President of the High Transitional Authority: Andry Rajoelina
Federal President (rotating): Ueli Maurer (until 1 Jan 2014)
Population
22,599,098
7,996,026
Life Expectancy
64.850 years
82.280 years
Capital City
Bern
Largest city
Antananarivo (population: 1,391,430)
Zurich (population: 341,730)
Human Development Index
0.533
0.955
GDP per capita
$54,600 US
Literacy Rate
68.9%
99%
Corruption Perception Index
3.4
9
Percentage of Women in Parliament
9.4%
27.2%
Wealthiest Citizens
NA
Ernesto Bertarelli ($8.2bn US)
Unemployment Rate
2.900%
Death Penalty
Abolished in practice
Abolished
Political System
republic
formally a confederation but similar in structure to a federal republic
Independence date
1 August 1291 (founding of the Swiss Confederation)
Religions
indigenous beliefs 52%, Christian 41%, Muslim 7%
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 (official), French (official), Malagasy (official)
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
