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Switzerland

Facts About Switzerland

Background: Switzerland’s independence and neutrality have long been honored by the major European powers and Switzerland was not involved in either of the two World Wars. The political and economic integration of Europe over the past half century, as well as Switzerland’s role in many UN and international organizations, may be rendering obsolete the country’s concern for neutrality.
Government type: federal republic
Capital: Bern
Currency: 1 Swiss franc (CHF) = 100 centimes, rappen, or centesimi

Geography of Switzerland

Location: Central Europe, east of France, north of Italy
Geographic coordinates: 47 00 N, 8 00 E
Area:
total: 41,290 sq km
land: 39,770 sq km
water: 1,520 sq km
Land boundaries:
total: 1,852 km
border countries: Austria 164 km, France 573 km, Italy 740 km, Liechtenstein 41 km, Germany 334 km
Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)
Maritime claims: none (landlocked)
Climate: temperate, but varies with altitude; cold, cloudy, rainy/snowy winters; cool to warm, cloudy, humid summers with occasional showers
Terrain: mostly mountains (Alps in south, Jura in northwest) with a central plateau of rolling hills, plains, and large lakes
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Lake Maggiore 195 m
highest point: Dufourspitze 4,634 m
Natural resources: hydropower potential, timber, salt
Land use:
arable land: 10%
permanent crops: 2%
permanent pastures: 28%
forests and woodland: 32%
other: 28% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 250 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: avalanches, landslides, flash floods
Environment – current issues: air pollution from vehicle emissions and open-air burning; acid rain; water pollution from increased use of agricultural fertilizers; loss of biodiversity
Environment – international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Law of the Sea
Geography – note: landlocked; crossroads of northern and southern Europe; along with southeastern France and northern Italy, contains the highest elevations in Europe.

People of Switzerland

Switzerland sits at the crossroads of several major European cultures, which have heavily influenced the country’s languages and cultural practices. Switzerland has four official languages–German, French, Italian, and Romansch (based on Latin and spoken by a small minority in the Canton Graubuenden). The German spoken here is predominantly a Swiss dialect, but newspapers and some broadcasts use High German. Many Swiss speak more than one language. English is widely known, especially among professionals.

More than 75% of the population lives in the central plain, which stretches between the Alps and the Jura Mountains and from Geneva in the southwest to the Rhine River and Lake Constance in the northeast. Resident foreigners and temporary foreign workers make up about 20% of the population.

Almost all Swiss are literate. Switzerland’s 12 institutes of higher learning enrolled 95,700 students in the academic year of 1999-2000. The constitution guarantees freedom of worship. Switzerland consistently ranks high on quality of life indices, including highest per capita income, one of the highest concentration of computer and Internet usage per capita, highest insurance coverage per individual, high literacy and health care rates.

Population: 7,489,370 (July 2005 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 17% (male 637,782; female 605,626)
15-64 years: 68% (male 2,498,540; female 2,421,802)
65 years and over: 15% (male 444,627; female 653,995) 
Population growth rate: 0.3% 
Birth rate: 10.4 births/1,000 population 
Death rate: 8.75 deaths/1,000 population 
Net migration rate: 1.38 migrant(s)/1,000 population 
Infant mortality rate: 4.53 deaths/1,000 live births 
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 79.6 years
male: 76.73 years
female: 82.63 years 
Total fertility rate: 1.47 children born/woman 
Nationality:
noun: Swiss (singular and plural)
adjective: Swiss
Ethnic groups: German 65%, French 18%, Italian 10%, Romansch 1%, other 6%
Religions: Roman Catholic 46.1%, Protestant 40%, other 5%, none 8.9% (1990)
Languages: German (official) 63.7%, French (official) 19.2%, Italian (official) 7.6%, Romansch 0.6%, other 8.9%
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99% (1980 est.)

History of Switzerland

Originally inhabited by the Helvetians, or Helvetic Celts, the territory comprising modern Switzerland was conquered by Julius Caesar during the Gallic wars and made part of the Roman Empire. It remained a Roman province until the 4th century AD. Under Roman influence, the population reached a high level of civilization and enjoyed a flourishing commerce. Important cities, such as Geneva, Basel, and Zurich, were linked by military roads that also served as trade arteries between Rome and the northern tribes.

After the decline of the Roman Empire, Switzerland was invaded by Germanic tribes from the north and west. Some tribes, such as the Alemanni in central and northeastern Switzerland, and the Burgundians, who ruled western Switzerland, settled there. In 800, the country became part of Charlemagne’s empire. It later passed under the dominion of the German emperors in the form of small ecclesiastic and temporal holdings subject to imperial sovereignty.

In 1291, representatives of the three forest cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden signed the Eternal Alliance. This united them in the struggle against “foreign” rule by the Hapsburgs, who then held the German imperial throne. At the battle of Morgarten in 1315, the Swiss defeated the Hapsburg army and secured quasi-independence within the German Empire as the Swiss Confederation.

Under the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, European countries recognized Switzerland’s independence from the Holy Roman Empire and its neutrality. In 1798, armies of the French Revolution conquered Switzerland. The Treaty of Vienna and the Second Peace of Paris in 1815 re-established Swiss independence, and the powers participating in the Congress of Vienna agreed to recognize Swiss permanent neutrality.

Switzerland adopted a federal constitution in 1848, modeled in part on the U.S. Constitution. The Swiss amended their Constitution extensively in 1874, establishing federal responsibility for defense, trade, and legal matters. Since then, continued political, economic, and social improvement has characterized Swiss history. The Swiss did not participate in either world war.

Switzerland Economy

Despite a dearth of natural resources, the Swiss economy is among the world’s most advanced and prosperous. Per capita income is virtually the highest in the world, as are wages. During most of the 1990s, the Swiss economy was western Europe’s weakest, with annual GDP growth averaging 0% between 1991 and 1997. The economic recovery, however, which began during the second half of 1997, has steadily gained momentum. The year 2000 registered the strongest GDP growth in a decade at 3.0% in real terms. Being so closely linked to the economies of western Europe and the United States, Switzerland has not been able to escape the slowdown being experienced in these countries. In 2001 the rate of growth has fallen from the highs experienced the previous year, and the economy was expected to grow by about 1.6%. Economic growth is expected to be around 2.0% for 2002–the rate most economists see as the economy’s average long-term growth potential.

The economic stagnation experienced from 1991 to 1997 had a major impact on the labor market. Over this period, 255,000 jobs (aggregated as full-time job equivalents) were lost. To the surprise of most forecasters, however, the unemployment situation improved dramatically from a rate of 5.7% in February 1997 (the highest in decades) to 1.6% in June 2001. Since then unemployment has slightly increased to 2.6% in January 2002.

Trade has been the key to prosperity in Switzerland. The country is dependent upon export markets to generate income while dependent upon imports for raw materials and to expand the range of goods and services available in the country. Switzerland has liberal trade and investment policies and a conservative fiscal policy. The Swiss legal system is highly developed, commercial law is well-defined, and solid laws and policies protect investments. The Swiss franc is one of the world’s soundest currencies, and the country is known for its high standard of banking and financial services.

A highly skilled, motivated work force, laws promoting labor flexibility, and collective bargaining agreements between trade unions and employers’ associations have meant very little labor unrest. The machinery, metals, electronics, and chemicals sectors are world-renowned for precision and quality. Together they account for well over half of Swiss export revenues. In agriculture, Switzerland is about 60% self-sufficient and imports about $5 billion of agricultural products annually. Swiss farmers are one of the most highly protected and subsidized producer group in the world. The U.S. share of the Swiss agricultural import market is currently quite small, but the steady application of World Trade Organizations rules should gradually improve the situation.

Tourism, banking, engineering, and insurance are significant sectors of the economy and heavily influence the country’s economic policies. Swiss trading companies have unique marketing expertise in many parts of the world, including eastern Europe, the Far East, Africa, and the Middle East. Not only does Switzerland have a highly developed tourism infrastructure (making it a good market for tourism-related equipment and services), the Swiss also are intrepid travelers themselves. On a per capita basis, more tourists visit the United States from Switzerland than from any other country. Tourism is the most important U.S. export to Switzerland (earnings almost $2 billion). In 2000, more than 400,000 Swiss went to the United States–and for the majority it was not their first visit.

According to the Swiss National Bank (SNB), Switzerland’s current account surplus increased by $4.4 billion to $31.2 billion in 2000 (7.4 billion to 52.4 billion Swiss francs), equivalent to 12.9% of GDP–the highest such percentage among OECD countries. This represents a 16.5% increase over 1999’s figure of $26.8 billion (45.0 billion Swiss francs), or 11.6% of GDP. In value terms, exports of goods rose by 10.6% and imports by 13.4%. The balance of trade showed a modest deficit of $1.25 billion (2.1 billion Swiss francs). The surplus from services increased by $1.7 billion to $13.5 billion (2.8 billion to 22.6 billion Swiss francs). Investment earnings from abroad rose by $5.2 billion to $28.0 billion (8.8 billion to 47.1 billion Swiss francs), due to improved net earnings on both portfolio and foreign direct investments.

The European Union (EU) is Switzerland’s largest trading partner, and economic and trade barriers between them are minimal. In the wake of the Swiss voters’ rejection of the European Economic Area Agreement in 1992, the Swiss Government set its sights on negotiating bilateral sectoral agreements with the EU. After more than 4 years of negotiations, an agreement covering seven sectors (research, public procurement, technical barriers to trade, agriculture, civil aviation, land transport, and the free movement of persons) was achieved at the end of 1998. Parliament officially endorsed the so-called “Bilaterals” in 1999, and the Swiss people approved them in a referendum in May 2000. The agreements, which had to be ratified by the European Parliament as well as legislatures in all 15 EU member states, are expected to come into force in the first half of 2002.

Switzerland has so far attempted to mitigate possible adverse effects of non-membership by conforming many of its regulations, standards, and practices to EU directives and norms. The Swiss Government has embarked on a second round of bilateral negotiations with the EU (known as Bilaterals II). Talks on the four dossiers of customs fraud, environment, statistics, and trade in processed agricultural products started in July 2001. Negotiations on the liberalization of services, pensions, student and youth exchange programs, media, the taxation of savings as well as police and judicial cooperation (under the Schengen and Dublin accords) are yet to begin. While most issues are not really contentious, talks on customs fraud are moving slowly. Police and judicial cooperation and the taxation of savings are controversial, mostly because of possible adverse effects on Swiss bank secrecy. Switzerland refuses to open negotiations on a tax on savings as long as the EU has not yet framed its mandate for negotiations for all 10 dossiers.

The Swiss federal government has declared EU membership as its long-term goal, but in a March 2001 referendum over 70% of voters rejected rapid steps toward EU membership. The issue of EU-membership is therefore likely to be shelved for several years. The government also formally declared that it wants Switzerland to join the United Nations. A popular initiative on UN membership, which the government endorses, will be voted on March 3, 2002.

Switzerland is a member of a number of international economic organizations, including the WTO, the IMF, the World Bank, and the OECD.

GDP: purchasing power parity – $207 billion (2000 est.)
GDP – real growth rate: 1.4% (1999 est.), 3% (2000 est.)
GDP – per capita: purchasing power parity – $28,600 (2000 est.)
GDP – composition by sector:
agriculture: 2.8%
industry: 31.1%
services: 66.1% (1995)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.9%
highest 10%: 28.6% (1982)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1% (1999 est.)
Labor force: 3.8 million (956,000 foreign workers, mostly Italian) (1996 est.)
Labor force – by occupation: services 67%, industry 28%, agriculture and forestry 5% (1996 est.)
Unemployment rate: 2.8% (1999 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $32.66 billion
expenditures: $34.89 billion, including capital expenditures of $2.3 billion (1998 est.)
Industries: machinery, chemicals, watches, textiles, precision instruments
Industrial production growth rate: 3.3% (1999 est.)
Electricity – production: 61.076 billion kWh (1998)
Electricity – production by source:
fossil fuel: 3.74%
hydro: 54.29%
nuclear: 40.18%
other: 1.79% (1998)
Electricity – consumption: 50.8 billion kWh (1998)
Agriculture – products: grains, fruits, vegetables; meat, eggs
Exports: $98.5 billion (f.o.b., 1999)
Exports – commodities: machinery, chemicals, metals, watches, agricultural products
Exports – partners: EU 62% (Germany 24%, France 10%, Italy 8%, UK 6%, Austria 3%), US 10%, Japan 4% (1998)
Imports: $99 billion (f.o.b., 1999)
Imports – commodities: machinery, chemicals, vehicles, metals; agricultural products, textiles
Imports – partners: EU 80% (Germany 33%, France 12%, Italy 10%, Netherlands 5%, UK 5%), US 6%, Japan 3% (1998)
Economic aid – donor: ODA, $1.1 billion (1995)
Currency: Swiss franc (CHF)

Map of Switzerland