
Ernesto Bertarelli ($8.2bn US)
Unemployment Rate
11.200%
2.900%
Death Penalty
Legal
Abolished
Political System
parliamentary democracy
formally a confederation but similar in structure to a federal republic
Independence date
30 November 1966 (from UK)
1 August 1291 (founding of the Swiss Confederation)
Religions
Protestant 63.4% (Anglican 28.3%, Pentecostal 18.7%, Methodist 5.1%, other 11.3%), Roman Catholic 4.2%, other Christian 7%, other 4.8%, none or unspecified 20.6% (2008 est.)
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
English
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 (official) 0.5%, other 2.8% (2000 census) note: German, French, Italian, and Romansch are all national and official languages
Exports
manufactures, sugar and molasses, rum, other foods and beverages, chemicals, electrical components
