Federal President (rotating): Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf (until 1 Jan 2013)
President: Ernest Bai Koroma
Population
7,925,517
5,485,998
Life Expectancy
81.170 years
56.550 years
Capital City
Bern
Largest city
Zurich (population: 341,730)
Freetown (population: 802,639)
Human Development Index
0.955
0.329
GDP per capita
$43,900 US
Literacy Rate
99%
35.1%
Corruption Perception Index
9
1.9
Percentage of Women in Parliament
27.2%
13.2%
Wealthiest Citizens
Ernesto Bertarelli ($8.2bn US)
NA
Unemployment Rate
3.100%
Death Penalty
Abolished
Legal
Political System
formally a confederation but similar in structure to a federal republic
constitutional democracy
Independence date
1 August 1291 (founding of the Swiss Confederation)
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)
Muslim 60%, Christian 10%, indigenous beliefs 30%
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
English (official, regular use limited to literate minority), Mende (principal vernacular in the south), Temne (principal vernacular in the north), Krio (English-based Creole, spoken by the descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area, a lingua franca and a first language for 10% of the population but understood by 95%)
