Get All The Facts About Switzerland

Learn more about the facts about Switzerland, its economy, society, culture, languages, climate, population and people, Visa Requirement, Government, Early History. Switzerland is a multi-cultural country. Reading through his page gives you the Facts About Switzerland.

Country Borders and Political History in Switzerland

Switzerland or Helvetia as it is called in Latin is a landlocked, majestically scenic country. Our political stability has helped to become one of the world's wealthiest countries and partly through our long-standing neutrality.

Although, located close to the geographical centre of Europe, we are not a member of the European Union. In fact, in 1992 and again in 2001 we voted against joining the EU.

Therefore Swiss-EU relations are mostly based on bilateral agreements. Our country borders Germany - to the North, Austria and Lichtenstein - to the East, Italy - to the South, and France - to the West.

Early History and facts about Switzerland

Switzerland is a federation of relatively autonomous cantons. And the three founding cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden have a history of confederacy that goes back to more than 700 years. Actually it was 1291 that those three forest cantons signed the Federal Charter. That puts them arguably among the world's oldest republics. The direct democracy in Switzerland was formed much later.

The charter united the involved parties in the struggle against the rule by the Habsburgs. At the Battle of Morgarten on November 15, 1315, we Swiss defeated the Habsburg army and secured factual independence as is know today as the Swiss Confederation.

It wasn't until 1353, that the three original cantons had been joined by the cantons of Glarus and Zug and the city cantons of Berne, Luzerne and Zurich. The last cantons of Geneva, Valais and Neuchatel that joined the territory of Switzerland wasn't until 1815.

In 1847, a civil war broke out between the Catholic and the Protestant cantons. However, this war lasted less than a month, causing fewer than 100 casualties. This was apart from small riots, the last armed conflict on Swiss territory.

Government in Switzerland

Ever since we had permanent neutrality and independence in 1815 we have been honoured by the major European countries. And we were not involved in either of the two World Wars. Although our government had to admit that we were getting very close. The 1848 constitution made it into a federal state. The modern system of Direct Democracy as we know it today was formed by frequent referendums in the 19th century.

This was the time when Switzerland was surrounded by European monarchies that actually showed no or little interests for democracy. So it is to say that we Swiss vote about everything like tax increases/decreases, nuclear power plants, foreign-politics, or landscape protection. Campaigners or each individual would need at least a 100,000 signatures to bring any issue to light.

The national flag is red with a white cross. Many people confuse it with the Red Cross which is of course reverse. I notice that in many countries, like 2002 while skiing in Chile, South America. There, the staff of the ski patrol had the Swiss Cross on the back of their jackets. No one noticed it and knowing the Chileans, I am sure that it is still like this today.

Facts About Switzerland - Population and People

Switzerland has a population of 7,489,370 (July 2005 est.) people. The total labor force is approximately 3.77 Million (2004 est.). The average life expectancy is 82,82 years for females and 77,22 years for males.

About 55% of the Swiss are Catholics and 45% are Protestants. There are of course religious minorities like Jewish and other religion.

Facts About Switzerland – The Capital

Bern is the capital of Switzerland with only 130,000 inhabitants. It is situated in the second largest state or canton (also called Bern) of Switzerland.

Facts About Switzerland - Land Area

The total area is 41,290 sq km (15,940, sq miles) of which 39,770 sq km (15,355 sq miles is land and 1,520 sq km (587 sq miles) is water. This is slightly more than twice the size of Massachusetts.

The lowest elevation is the Lago Maggiore at 193 msl. (633 feet). The highest elevation is the Dufourspitze in the Monte Rosa Massif at 4,634 msl. (15,203 feet). More than 60 percent of Switzerland is covered by ranges of the Alps in the South of the country. Please click here to read more about the Swiss Alps.

Facts About Switzerland – Languages

Our national languages are German 64%, French 20%, Italian 6,5% and Rumansch 0,5%. Other languages like English, Spanish, and Serbo-Croatian etc. 9%.

All government documents are printed in German, French and Italian. The same goes for all the merchandise that one buys in the supermarkets or shopping centers.

However, the polyglot Swiss is a rumor. There are the four national languages, but not the four language speaking Swiss. I would say that quadrolinguism is something of a collective ownership - I, as a Swiss don´t speak the four languages, but we Swiss do.

And so it isthat only six percent of the children are bilingual when they enter school. Barely a quarter of the Swiss can communicate without any significant problems in a second language.

There are of course exceptions like the romansch speaking minority in the Canton of Grisons. There, the people are least bilingual and the children are often fluent in three or four languages. There are also bilingual cities such as Fribourg, Murten, Biel or Sierre. But in this cities, few are really bilingual.

Switzerland Facts – The Swiss Time

Switzerland is located in the Central European Time Zone (CET), also known as Middle European Time Zone (MET). It is one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT + 1). Daylight savings time starts in early spring (end of March) and ends in late fall (end of September).

Facts About Switzerland - Transport Infrastructure

Switzerland has a total of 70,000 km (43,500 miles) of roads. The railway system is of roughly 5,000 km (3,100 miles). And we have five international airports, Geneva, Zurich, Basel, Bern/Belp and Lugano.

By the way, in the whole country we have more than 1000 tooth wheel trains, cable cars and gondolas. In 1997 for example, more than 194 million passengers were transported this way.

Facts About Switzerland – Economy

GDP: USD 239.8 Billion (2003)

GDP - per capita: USD 34,800 (2003)

GDP - composition by sector: Agriculture 1.5%, Industry 34%, Services 64.5%

Unemployment rate: 3.9% (2003)

Exports: USD 110 Billion f.o.b. (2003)

Export partners: : Germany 20.4%, US 11.9%, France 9.1%, Italy 8.2%, UK 5.1%

Export commodities: : Chemicals, Machinery, Watches, Textiles, Precision Instruments

Imports: : USD 102.2 Billion f.o.b. (2003)

Import partners: : Germany 31.4%, Italy 10.3% France 10%, US 6.6%, Netherlands 5.1%, UK 4.9%, Austria 4.1%

Import commodities: : Machinery, Chemicals, Vehicles, Metals, Agricultural Products, Textiles

Currency: : Swiss Franc (CHF)

Exchange rates:Swiss Francs per USD - 1.21 (June 2006)
Swiss Francs per Euro - 1.55 (June 2006)

Useful Tel Numbers in Switzerland
Ambulance 144
Police 117
Fire department 118
Breakdown service 140

Store Opening hours

General store opening hours are: Mo - Fr 8.00 am - 6.30 pm and Sat from 8.00 am - 4.00 or 5.00 pm depending the region you are in. Smaller stores may close during lunchtime between noon and 1.30 pm

Bank opening hours are Mo - Fr 8.30 am -noon and 2.30 pm - 4.00 pm Post office hours Mo - Fr 7.30 am -noon and 1.45 pm - 6.00 pm and Sat 8.30 am - 11.00 am

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