formally a confederation but similar in structure to a federal republic
republic
Independence date
1 August 1291 (founding of the Swiss Confederation)
9 September 1991 (from Soviet Union)
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 85%, Shia Muslim 5%, other 10% (2003 est.)
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
Tajik (official), Russian widely used in government and business
