Federal President (rotating): Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf (until 1 Jan 2013)
President: Desire "Desi" Bouterse
Population
7,925,517
560,157
Life Expectancy
81.170 years
71.120 years
Capital City
Bern
Paramaribo
Largest city
Zurich (population: 341,730)
Paramaribo (population: 223,757)
Human Development Index
0.955
0.77
GDP per capita
$43,900 US
$9,600 US
Literacy Rate
99%
89.6%
Corruption Perception Index
9
3.6
Percentage of Women in Parliament
27.2%
25.5%
Wealthiest Citizens
Ernesto Bertarelli ($8.2bn US)
NA
Unemployment Rate
3.100%
9.000%
Death Penalty
Abolished
Abolished in practice
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)
25 November 1975 (from the Netherlands)
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)
Hindu 27.4%, Protestant 25.2% (predominantly Moravian), Roman Catholic 22.8%, Muslim 19.6%, indigenous beliefs 5%
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
Dutch (official), English (widely spoken), Sranang Tongo (Surinamese, sometimes called Taki-Taki, is native language of Creoles and much of the younger population and is lingua franca among others), Caribbean Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi), Javanese
alumina, gold, crude oil, lumber, shrimp and fish, rice, bananas
External Debt
$1,346,000,000,000 $
$504,300,000 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)
Surinamese dollars (SRD) per US dollar - 2.745 (2007), 2.745 (2006), 2.7317 (2005), 2.7336 (2004), 2.6013 (2003) note: in January 2004, the government replaced the guilder with the Surinamese dollar, tied to a US dollar-dominated currency basket
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
1.000%
0.600%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
6
0
Location
Central Europe, east of France, north of Italy
Northern South America, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between French Guiana and Guyana
Area
41,277 km sq
163,820 km sq
Coastline
0 km
386 km
Climate
temperate, but varies with altitude; cold, cloudy, rainy/snowy winters; cool to warm, cloudy, humid summers with occasional showers
