Federal President (rotating): Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf (until 1 Jan 2013)
President: Abdullah Gul
Population
7,925,517
79,749,461
Life Expectancy
81.170 years
72.770 years
Capital City
Bern
Ankara
Largest city
Zurich (population: 341,730)
Istanbul (population: 11,174,300)
Human Development Index
0.955
0.798
GDP per capita
$43,900 US
$14,700 US
Literacy Rate
99%
87.4%
Corruption Perception Index
9
4.6
Percentage of Women in Parliament
27.2%
9.1%
Wealthiest Citizens
Ernesto Bertarelli ($8.2bn US)
Husnu Ozyegin ($2.9bn US)
Unemployment Rate
3.100%
9.800%
Death Penalty
Abolished
Abolished
Political System
formally a confederation but similar in structure to a federal republic
republican parliamentary democracy
Independence date
1 August 1291 (founding of the Swiss Confederation)
29 October 1923 (successor state to the Ottoman Empire)
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 99.8% (mostly Sunni), other 0.2% (mostly Christians and Jews)
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
Turkish (official), Kurdish, Dimli (or Zaza), Azeri, Kabardian note: there is also a substantial Gagauz population in the European part of Turkey
apparel, foodstuffs, textiles, metal manufactures, transport equipment
External Debt
$1,346,000,000,000 $
$306,600,000,000 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)
Turkish liras (TRY) per US dollar - 1.3179 (2008 est.), 1.319 (2007), 1.4286 (2006), 1.3436 (2005), 1.4255 (2004) note: on 1 January 2005 the old Turkish lira (TRL) was converted to new Turkish lira (TRY) at a rate of 1,000,000 old to 1 new Turkish lira; on 1 January 2009 the Turkish government dropped the word "new" and the currency is now called simply the Turkish lira
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
1.000%
5.300%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
6
8
Location
Central Europe, east of France, north of Italy
Southeastern Europe and Southwestern Asia (that portion of Turkey west of the Bosporus is geographically part of Europe), bordering the Black Sea, between Bulgaria and Georgia, and bordering the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, between Greece and Syria
Area
41,277 km sq
783,562 km sq
Coastline
0 km
7,200 km
Climate
temperate, but varies with altitude; cold, cloudy, rainy/snowy winters; cool to warm, cloudy, humid summers with occasional showers
temperate; hot, dry summers with mild, wet winters; harsher in interior
