Federal President (rotating): Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf (until 1 Jan 2013)
President: Abdelaziz Bouteflika
Population
7,925,517
37,367,226
Life Expectancy
81.170 years
74.730 years
Capital City
Bern
Algiers
Largest city
Zurich (population: 341,730)
Algiers (population: 1,977,660)
Human Development Index
0.955
0.748
GDP per capita
$43,900 US
$7,400 US
Literacy Rate
99%
69.9%
Corruption Perception Index
9
3.2
Percentage of Women in Parliament
27.2%
6.5%
Wealthiest Citizens
Ernesto Bertarelli ($8.2bn US)
NA
Unemployment Rate
3.100%
10.000%
Death Penalty
Abolished
Abolished in practice
Political System
formally a confederation but similar in structure to a federal republic
republic
Independence date
1 August 1291 (founding of the Swiss Confederation)
5 July 1962 (from France)
Religions
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)
Sunni Muslim (state religion) 99%, Christian and Jewish 1%
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 (official) 0.5%, other 2.8% (2000 census) note: German, French, Italian, and Romansch are all national and official languages
petroleum, natural gas, and petroleum products 97%
External Debt
$1,346,000,000,000 $
$4,699,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
Swiss francs (CHF) per US dollar - 1.0774 (2008 est.), 1.1973 (2007), 1.2539 (2006), 1.2452 (2005), 1.2435 (2004)
Algerian dinars (DZD) per US dollar - 63.25 (2008 est.), 69.9 (2007), 72.647 (2006), 73.276 (2005), 72.061 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
1.000%
3.300%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
6
2
Location
Central Europe, east of France, north of Italy
Northern Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Morocco and Tunisia
Area
41,277 km sq
2,381,741 km sq
Coastline
0 km
998 km
Climate
temperate, but varies with altitude; cold, cloudy, rainy/snowy winters; cool to warm, cloudy, humid summers with occasional showers
arid to semiarid; mild, wet winters with hot, dry summers along coast; drier with cold winters and hot summers on high plateau; sirocco is a hot, dust/sand-laden wind especially common in summer
