Federal President (rotating): Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf (until 1 Jan 2013)
Population
7,590,758
7,925,517
Life Expectancy
81.070 years
81.170 years
Capital City
Jerusalem
Bern
Largest city
Jerusalem (population: 714,000)
Zurich (population: 341,730)
Human Development Index
0.93
0.955
GDP per capita
$31,400 US
$43,900 US
Literacy Rate
97.1%
99%
Corruption Perception Index
6
9
Percentage of Women in Parliament
14.2%
27.2%
Wealthiest Citizens
Sammy Ofer & family ($4.0bn US)
Ernesto Bertarelli ($8.2bn US)
Unemployment Rate
5.600%
3.100%
Death Penalty
Abolished except for special circumstances
Abolished
Political System
parliamentary democracy
formally a confederation but similar in structure to a federal republic
Independence date
14 May 1948 (from League of Nations mandate under British administration)
1 August 1291 (founding of the Swiss Confederation)
Religions
Jewish 76.4%, Muslim 16%, Arab Christians 1.7%, other Christian 0.4%, Druze 1.6%, unspecified 3.9% (2004)
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
Hebrew (official), Arabic used officially for Arab minority, English most commonly used foreign language
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
machinery and equipment, software, cut diamonds, agricultural products, chemicals, textiles and apparel
