2. Switzerland: the Country - Introduction
Description
This article is from the Switzerland FAQ, by Marc Schaefer schaefer@alphanet.ch with numerous contributions by others.
2. Switzerland: the Country - Introduction
Switzerland is a small country in the center of Western Europe[1],
next to Germany in the north, France in the west, Italy in the south,
Austria and the tiny principality of Liechtenstein in the east. Its
size is 41,290 km2 (15,942 sq mi), which is about one and a half times
the size of the US-state Massachusetts. Time zone is MET [ DST ] or
CET [ CED ]. Daylight saving time is one hour ahead, in the summer,
and is called Sommerzeit in German, and Heure d'ete in French. The
standard denomination for daylight saving times is in square brackets.
The country has a long tradition of federalism[2] and direct
democracy, which helped sustain its multi-cultural and multi-lingual
character. The official languages in Switzerland are German, spoken by
2/3 of the population (in a variety of dialects collectively known as
Swiss German); French, spoken by about 20%; Italian, spoken by 8%; and
Rumantsch spoken by less than 1% of the population. Switzerland is
called in German: Die Schweiz, in French: La Suisse, in Italian: La
Svizzera, and in Rumantsch: La Svizra. The official name is in Latin:
Confoederatio Helvetica, which lead to its international (ISO)
acronym: CH. International telephone country code is 41.
The federal capital of Switzerland is the picturesque city of
Bern/Berne (Italian: Berna), located close to the center of
Switzerland. The largest city in the country is Zuerich, an
international financial center. Geneva, on the western tip of the
country (French: Suisse romande; German: Welschland) on the shores of
Lake Geneva (properly called Lac Leman in French), is the largest city
in the French-speaking area. It is home to the United Nations, the
World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization, the
International Committee of the Red Cross, CERN, and many other
international organizations.
Despite hosting many international organizations, Switzerland is not a
member of the European Union, and wasn't until recently (2002-03-03) a
member of the UNO neither. Switzerland is, however, member of the
European Council, of the EFTA and although it wasn't UNO member was
active for a number of years in many international organizations (such
as HCR, WHO, UIT, IMF and so on). Neutrality has been one of the
pillars of Swiss foreign policy and has not yet given way to
membership in supranational organizations (even if the reason for
refusing those might not have been so rhetorical, and UNO is probably
the precedent now.).
In 2000 the population of Switzerland reached 7'204'000, of which
19.8% are foreigners. This used to be the fastest growth in Europe,
mainly due to immigration: now Ireland apparently grows faster than
Switzerland.
In 1994, life expectancy at birth is 78 years. There are 1.6 children
born per woman (Sensitive people may prefer 8 children for 5 women,
but as polygamy is illegal, they must be from different fathers :-))
Switzerland has many lakes and is situated between two mountain
ranges: Jura (> 1000 m/3000 ft) and the Alps ( > 3000 m/10,000 ft).
The country has no natural resources other than salt, water
(electricity) and stones. Main export products are machines, chemical
products (including pharmaceuticals), instruments and watches. Other
revenue is from services (banking, insurances) and tourism (skiing is
one of the national sports) as well as exporting some electricity. As
for tourism, it should be mentioned that Swiss tourists spend more
than 10 billion CHF abroad, compared to the 13 billion CHF visitors
spend in Switzerland.
The Swiss flag should be constructed as follows: A free floating white
cross on red square ground. The arms of the cross are of equal length
and of 1/6 longer than wide (established in 1815).
[1] In the geographical sense, not the European Union.
[2] Switzerland consists of 26 Cantons and half-Cantons. There are 6
half-Cantons. See section 2.4.2
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