Federal President (rotating): Ueli Maurer (until 1 Jan 2014)
Population
316,668,567
7,996,026
Life Expectancy
78.620 years
82.280 years
Capital City
Washington, DC
Bern
Largest city
New York City (population: 8,008,280)
Zurich (population: 341,730)
Human Development Index
0.95
0.955
GDP per capita
$49,800 US
$54,600 US
Literacy Rate
99%
99%
Corruption Perception Index
7.3
9
Percentage of Women in Parliament
16.6%
27.2%
Wealthiest Citizens
William Gates III ($40.0bn US)
Ernesto Bertarelli ($8.2bn US)
Unemployment Rate
8.200%
2.900%
Death Penalty
Legal
Abolished
Political System
Constitution-based federal republic; strong democratic tradition
formally a confederation but similar in structure to a federal republic
Independence date
4 July 1776 (from Great Britain)
1 August 1291 (founding of the Swiss Confederation)
Religions
Protestant 51.3%, Roman Catholic 23.9%, Mormon 1.7%, other Christian 1.6%, Jewish 1.7%, Buddhist 0.7%, Muslim 0.6%, other or unspecified 2.5%, unaffiliated 12.1%, none 4% (2007 est.)
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
English 82.1%, Spanish 10.7%, other Indo-European 3.8%, Asian and Pacific island 2.7%, other 0.7% (2000 census) note: Hawaiian is an official language in the state of Hawaii
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
Swiss francs (CHF) per US dollar - 1.0774 (2008 est.), 1.1973 (2007), 1.2539 (2006), 1.2452 (2005), 1.2435 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
4.600%
1.000%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
110
6
Location
North America, bordering both the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean, between Canada and Mexico
Central Europe, east of France, north of Italy
Area
9,826,675 km sq
41,277 km sq
Coastline
19,924 km
0 km
Climate
mostly temperate, but tropical in Hawaii and Florida, arctic in Alaska, semiarid in the great plains west of the Mississippi River, and arid in the Great Basin of the southwest; low winter temperatures in the northwest are ameliorated occasionally in January and February by warm chinook winds from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains
temperate, but varies with altitude; cold, cloudy, rainy/snowy winters; cool to warm, cloudy, humid summers with occasional showers
