Federal President (rotating): Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf (until 1 Jan 2013)
Population
5,054,828
7,925,517
Life Expectancy
68.840 years
81.170 years
Capital City
Ashgabat (Ashkhabad)
Bern
Largest city
Ashgabat (population: 727,700)
Zurich (population: 341,730)
Human Development Index
0.728
0.955
GDP per capita
$7,900 US
$43,900 US
Literacy Rate
98.8%
99%
Corruption Perception Index
1.8
9
Percentage of Women in Parliament
16%
27.2%
Wealthiest Citizens
NA
Ernesto Bertarelli ($8.2bn US)
Unemployment Rate
60.000%
3.100%
Death Penalty
Abolished
Abolished
Political System
republic; authoritarian presidential rule, with little power outside the executive branch
formally a confederation but similar in structure to a federal republic
Independence date
27 October 1991 (from Soviet Union)
1 August 1291 (founding of the Swiss Confederation)
Religions
Muslim 89%, Eastern Orthodox 9%, unknown 2%
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)
Languages
Turkmen 72%, Russian 12%, Uzbek 9%, other 7%
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
