Federal President (rotating): Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf (until 1 Jan 2013)
Population
90,024
7,925,517
Life Expectancy
73.770 years
81.170 years
Capital City
Victoria
Bern
Largest city
Victoria (population: 22,881)
Zurich (population: 341,730)
Human Development Index
0.836
0.955
GDP per capita
$25,000 US
$43,900 US
Literacy Rate
91.8%
99%
Corruption Perception Index
4.8
9
Percentage of Women in Parliament
23.5%
27.2%
Wealthiest Citizens
NA
Ernesto Bertarelli ($8.2bn US)
Unemployment Rate
2.000%
3.100%
Death Penalty
Abolished
Abolished
Political System
republic
formally a confederation but similar in structure to a federal republic
Independence date
29 June 1976 (from UK)
1 August 1291 (founding of the Swiss Confederation)
Religions
Roman Catholic 82.3%, Anglican 6.4%, Seventh Day Adventist 1.1%, other Christian 3.4%, Hindu 2.1%, Muslim 1.1%, other non-Christian 1.5%, unspecified 1.5%, none 0.6% (2002 census)
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
Creole 91.8%, English 4.9% (official), other 3.1%, unspecified 0.2% (2002 census)
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
