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Switzerland

Moving Switzerland

The Swiss Confederation or Switzerland (Latin: Confoederatio Helvetica) is a landlocked federal republic in Europe, bordering Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. The country has a strong tradition of political and military neutrality, but also of international co-operation, and is home to many international organizations.

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Living in Switzerland

With an area of 41,000 km², Switzerland is a small country. The population is around 7.4 million, resulting in a population density of 184 people per km².

Switzerland comprises three basic topographical areas: the Swiss Alps, the Swiss plateau, and the Jura mountains.The Alps are a high mountain range running across the central-south of the country. Among the high peaks of the Swiss Alps, the highest of which is the Dufour Peak at 4,634 m, are found countless valleys, some with glaciers. From these the headwaters of several major European rivers such as the Rhine, the Rhône, the Inn, the Aare or the Ticino, flow down into lakes such as Lake Geneva, Lake Zürich, Lake Neuchâtel, and Lake Constance.

Switzerland is a prosperous and stable modern market economy, with a per capita GDP that is higher than those of the big western European economies. For much of the 20th century Switzerland was the wealthiest country in Europe by a considerable margin. However since the early 1990s it has suffered from slow growth, and as of 2005 it had fallen to fourth among European states with populations above one million in terms of Gross Domestic Product per capita at purchasing power parity, behind Ireland, Denmark and Norway (see list). Switzerland is a member of the European Free Trade Association.

Switzerland sits at the crossroads of several major European cultures that have heavily influenced the country's languages and culture. Switzerland has three nationwide official languages (German (64%) in the north and centre, French (19%) to the west, and Italian (8%) in the south), plus a fourth national language that is considered official locally (Romansh, a Romance language spoken by a small minority (< 1%) in the southeastern canton of Graubünden and in parts of Ticino). The federal government is obliged to communicate in the three official languages. In the federal parliament, German, French and Italian are the official languages and simultaneous translation is provided. The German spoken in Switzerland is predominantly a group of dialects that are almost unintelligible to Germans and are collectively known as Swiss German, but written communcation and broadcasts typically use High German (standard German). Swiss French and Swiss Italian differ far less from their counterparts in France and Italy, respectively. Learning one of the other national languages at school is obligatory for all Swiss, so most Swiss are at least bilingual. English is considered by some as a Swiss lingua franca, and most Swiss people have some command of English; many Swiss documents and websites are available in English. Resident foreigners and temporary foreign workers make up about 20% of the population.

The most popular religion in Switzerland is Roman Catholicism (43% of the population). There are various Protestant denominations (35%), while immigration has brought Islam (4%) and Eastern Orthodoxy (2%) as sizeable minority religions. The stability and prosperity of Switzerland, combined with a linguistically diverse population, has led some to describe the country as a consensus, or consociational state.

The Swiss Confederation consists of 26 cantons:

Aargau (Argovia)
Appenzell Innerrhoden (Inner Rhodes)
Appenzell Ausserrhoden (Outer Rhodes)
Basel-Stadt (Basle-City)
Basel-Landschaft (Basle-Country)
Bern (Berne)
Fribourg (Freiburg)
Genève (Geneva)
Glarus
Graubünden (Grisons/Grischun/Grigioni)
Jura
Lucerne (Luzern)
Neuchâtel
Nidwalden
Obwalden
Schaffhausen
Schwyz
Solothurn (Soleure)
St. Gallen (St. Gall)
Thurgau (Thurgovia)
Ticino (Tessin)
Uri
Valais (Wallis)
Vaud
Zug
Zürich (Zurich)