Switzerland
Name
| Official name | Swiss Confederation — Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft (German), Confédération suisse (French), Confederazione Svizzera (Italian), Confederaziun svizra (Romansh), Confoederatio Helvetica (Latin, the neutral form on the coins, the stamps and the codes); Switzerland (die Schweiz, la Suisse, la Svizzera, la Svizra) the short form; CHE |
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| Former names | The Helvetic Republic (1798–1803) of the French occupation, the one unitary state; the Old Swiss Confederacy (Alte Eidgenossenschaft) of the Thirteen Cantons (1513–1798) and its allies; the Confederation of the Act of Mediation (1803) and the Federal Treaty (1815–48) of 22 cantons; Helvetia to the Romans, the land of the Helvetii; "Schwyz" the canton that named the whole |
| Demonym | Swiss (Swiss); Schweizer, Suisse, Svizzero, Svizzer; the Swiss Germans, Romands (the French Swiss), Ticinesi and Romansh by language; the Confederates (Eidgenossen) in the old style; "Helvetians" in jest |
| Meaning of the name | From Schwyz, the forest canton of the oath of 1291 whose name spread to its allies by the 14th century (Schwyz itself perhaps from a Germanic "to burn," the cleared land, or from an Alemannic settler Suito, both told) — Switzer, Swiss in English by the 16th century; "Eidgenossenschaft," the fellowship of the oath (Eid), the German name for the confederation of the sworn cantons; "Helvetia" from the Celtic Helvetii whom Caesar turned back at Bibracte in 58 BC, revived by the humanists and the Republic of 1798 as the name above the languages; "Confoederatio Helvetica" the Latin compromise of 1848 |
| Motto | "Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno" — "One for all, all for one" — the unofficial motto, on the dome of the Federal Palace since 1902, the words of the flood appeal of 1868; no motto by law |
Quick facts
| Capital | Bern (Berne), the "federal city" since 28 November 1848 by the Federal Assembly's choice over Zurich and Lucerne — no capital by law: the Federal Palace of 1902 with the two chambers and the Federal Council, the federal offices, the National Bank's second seat; about 135,000 in the city, about 420,000 in the agglomeration; the Federal Supreme Court at Lausanne, the Federal Criminal Court at Bellinzona, the Federal Administrative Court at St. Gallen, the Federal Patent Court; the old town on the Aare a World Heritage site (1983), the bears, the Zytglogge, Einstein's flat of 1905 |
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| Largest cities | Zurich (about 440,000 in the city; about 1.4 million in the agglomeration, the banks, the exchange, the ETH, the airport), Geneva (about 205,000; about 600,000 with the French side; the UN, the Red Cross, CERN, the watches and the private banks), Basel (about 175,000; 550,000 in its three-country agglomeration; Roche and Novartis, the Rhine port, Art Basel), Lausanne (about 145,000; the Olympic capital, the EPFL), Bern (about 135,000), Winterthur (about 120,000), Lucerne (about 85,000), St. Gallen (about 80,000; the abbey), Lugano (about 65,000; the Italian city), Biel/Bienne (about 55,000; the bilingual watch town), Thun, Köniz, La Chaux-de-Fonds (the watch city of the Jura), Fribourg/Freiburg, Schaffhausen, Chur, Neuchâtel, Sion, Zug (the tax haven of the companies) — the municipal counts of 2025; three in four Swiss in the towns, two in three on the Plateau |
| Official language | Four national languages by the Constitution (Article 4) — German (Swiss German, the Alemannic dialects of the street; the Standard German of the page; about 62% of the people), French (about 23%; the Romandie of Geneva, Vaud, Neuchâtel, Jura and the bilingual Fribourg, Valais and Bern), Italian (about 8%; Ticino and the Grisons' valleys) and Romansh (about 0.5%; about 40,000 speakers in the Grisons; an official language "in dealings with persons who speak it" since 1996) — the first three the federal languages of the laws and the courts; English the language between the regions and of business (not official), the "Röstigraben" the ditch between the German and French halves; Portuguese, Albanian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish and English the largest tongues of the immigrants; the four languages on every banknote |
| Currency | Swiss franc (ISO code CHF; Fr.), of 100 centimes (Rappen, centesimi) — about 0.83 francs to the U.S. dollar and 0.945 to the euro on 28 September 2026 (the franc stronger than the euro since 2022; the "floor" of 1.20 to the euro of 2011 to 15 January 2015); the Swiss National Bank (1907; Chairman Martin Schlegel since 1 October 2024), its policy rate 0% since 19 June 2025 and held on 24 September 2026, the negative rates of 2015–22 remembered; the 1,000-franc note; Liechtenstein's money too; the "cash is freedom" initiative rejected on 8 March 2026 (54.4% no) with its counter-proposal to guarantee cash accepted (73.4% yes) |
| Time zone | Central European Time, UTC+1, and Central European Summer Time, UTC+2, from the last Sunday of March to the last of October — since 1981, two years after its neighbors, the voters having refused the summer time once (1978) |
| Calling code | +41 |
| Internet domain | .ch (since 1987; the Latin "Confoederatio Helvetica"; run by SWITCH), with .swiss for the country's companies and bodies since 2015 |
| ISO 3166 codes | CH · CHE · 756 |
| Vehicle registration code | CH |
| Driving side | Right |
| Electricity | 230 V, 50 Hz; plug type J (the Swiss three-pin of SEV 1011; type C fits) |
| Independence | None to date — the Federal Charter of the three forest cantons (Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden) of early August 1291 the founding date the National Day of 1 August keeps (a holiday since 1994); independence from the Holy Roman Empire in fact by the Swabian War of 1499 (the Peace of Basel) and in law by the Peace of Westphalia of 24 October 1648; the federal state by the Constitution of 12 September 1848; the neutrality recognized by the Congress of Vienna (20 March 1815; the Act of 20 November 1815); the Constitution of 18 April 1999 in force 1 January 2000 |
| National days | Swiss National Day (Bundesfeier), 1 August, the anniversary of the oath of 1291 — the bonfires, the lanterns, the speeches and the "Bundesfeier" bread (a holiday by the vote of 26 September 1993); the holidays otherwise the cantons' — New Year, Good Friday and Easter Monday (most cantons), Ascension and Whit Monday, Christmas and St. Stephen's Day; the Catholic cantons' Corpus Christi, Assumption, All Saints and Immaculate Conception; Berchtoldstag (2 January) in the Protestant cantons; the Fête de l'Escalade of Geneva (December), the Fasnacht of Basel and Lucerne, the Sechseläuten of Zurich, the Landsgemeinde of Appenzell (the last Sunday of April) and Glarus (the first of May); the Federal Day of Thanksgiving of the third Sunday of September |
| Constitution | The Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation of 18 April 1999, in force 1 January 2000 — the third, a "tidying" of the constitutions of 12 September 1848 (the federal state, the two chambers, the referendum) and 29 May 1874 (the optional referendum on laws), with the popular initiative of 1891 kept: a federal state of 26 cantons (20 full and 6 "half-cantons" by the old count), the Federal Council of seven elected by the Assembly, the two chambers, the Federal Supreme Court that may not strike down federal laws (Article 190), the four languages, the neutrality unwritten in the text but in the practice; amended by the people and the cantons together (the double majority) on the initiatives of 100,000 signatures and the referendums of 50,000 — about 700 federal votes since 1848 and more each year than the rest of the world together; the votes of 2026 — 8 March (five proposals), 14 June (two), 27 September (two) and 29 November (four) — the initiators' case that the people must decide the neutrality, the population and the fee; the Federal Council's and the Parliament's that the initiatives bind the hands the practice needs free — both stated (LAW 2) |
| Population | More than 9.1 million permanent residents at the end of 2025 by the Federal Statistical Office (9,109,000 by the counts; 9.0 million passed in 2024) — up 76,100, 0.8%, in 2025 (1.0% in 2024, 1.7% in 2023): immigration 204,300 against emigration 133,800, the Germans (26,400) and the returning Swiss (23,000) the largest inflows; the births about 80,000 and the deaths about 74,000, the natural increase a twelfth of the growth; 27.7% foreign nationals (about 2.5 million; the Italians, Germans, Portuguese, French, Kosovars, Spaniards, Turks, North Macedonians, Serbs, Ukrainians of 2022); THE OVER-65s PAST THE UNDER-20s for the first time (1,810,600 to 1,804,500), the seniors +2.3% in the year; the median age about 43; the 100th of the world; Zurich (about 1.6 million), Bern (1.06 million), Vaud (850,000), Aargau, St. Gallen, Geneva and Ticino the largest cantons; the 10-million cap of the SVP's initiative rejected 14 June 2026 (54.8% no) — the FSO's reference forecast passes 10 million about 2040 |
| Area | 41,285 km² (15,940 sq mi) — the 132nd country of the world, a little smaller than the Netherlands or Denmark, 348 km by 220 km; about 39,800 km² of land and about 1,500 of lakes and rivers (about 4%; the Swiss parts of Lake Geneva and Lake Constance, Neuchâtel, Lucerne, Zurich and the rest); the Alps 60% of the land, the Plateau 30%, the Jura 10%; the borders about 1,850 km by the Swiss count (Italy 734, France 572, Germany 346, Austria 165, Liechtenstein 41; 1,770 by the Factbook's); landlocked; the highest country of Europe by mean elevation after Andorra by the counts (about 1,350 m) |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | A white cross on a red field, the arms of the cross a sixth longer than they are wide and the whole a square — one of only two square national flags with the Vatican's: the red banner with the white cross carried by the Confederates since the battle of Laupen (1339) and the Schwyz banner before it, the field cross of the mercenaries, the federal flag of the Constitution of 1848 (the Federal Assembly's decree of 12 December 1889 fixed the cross's proportions), the shade of red (Pantone 485) set by the Act on the Protection of the Swiss Coat of Arms of 21 June 2013 (in force 2017); the civil ensign of the Rhine and the lake boats rectangular (2:3); the reverse of the Red Cross's flag of 1863, made from it in Dunant's honor; on every alp on 1 August. Flag of Switzerland |
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| Coat of arms | The white cross on a red triangular shield (a "Swiss shield," the heater of the 15th century) — the arms of the Confederation by the decree of 12 December 1889 and the Act of 2013, the cross alone with no supporters, crest or motto; on the passports, the coins (with "Helvetia," the seated or standing woman of the francs, the country's allegory since the 17th century), the Federal Palace and the army; the 26 cantonal arms on the Federal Palace's dome and on every car plate |
| National anthem | The "Swiss Psalm" ("Schweizerpsalm" / "Cantique suisse" / "Salmo svizzero" / "Psalm svizzer") — the hymn of the priest Alberich Zwyssig of 1841 to the words of Leonhard Widmer, "Trittst im Morgenrot daher" ("When the morning skies grow red"), in the four languages; the provisional anthem of 1961 and the official one only since 1 April 1981, replacing "Rufst du, mein Vaterland," which was sung to "God Save the King"; the competition of 2014–15 for new words (a "Swiss Psalm" of the Constitution's values) that the Federal Council left in the drawer |
| National motto | "Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno" ("One for all, all for one"), on the cupola of the Federal Palace and in the mouths of the Confederates since the 1860s — unofficial; the cantons' own on their arms |
| National colors | Red and white of the flag — the red shirts of the "Nati," the white cross of the army, the red of the pocketknife and the watches' straps; the Swiss "red and white" the badge of the country's brands (Swiss, Swisscom, the Post's yellow the exception) |
| National animal | None designated — the cow of the alps (the Simmental and the Brown Swiss; the cow-fighting of the Valais Hérens), the Saint Bernard dog of the Great St. Bernard hospice (Barry, the rescuer of 1800–14, in the Bern museum), the Bernese mountain dog, the ibex of the Alps (hunted out and brought back from Italy's Gran Paradiso from 1911), the marmot, the chamois and the golden eagle the animals of the country; the bear on Bern's arms, the bull on Uri's |
| National flower and tree | The edelweiss (Leontopodium nivale), the woolly white star of the high rocks, the national flower by custom (protected, the emblem of the alpine clubs and the army's badges); the alpine rose (Alpenrose, the rhododendron) and the gentian beside it; the tree the Swiss stone pine (Arve) of the Engadine by custom, the spruce the forest's |
| National dish | Cheese fondue (the moitié-moitié of Gruyère and Vacherin), by custom and the "Fondue isch guet und git e gueti Luune" of the cheese union of the 1950s, and raclette of the Valais; rösti (the Bernese potato cake that named the Röstigraben), Zürcher Geschnetzeltes, the Bündnerfleisch and the Wurst of the grill (the cervelat, the "national sausage," about 160 million a year), the Älplermagronen; the chocolate of Lindt, Cailler, Toblerone and Läderach (the Swiss eat about 10 kg a head, the most anywhere), the Birchermüesli, the Rivella, the absinthe of the Val-de-Travers; the Gruyère, the Emmental with its holes, the Appenzeller, the Tête de Moine, the Sbrinz |
| National sport | None by law — football (the Super League; the "Nati" of the World Cup quarterfinal of 11 July 2026, lost to Argentina 1–3 after extra time at Kansas City, the first since 1954, after the group won over Qatar, Bosnia and Canada, Algeria beaten 2–0 in the round of 32 and Colombia on penalties in the round of 16; the Euro 2024 quarterfinal; the women's Euro hosted in 2025), skiing (the Winter Olympics of Milan-Cortina 2026 — 6 gold, 9 silver, 8 bronze, 23 medals, 8th of the table; Franjo von Allmen's three golds of the downhill, the super-G and the team combined, Loïc Meillard's slalom, Mathilde Gremaud's slopestyle, Marianne Fatton's ski mountaineering; the Lauberhorn and the Hahnenkamm's Swiss winners), ice hockey (the world silvers of 2013, 2018, 2024, 2025 and 2026, the last at home, the final of 31 May 2026 at Zurich lost to Finland 0–1 in overtime), tennis (Roger Federer's 20 Grand Slams, Stan Wawrinka's three, Martina Hingis, Belinda Bencic's Olympic gold of 2021), cycling, the Schwingen (the alpine wrestling of the "Eidgenössisches" every three years, the Schwingerkönig the country's king for a day), Hornussen, the Waffenlauf; the IOC at Lausanne and FIFA and UEFA in Zurich and Nyon |
| Heritage listings | UNESCO World Heritage ×13 — the old city of Bern (1983), the Abbey of St. Gall (1983), the Benedictine convent of St. John at Müstair (1983), the three castles of Bellinzona (2000), the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch (2001), Monte San Giorgio (2003; the fossils, with Italy), the Lavaux vineyard terraces (2007), the Rhaetian Railway in the Albula/Bernina landscapes (2008; with Italy), the Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona (2008), La Chaux-de-Fonds/Le Locle, the watchmaking towns (2009), the prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps (2011; six countries), the architectural work of Le Corbusier (2016; seven countries) and the ancient beech forests (2021; the Bettlachstock and the Valli di Lodano); Intangible Heritage — the Basel Carnival (2017), the Winegrowers' Festival of Vevey (2016), the avalanche risk management (2018, with Austria), the alpinism (2019, with France and Italy), the mechanical watchmaking and art mechanics (2020, with France), the Holy Week processions of Mendrisio (2019), the alpine pasture season (2023); biosphere reserves ×2 (Entlebuch, Val Müstair); the Swiss National Park (1914; the oldest of the Alps) |
| Symbol status | The flag and the arms by the decrees of 1889 and the Act of 21 June 2013; the anthem by the Federal Council's decision of 1 April 1981; the National Day by the vote of 1993 and the law of 1994; no motto, animal, flower, dish or sport by law — all by custom; the cantons' own symbols in their own laws |
Geography
| Location | Central Europe, landlocked in the Alps between 45°49′ and 47°49′ N and 5°57′ and 10°30′ E — Germany to the north across the Rhine and Lake Constance, France to the west across the Jura and Lake Geneva, Italy to the south across the Alpine crest, Austria and Liechtenstein to the east across the Rhine valley; the Gotthard the crossroads of Europe's north and south, the Basel corner the meeting of three countries, Geneva all but in France; the enclaves of Büsingen (German) and Campione d'Italia (Italian) inside it |
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| Land borders | About 1,850 km by the Swiss count (1,852; the Factbook's 1,770 stated too) — Italy 734 km (the Alpine crest from Mont Dolent to the Stelvio, the Simplon, the Great St. Bernard and the Gotthard passes, the Ticino salient to Chiasso; the border moving with the melting glaciers by the treaty of 2024), France 572 km (the Jura, Lake Geneva, the Rhône; Geneva's 103 km with France and 4.5 with the rest of Switzerland), Germany 346 km (the Rhine from Basel to Lake Constance, the Schaffhausen bulge north of the river), Austria 165 km (the Rhine valley and the Grisons' Engadine), Liechtenstein 41 km (the Rhine; the customs union of 1924); the Schengen area since 12 December 2008 with the border posts kept for customs; no coast, the nearest sea Genoa 300 km away |
| Coastline | None — landlocked, 300 km from the Mediterranean at Genoa and 700 from the North Sea; the "coasts" of Lake Geneva (the Swiss shore of the 580-km² lake), Lake Constance (the Swiss shore of 536 km²), Lake Neuchâtel (218 km², the largest wholly Swiss), Lucerne, Zurich, Lugano and Maggiore; the Rhine port of Basel the country's sea gate (the merchant fleet of a dozen or so ships under the Swiss flag on the oceans by the counts, down from about 50 in 2017) |
| Highest point | The Dufourspitze of the Monte Rosa, 4,634 m (15,203 ft), on the Italian border above Zermatt — the second summit of the Alps; the Dom 4,545 m (the highest wholly in Switzerland), the Liskamm 4,527 m, the Weisshorn 4,506 m, the Täschhorn, the Matterhorn 4,478 m (the pyramid of Zermatt, first climbed 14 July 1865), the Dent Blanche, the Grand Combin, the Finsteraarhorn 4,274 m (the highest of the Bernese Alps), the Aletschhorn, the Jungfrau 4,158 m, the Mönch and the Eiger 3,967 m (the north face of 1938), the Piz Bernina 4,049 m (the easternmost 4,000er of the Alps), the Tödi; 48 summits above 4,000 m of the Alps' 82; the Säntis (2,502 m) of the northeast, Mont Tendre (1,679 m) the highest of the Swiss Jura |
| Lowest point | The shore of Lake Maggiore at Ascona and Brissago in Ticino, 193 m — the lake shared with Italy where the Ticino river leaves the country; the Rhine at Basel 245 m the lowest of the north |
| Mean elevation | About 1,350 m — the highest of Europe's countries after Andorra by the Factbook's count: the Alps (60% of the land; the Valais, Bernese, Glarus, Uri and Grisons Alps to 4,634 m), the Plateau (30%; 400 to 700 m from Lake Geneva to Lake Constance, the Mittelland of the cities and the farms), the Jura (10%; the folded limestone of 1,000 to 1,679 m along the French border); a fifth of the country above 2,000 m, the glaciers about 800 km² and shrinking |
| Rivers | The water tower of Europe — the Rhine (the Vorderrhein and Hinterrhein of the Grisons meeting at Reichenau; 375 km in Switzerland, through Lake Constance, over the Rhine Falls at Schaffhausen (the largest waterfall of Europe by flow, 23 m high and 150 m wide) to Basel and the North Sea; the Aare (295 km, the longest wholly Swiss, from the Grimsel through Bern to the Rhine), the Reuss (Lake Lucerne), the Limmat (Zurich), the Thur; the Rhône from the Rhône Glacier through the Valais and Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean (264 km in Switzerland); the Inn from the Engadine to the Danube and the Black Sea; the Ticino to the Po and the Adriatic; the Doubs of the Jura to the Saône; the Gotthard the source of the Rhine, the Rhône, the Reuss and the Ticino; the dams of the Grande Dixence (285 m, the tallest gravity dam of the world), Mauvoisin and Emosson, the 1,500 hydro plants of 57% of the power |
| Lakes | About 1,500 lakes — Lake Geneva (Lac Léman, 580 km², 310 m deep; 345 km² Swiss, the largest lake of the Alps), Lake Constance (Bodensee; 536 km², the Swiss shore of St. Gallen and Thurgau; the three-country lake with no agreed border), Lake Neuchâtel (218 km², the largest wholly Swiss), Lake Maggiore (the lowest, 193 m), Lake Lucerne (Vierwaldstättersee, 114 km², the lake of the Rütli and the Confederation's birth), Lake Zurich (88 km²), Lake Lugano, Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, Lake Biel, Lake Zug, the Walensee, the Sihlsee (the largest reservoir), the Lac des Dix behind the Grande Dixence, the Oeschinensee and the Blausee of the postcards; the lake dwellings of the Neolithic on the shores (World Heritage 2011); the paddle steamers of the lakes |
| Terrain | Three lands from the northwest to the southeast — the Jura, the folded limestone ridges of the French border with their watch towns (about 10%; Mont Tendre 1,679 m); the Plateau (Mittelland), the rolling hills, lakes and farms between Lake Geneva and Lake Constance at 400 to 700 m where two-thirds of the Swiss live and every big city stands (about 30%); and the Alps (about 60%), the highest of Europe west of the Caucasus, cut by the valleys of the Rhône (the Valais), the Rhine (the Grisons), the Reuss (Uri) and the Ticino, the glaciers of the Aletsch, the Gorner and the Rhône, the 48 four-thousanders, the passes (the Gotthard, Simplon, Great St. Bernard, Furka, Grimsel, Bernina, Julier, San Bernardino), the alpine pastures and the ski country; the Aare gorge, the Lauterbrunnen valley of 72 waterfalls, the Creux du Van; a third of the land forest, a third farmed, a quarter unproductive rock and ice |
| Climate | Temperate by the altitude — the Plateau with cold winters and warm summers (Zurich about 0°C in January, 19°C in July; 1,100 mm of rain; Bern, Basel and Geneva similar, Geneva the sunniest with the bise wind), the Ticino Mediterranean in feel (Lugano 22°C in July, the palms of the lakes, the heavy autumn rains), the Alps with snow from November to April and the föhn, the warm south wind that melts it (the föhn valleys of Uri and the Rhine), the Valais dry (Sion the driest at about 600 mm), the Engadine the cold plateau (St. Moritz −7°C in January; the record −41.8°C at La Brévine in 1987, the "Swiss Siberia"), the summits in permafrost; the record 41.5°C at Grono in 2003; the glaciers losing 10% of their ice in 2022–23 and the warming of 2.9°C since 1864, twice the world's; the "Schwiizer Wätter" of the four seasons |
| Natural hazards | The mountains — the avalanches (the winter of 1999; the Galtür-type cover of the villages; the SLF of Davos), the landslides and rockfalls of the thawing permafrost (Blatten in the Lötschental buried by the Birch glacier's collapse on 28 May 2025, one dead and the village gone; Brienz/Brinzauls evacuated 2023 and 2024; Bondo 2017, eight dead), the floods of the Rhône, the Reuss and the Aare (August 2005, the costliest; the Misox and the Valais of June 2024), the debris flows, the glacial lake outbursts; the earthquakes of the Valais and Basel (the great quake of Basel of 1356, the strongest of Central Europe's record; a magnitude 6 every century by the seismologists); the tunnels' fires (the Gotthard road tunnel, 24 October 2001, 11 dead); the year of 2026 — the Crans-Montana bar fire of New Year's night (1 January; at least 41 dead, the deadliest fire in the country's modern history), the Kerzers postal bus arson (10 March; six dead), the avalanche on the Goppenstein train (16 February), the Engelberg cable car (18 March), the Piotta hydro plant explosion (9 September; two dead), the Grisons coach crash (10 September; five dead) |
| Natural resources | Water and the hills — the hydropower of 1,500 plants and the great dams (57% of the electricity), the salt of Bex and the Rhine (the Schweizer Salinen, the cantons' monopoly), the granite, gneiss and limestone of the quarries, the gravel, the clay, the timber of a third of the land (the forest law of 1876, the first to hold the forest's area), the marble of Ticino, the anhydrite; the iron of the Gonzen and the coal of the war years exhausted, the gold of the Napf's streams a hobby; no oil, no gas (the Finsterwald well the one); the snow and the scenery the resource sold to 40 million tourists' nights; the brains of the ETH and the EPFL |
| Land use | Farmland about 37% (a million hectares, half of it alpine pasture; the dairy of 1.5 million cattle, the cereals of the Plateau, the vines of Vaud, the Valais, Geneva and Ticino on 15,000 ha, the apples of Thurgau), forest about 32% (1.3 million ha, growing; the Swiss stone pine, the spruce, the beech; the forest law of 1876), the settlements and roads about 8% (the Plateau built up at a square meter a second in the 2000s; the spatial planning law of 2013 and the second-home initiative of 2012), the unproductive Alps of rock, ice and scree about 25%; about 20% of the land protected in some form; about 48,000 farms on direct payments of about CHF 2.8 billion a year; the organic share about 18%; the "landscape initiative" politics of every decade |
| National parks | One national park — the Swiss National Park of the Engadine (1 August 1914; 170 km² of the Val Müstair's forests and the Ofen Pass's peaks, the oldest national park of the Alps and of Central Europe, a strict reserve where no one may leave the path; the ibex, the red deer, the bearded vultures reintroduced from 1991), the second (the Adula and Locarnese projects) refused by the communes in 2016 and 2018; about 16 regional nature parks (Entlebuch, Gantrisch, Gruyère Pays-d'Enhaut, Jura vaudois, Thal, Beverin, Ela, Chasseral, Doubs, Binntal...) and the UNESCO Jungfrau-Aletsch; the wolf back since 1995 (about 300, and the shooting law of 2023), the lynx since 1971, the bear a wanderer; the Grande Cariçaie, the Bolle di Magadino and the Rhône delta of the Ramsar list (11 sites) |
| UNESCO World Heritage | Thirteen sites — the old city of Bern on its river bend (1983); the Abbey of St. Gall with its rococo library of 170,000 books (1983); the Carolingian convent of St. John at Müstair with its frescoes of the 9th century (1983); the three castles of Bellinzona, the Confederates' gate to the south (2000); the Jungfrau-Aletsch of the great glacier (2001); Monte San Giorgio's Triassic fossils (2003); the Lavaux vineyards above Lake Geneva (2007); the Rhaetian Railway's Albula and Bernina lines with their viaducts and spirals (2008); the Sardona tectonic arena of the Glarus thrust (2008); La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle, the watchmaking towns laid out for the trade (2009); the pile dwellings of the lakes (2011); Le Corbusier's Villa "Le Lac" at Corseaux and Immeuble Clarté at Geneva (2016); the beech forests of Bettlachstock and Lodano (2021) |
| Administrative divisions | 26 cantons — Zurich, Bern, Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Glarus, Zug, Fribourg, Solothurn, Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft, Schaffhausen, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden, St. Gallen, Grisons (Graubünden), Aargau, Thurgau, Ticino, Vaud, Valais, Neuchâtel, Geneva and Jura (the newest, 1979; Moutier moved to it from Bern on 1 January 2026) — each a state with its own constitution, parliament, government and courts (six of them the "half-cantons" with one seat in the Council of States and half a vote in the cantonal majority), the Landsgemeinde of Glarus and Appenzell Innerrhoden the open-air assemblies of the citizens; about 2,100 communes (Gemeinden), shrinking by merger from 3,000 in 1990, with their own taxes and the citizenship they grant; the language borders through Bern, Fribourg, Valais and the Grisons; the Conference of Cantonal Governments; the federal principle of subsidiarity in the Constitution |
People
| Population | More than 9.1 million at the end of 2025 (the FSO; +76,100 in the year), 9.0 million passed in 2024 and 8 million in 2012 — the growth of the free movement of persons with the EU since 2002 (a million in 15 years), nine-tenths immigration; 27.7% foreign nationals, 2.5 million, the Italians (about 350,000), the Germans (about 330,000), the Portuguese (about 260,000), the French (about 180,000) and the Kosovars (about 120,000) the largest, about 40% of the people with a migration background by the FSO's measure; the over-65s (1.81 million) past the under-20s (1.80 million) for the first time in 2025; women 50.4%; Zurich the largest canton (about 1.6 million), then Bern, Vaud, Aargau, St. Gallen, Geneva, Ticino; the German-speaking 62%, the French 23%, the Italian 8%, the Romansh 0.5%; about 800,000 Swiss abroad, the "Fifth Switzerland" |
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| Population density | About 220 to the km² (about 228 by the land area) — the Plateau at 450 and more (Basel-Stadt 5,300, Geneva 2,100, Zurich 940 to the km²), the Alps at a tenth of that (the Grisons 28, Uri 35), the emptiest valleys emptying still; three in four Swiss in the towns and their suburbs, the "metropolitan areas" of Zurich, Geneva-Lausanne, Basel and Bern holding half the country |
| Population growth | 0.8% in 2025 (76,100) after 1.0% in 2024 and 1.7% in 2023 — immigration the engine (net 70,500 in 2025), the natural increase about 6,000 (about 80,000 births against 74,000 deaths); the SVP's "no to 10 million" initiative to cap the population at 10 million by 2050 rejected 14 June 2026 (54.8% no; 12 cantons against) — the FSO's forecasts put 10 million in the 2040s; the free movement with the EU the fault line of every vote since 2014 |
| Median age | About 43 years (43.2 by the estimates) — one in five past 65 (19.9%), the oldest the FSO has counted, the retirement age 65 for men and, in steps from 2025 to 2028 by the AHV 21 reform voted in 2022, for women (from 64); the 13th pension payment voted 3 March 2024 and paid from December 2026, its financing (a VAT rise) on the ballot of 29 November 2026 |
| Life expectancy | About 84 years by the FSO's count of 2024 (women 85.8, men 82.2; 84.3 by the UN's estimate for 2026, both stated) — among the three longest of the world with Japan and Spain; infant mortality about 3.5 per 1,000 live births; the health system of the compulsory private insurance of the LAMal of 1996 and the world's second-dearest health care (about 12% of GDP; the premiums the vote of every autumn), the cantonal hospitals, the university hospitals of Zurich, Bern, Basel, Lausanne and Geneva; the assisted suicide of Exit and Dignitas legal since the 1940s, the Zurich vote of 27 September 2026 (68.1%) obliging the homes and hospitals to allow it |
| Fertility rate | About 1.3 children per woman (1.29 in 2024, the lowest ever measured; 1.5 in 2010; 2.7 in 1964) — the births about 80,000 a year and falling, the mothers among the oldest of Europe at first birth (about 31), the childcare the dearest; the immigrants' children the growth |
| Urban population | About 74% by the UN's count, 85% by the FSO's definition of 2012 (the agglomerations and the isolated towns), both stated — Zurich (1.4 million in the agglomeration), Geneva (600,000 with France), Basel (550,000 with Germany and France), Bern (420,000), Lausanne (430,000), Lucerne, St. Gallen, Winterthur, Lugano; the mountain villages of the Valais, the Grisons and Ticino losing their young, the second homes of the ski towns capped at 20% by the initiative of 2012; the "Glattal" and the "Arc lémanique" the growth |
| Adult literacy | About 99% — the cantons' schools (26 systems, harmonized by HarmoS in 2009; the compulsory nine years, the four languages taught), the "dual" apprenticeship of two-thirds of the young that the world copies, the ten cantonal universities (Basel of 1460 the oldest, Zurich, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, Fribourg, Neuchâtel, St. Gallen, Lucerne, Lugano), the two federal institutes — the ETH Zurich (1855; Einstein's alma mater, 22 Nobel laureates) and the EPFL of Lausanne — among the best of the world, the universities of applied sciences; about 45% of the young to tertiary study; the PISA above the OECD; first in the Global Innovation Index since 2011 |
| Ethnic groups | No register by ethnicity — the Swiss by language and canton: the Swiss Germans (the Alemannic majority), the Romands, the Ticinesi and the Italian Grisons, the Romansh (about 60,000 by descent, 40,000 speakers) — and the foreign nationals of 27.7%: the Italians, Germans, Portuguese, French, Kosovars, Spaniards, Turks, North Macedonians, Serbs, Austrians, Britons, Eritreans, Sri Lankans, Ukrainians (about 65,000 of the war), Syrians and Afghans of the asylum years; the Yenish (about 30,000; the Swiss travelers), the Sinti and Roma, the Jews (about 18,000; the ban on kosher slaughter of 1893 still on the books) the minorities; about a third of the residents born abroad, 40% with a migration background; the naturalization slow (about 40,000 a year), the "third generation" eased in 2018 |
| Languages | German 62% (the Swiss German dialects — Zürideutsch, Bärndütsch, Baseldytsch, the Walliser and the Bündner — spoken by all and written by none, the Standard German of the school and the press the "Schriftdeutsch"), French 23% (the Suisse romande of six cantons; the "septante" and "nonante"), Italian 8% (Ticino and the four valleys of the Grisons), Romansh 0.5% (the five idioms and the Rumantsch Grischun of 1982; a national language since 1938 by referendum, the fourth on the notes) — the four national languages of Article 4, the three official ones of Article 70; English the lingua franca of the firms, the ETH and the young across the Röstigraben; Portuguese (about 3.5%), Albanian (3%), Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, English, Turkish, Tamil the immigrants' tongues; the cantons' languages the cantons' choice (Fribourg, Valais and Bern bilingual, the Grisons trilingual) |
| Religion | Roman Catholic about 32%, Reformed (the Protestant churches of Zwingli and Calvin) about 20%, no religion about 35% and rising (the plurality among the young), Muslim about 6% (about 400,000 by the estimates; the Kosovars, Bosnians and Turks; the minaret ban of 29 November 2009 and the face-covering ban of 7 March 2021 both by initiative), the other Christians (Orthodox, evangelical) about 6%, Jews 0.2%, Hindus and Buddhists — the FSO's survey of 2023; the church tax of the cantons, the Reformation of Zwingli at Zurich (1519–31) and Calvin at Geneva (1536–64) that split the cantons and the Sonderbund war of 1847 that settled it, the Jesuits banned until 1973; the Pope's Swiss Guard of 1506; the abbeys of Einsiedeln, St. Gall and Engelberg; the Landeskirchen; the burqa vote and the minarets the politics of religion |
| Human Development Index | 0.970 (2023) — very high, level with Norway behind Iceland (UNDP, 2025); the Gini about 33 by the FSO's count after taxes and transfers (the wealth far more unequal — the richest 1% with about 40% of it); the poverty rate about 8% by the FSO (about 700,000 people) on a line of about CHF 2,300 a month for a single person; the wealth per adult the highest of the world (about US$700,000 by the UBS report); the pensions of the three pillars (the AHV, the occupational funds, the private saving) |
| Housing and living | A nation of tenants — home ownership about 36%, the lowest of Europe (the mortgage of the wealthy, the rent of the rest); the rents and the "reference rate" of the Federal Housing Office, the housing shortage of Zurich and Geneva (vacancy under 1%), the prices of the Goldküste; the highest wages and the highest prices of the world (the Big Mac index's top; the Migros and the Coop, the Aldi and Lidl of the price fight; the "shopping tourism" to Konstanz and Como), the health premiums the household's heaviest bill after the rent; the recycling of 50% of the waste and the PET, the glass, the aluminum; the trains on time; the gun in the wardrobe of the militia soldier (about 2.5 million guns by the estimates; the initiative of 2011 to lock them up lost); the second home on the alp; the "Sonntag" quiet law of the cantons; the Crans-Montana fire of 1 January 2026 and the safety of the bars the debate of the year |
| Learning and letters | The ETH and the EPFL, CERN of Geneva (1954; the web born there in 1989 — Tim Berners-Lee's proposal of March 1989 and the first website of 1991; the Large Hadron Collider of 27 km; 92 antiprotons trucked 5 km around the site on 24 March 2026, a world first), the Paul Scherrer Institute, the IBM lab of Rüschlikon; the Nobel laureates of Switzerland — about 30 by birth or residence, the most per head of any country (Einstein of Bern and Zurich, Röntgen of Zurich, Piccard, Pauli, Müller, Zinkernagel, Wüthrich, Zehnder... Jacques Dubochet 2017, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz 2019); the writers — Rousseau of Geneva, Gottfried Keller, Jeremias Gotthelf, C. F. Ramuz, Robert Walser, Hermann Hesse (the Nobel of 1946), Friedrich Dürrenmatt (The Visit, The Physicists), Max Frisch, Blaise Cendrars, Johanna Spyri's Heidi (1880), Peter Bichsel; the painters Hodler, Klee, Giacometti, Tinguely; the architects Le Corbusier, Herzog & de Meuron, Zumthor, Botta; the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Lucerne Festival, the Locarno Film Festival, the Basel Fasnacht, Art Basel; the Eurovision of 2025 at Basel (Nemo's win of 2024); the Swiss Federal Archives; the four languages' literatures; the "Swiss Made" of the design (the Helvetica typeface of 1957, the Swiss Army knife of 1891, the Swatch of 1983) |
| Sport | The Nati's World Cup of 2026 — the group of Qatar (1–1), Bosnia (4–1) and Canada (2–1) won, Algeria 2–0 at Vancouver (2 July), Colombia on penalties (7 July), the quarterfinal lost to Argentina 1–3 after extra time at Kansas City (11 July), the best run since 1954, under Murat Yakin with Granit Xhaka, Breel Embolo and Dan Ndoye; the Winter Olympics of 2026 (23 medals, 8th; von Allmen's three golds), the alpine skiing of Marco Odermatt (five overall World Cups in a row, 2022–26), Lara Gut-Behrami, Vreni Schneider, Pirmin Zurbriggen, the ski jumping and the snowboard; ice hockey (the National League of the ZSC Lions, Bern, Zug, Fribourg, Lausanne; the world silvers of 2013, 2018, 2024, 2025 and 2026 — the home championship of Zurich and Fribourg lost in the final to Finland 0–1 in overtime on 31 May 2026); tennis — Federer (20 Grand Slams, the eight Wimbledons), Wawrinka, Hingis, Bencic; cycling (Fabian Cancellara), the marathon of Viktor Röthlin, the bobsleigh, the curling; the Schwingen of the Eidgenössisches (Mollis 2025), the Hornussen and the Steinstossen; the Olympic movement at Lausanne (the IOC since 1915), FIFA at Zurich, UEFA at Nyon; the 1954 World Cup hosted, the Euro 2008 co-hosted, the women's Euro 2025 hosted; the Weltklasse Zürich, the Tour de Suisse, the Lauberhorn |
| Diaspora | About 800,000 Swiss citizens abroad, the "Fifth Switzerland" (about two-thirds with a second nationality) — France (about 210,000), Germany (about 100,000), the United States (about 85,000), Italy, Canada, Britain, Spain, Australia, Israel; the Swiss abroad vote by post since 1992 and the e-voting trials; the Swiss of the Americas — Nueva Helvecia of Uruguay, New Glarus of Wisconsin, the Swiss of Brazil's Nova Friburgo (1819), the Californians of Sutter's fort (1839); the mercenaries of five centuries (the Swiss Guard the last), the Swiss hoteliers of the world (the Ritz of Niederwald), the Swiss Abroad Organization and its Congress |
Government
| Form of government | A federal semi-direct democratic republic under the Constitution of 1999 (in force 2000) — a directorial system with no head of state or government but the seven-member Federal Council as a whole, elected for four years by the Federal Assembly and never removable by it, the President of the Confederation the chair for a year; the bicameral Federal Assembly of the National Council (200) and the Council of States (46); the Federal Supreme Court at Lausanne; the 26 cantons with their own constitutions and the residual powers; the referendum and the initiative on every level; the militia principle of the part-time politician and the citizen-soldier; the "concordance" of the four largest parties in the government since 1959; neutral, a member of the UN (2002) and of no alliance or union |
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| Head of state | None as a person — the Federal Council as a body; Guy Parmelin (SVP, Vaud), the President of the Confederation for 2026 (his second presidency after 2021; elected 10 December 2025), the chair of the council and the country's face abroad for the year (the signing of the EU treaties in Brussels on 2 March 2026 with Ursula von der Leyen), with no powers beyond the chair; Ignazio Cassis (FDP, Ticino) the Vice President for 2026, in line for 2027 (his second after 2022); the presidency rotating by seniority — Keller-Sutter 2025, Parmelin 2026, Cassis 2027, then Rösti and Baume-Schneider by the order of election; the "Landammann" of the old confederation the ancestor; the Federal Chancellor Viktor Rossi (GLP, since 2024), the council's chief of staff |
| Prime Minister | None — the Federal Council of seven, elected on 13 December 2023 for 2024–27 and completed on 12 March 2025: Guy Parmelin (SVP; economic affairs, education and research; since 1 January 2016), Ignazio Cassis (FDP; foreign affairs; since 1 November 2017), Karin Keller-Sutter (FDP; finance; since 1 January 2019), Albert Rösti (SVP; environment, transport, energy and communications; since 1 January 2023), Élisabeth Baume-Schneider (SP; home affairs — health, social insurance, culture; since 1 January 2023), Beat Jans (SP; justice and police; since 1 January 2024) and Martin Pfister (The Center; defense, civil protection and sport; since 1 April 2025, in Viola Amherd's place) — the collegial government of the "magic formula" (2 SVP, 2 SP, 2 FDP, 1 Center since 2003; 2:2:2:1 among FDP, CVP, SP and SVP from 1959) that decides by majority and defends its decisions as one; the Federal Chancellery of Viktor Rossi; the departments' seven secretaries of state |
| Cabinet | The Federal Council is the cabinet — seven departments: the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (Parmelin; SECO, the universities, agriculture, the housing office), Foreign Affairs (Cassis; the EU package, the Ukraine conferences of the Bürgenstock of 2024, the good offices), Finance (Keller-Sutter; the debt brake, the customs, the banks' rules after Credit Suisse — the capital rules for UBS of 2025–26), the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (Rösti; the SBB, the roads, the power, the SRG), Home Affairs (Baume-Schneider; the health premiums, the AHV pensions, the culture), Justice and Police (Jans; migration and asylum, the Fedpol) and Defense, Civil Protection and Sport (Pfister; the army of 100,000, the F-35s, the Patriots); no ministers of state, the collegium of seven and its Chancellor; the sessions of Wednesdays in the Federal Palace, the decisions by vote, the collegiality that binds the losers to the line |
| The last election | Federal, 22 October 2023 (turnout 46.6%) — the National Council of 200 by proportional representation in the 26 cantons: the Swiss People's Party (SVP) 27.9% and 62 seats (+9), the Social Democrats (SP) 18.3% and 41 (+2), The Center (Die Mitte) 14.1% and 29 (+1), the Liberals (FDP) 14.3% and 28 (−1), the Greens 9.8% and 23 (−5), the Green Liberals (GLP) 7.6% and 10 (−6), the Federal Democratic Union 1.2% and 2, the Ticino League 1 and the others 4; the Council of States of 46 — The Center 15, FDP 11, SP 9, SVP 6, Greens 3, GLP 1, MCG 1; the Federal Council re-elected 13 December 2023 (Beat Jans for Alain Berset) and Martin Pfister elected 12 March 2025 for Viola Amherd; the cantonal elections of 2026 (Bern, the Grisons, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Glarus and Zug among them) and the communal |
| Parliament | Bicameral — the Federal Assembly (Bundesversammlung) of the National Council (200 members by proportional representation in the cantons, the largest Zurich's 36, six cantons with one seat each) and the Council of States (46: two a canton, one for each half-canton, elected by the cantons' own rules, mostly by majority) — equal in power, every law through both, sitting four three-week sessions a year in the Federal Palace; the 52nd legislature of 2023–27; the President of the National Council for 2026 Pierre-André Page (SVP, Fribourg), of the Council of States Stefan Engler (The Center, Grisons), each for a year; the "United Federal Assembly" that elects the Federal Council, the Chancellor and the federal judges; the militia parliament of part-timers; the next election 24 October 2027 |
| The politics of the year | The year of the four ballots and the treaties — 8 March 2026: individual taxation of married couples approved (54.3%; the "marriage penalty" ended), the cash counter-proposal approved (73.4%) and the "cash is freedom" initiative refused (54.4% no), the cap on the SRG broadcasting fee at 200 francs refused (62.0% no; the fee cut to 300 by the Federal Council instead), the climate fund refused (70.7% no); 14 June: the SVP's "no to a 10-million Switzerland" refused (54.8% no) and the civilian service law approved (52.5%); 27 September: THE NEUTRALITY INITIATIVE of the SVP and Pro Schweiz (the "perpetual, armed" neutrality in the Constitution, the sanctions only with the UN) refused by 70.2% and every canton, and the food-security initiative of the plant-based, home-grown diet by 72.5% — the SVP's third defeat of the year at the urns it wins in the elections; the Federal Council's case (Cassis: "Switzerland was neutral yesterday, is today and will remain so") that the flexible neutrality of 180 years works and the sanctions on Russia stand; the initiators' that the sanctions and the NATO partnership have hollowed it out — both stated (LAW 2); the Switzerland–EU package ("Bilaterals III") signed in Brussels on 2 March 2026 by Parmelin and von der Leyen and before Parliament since the dispatch of 13 March (the dynamic adoption of EU law, the electricity, health and food-safety agreements, the safeguard clause on immigration, the cohesion payment; an optional referendum proposed; the SVP against, the vote expected in 2027); the U.S. tariffs (15% by the deal of November 2025 after the 39% of August; the 12.5% duty of 24 July 2026 under the forced-labor investigation, "unjustified" to Bern); the arms exports to the United States halted 20 March 2026 over the Iran war; Moutier's transfer to the Jura (1 January); the Crans-Montana fire; the 13th AHV pension paid from December and the VAT vote of 29 November; the UBS capital rules; the F-35s' price |
| Next elections | Federal, 24 October 2027 (the National Council and, in most cantons, the Council of States; the Federal Council elected by the new Assembly on 8 December 2027); the federal votes of 29 November 2026 (the VAT rise for the 13th AHV pension, the fireworks initiative, the "fair taxation of married couples" initiative and the War Materiel Act) and the four ballots of 2027 (the EU package among them, likely); the cantonal elections of the calendar; the Landsgemeinden of April and May |
| Parties | The Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC; 1971 from the farmers' party of 1917; Marcel Dettling the president; Christoph Blocher's party of the 1990s; 62 seats; the party of the immigration, neutrality and anti-EU initiatives, the largest since 1999), the Social Democrats (SP/PS; 1888; Mattea Meyer and Cédric Wermuth; 41), The Center (Die Mitte; the Christian Democrats of 1912 merged with the BDP in 2021; Philipp Matthias Bregy; 29 and the Council of States' largest), the Liberals (FDP/PLR; 1894, "the Radicals" of 1848; Susanne Vincenz-Stauffacher and Benjamin Mühlemann the co-presidents since October 2025; 28), the Greens (GPS; 1983; Lisa Mazzone; 23), the Green Liberals (GLP; 2007; Jürg Grossen; 10), the Federal Democratic Union (EDU; 2), the Ticino League, the Geneva Citizens' Movement (MCG), the Solidarity left, the Swiss Labor Party (PdA); the four of the "concordance" in the Federal Council; the Blocher years, the "Pro Schweiz" of the neutrality initiative, the referendums the parties' battlefields |
| Legal system | Civil law — the Civil Code of Eugen Huber of 1907 (in force 1912; the model of Turkey's), the Code of Obligations of 1911, the Criminal Code of 1937 (in force 1942), the federal codes of procedure of 2011; the cantons' courts of first and second instance, the Federal Supreme Court at Lausanne (1875) the last instance, bound by the federal laws it may not annul (Article 190; the popular sovereignty over the judges), the Federal Criminal Court at Bellinzona (2004), the Federal Administrative Court at St. Gallen (2007), the Federal Patent Court; the Office of the Attorney General; the cantonal police and the small Fedpol; no death penalty since 1942 (in war 1992); the direct democracy's laws — the minaret ban, the deportation initiative of 2010, the burqa ban of 2021, the marriage for all of 2021 (64%), the assisted suicide; the banking secrecy of 1934 ended for foreign tax authorities in 2017; the Crypto AG affair; the Federal Act on the Protection of the Coat of Arms; the "Swissness" law of 2017 on what may be called Swiss |
| Defense | The Swiss Armed Forces — a militia army of about 100,000 (the "Armee XXI" target of 100,000 soldiers, the "Weiterentwicklung der Armee" of 2018; about 20,000 conscripts a year on the 18 weeks of basic training and the annual refreshers to about 30, the rifle kept at home; the professional core of a few thousand), the Air Force of the F/A-18s and the 36 F-35As ordered in 2022 for delivery from 2027 (the price dispute with Washington of 2025–26), the Patriot batteries, the mobilization of 200,000 in the Cold War remembered; the Chief of the Armed Forces Lieutenant General Benedikt Roos since 1 January 2026 (Thomas Süssli's successor); Martin Pfister the defense minister since April 2025; the budget rising to 1% of GDP by 2032 (about CHF 6 billion in 2026), the "neutrality" the doctrine and the "Partnership for Peace" with NATO since 1996 (the closer cooperation of 2024–26, the Sky Shield air-defense initiative joined 2023), the civilian service (the law tightened by the vote of 14 June 2026) and the civil protection; the arms exports halted to the United States on 20 March 2026 over the Iran war, to Ukraine never by the law of neutrality (the re-export ban the quarrel with Germany); the Swiss Guard of the Vatican the one foreign service allowed |
| Foreign policy | Neutrality, the good offices and the money — neutral by the Congress of Vienna of 1815 and the Hague Conventions of 1907, outside the two world wars, the alliances, the EU and, until 2002, the UN; the "flexible" neutrality that adopted the EU's sanctions on Russia from 28 February 2022 and hosted the Ukraine summit of the Bürgenstock (15–16 June 2024), tested by the neutrality initiative of 27 September 2026 (70.2% no); the European Union — the Bilaterals I (1999) and II (2004) after the EEA refusal of 6 December 1992 (50.3% no), the free movement of persons and Schengen, the framework agreement abandoned 26 May 2021, the "Bilaterals III" of 20 December 2024 signed 2 March 2026 and before Parliament, the referendum to come; the United States — the tariffs of 2025–26 (39%, 15%, 12.5%), the F-35 price, the banking secrecy war of 2009–17; Germany, France, Italy and Austria the neighbors and the partners (the cross-border commuters of 400,000; the Basel, Geneva and Ticino borders), China (the free-trade agreement of 2014 and its upgrade), Britain, Japan; the Geneva of the UN, the WTO, the WHO, the ILO, the Red Cross and 40 organizations; the protecting-power mandates (the U.S. in Iran since 1980); the development aid cut in 2025–26 (about 0.4% of GNI); the Swiss abroad; Ignazio Cassis the foreign minister since 2017 |
| United Nations | Member since 10 September 2002 by the vote of 3 March 2002 (54.6% yes; the "no" of 1986 by three to one) — the last of the world's states but the Vatican to join; the European headquarters of the UN at Geneva's Palais des Nations (the League of Nations' of 1936), the Human Rights Council, the WHO, the ILO, the UNHCR, the WTO, the ITU, the WIPO and 40 international organizations; the Security Council seat of 2023–24, the first; the Geneva Conventions of 1864, 1906, 1929 and 1949 and the International Committee of the Red Cross (1863; Henry Dunant's, the first Nobel Peace Prize of 1901); the peacekeepers few (the Swisscoy of Kosovo since 1999; no combat by the neutrality); the Bürgenstock summit |
| Other memberships | The Council of Europe (1963), the OECD (1961), the EFTA (a founder, 1960), the OSCE (the chair of 1996 and 2014), the WTO (1995; GATT 1966), the IMF and the World Bank (1992), the EBRD, the Schengen area (2008) and the Dublin system, the European Space Agency (a founder), CERN (a founder, 1954), the Francophonie (1996), the Bank for International Settlements at Basel (1930), the Partnership for Peace (1996); the European Union never (the EEA refused 1992; the application of 1992 withdrawn 2016), NATO never, the euro never; the Eurovision family (Lugano 1956 the first) |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$1.044 trillion (2025) and about US$1.147 trillion projected for 2026 by the IMF's World Economic Outlook of April 2026 — the 20th economy of the world (some CHF 840 billion at home), the dollar figures swelled by the franc; larger than Turkey's or the Netherlands' with a tenth of the people of the first; the pharma of Basel about a fifth of it by the exports |
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| GDP per capita | About US$115,600 (2025) and US$126,177 projected for 2026 by the IMF — among the four or five highest of the world and the highest of any country of more than a few million people (Luxembourg, Ireland and the microstates of Monaco and Liechtenstein above it by the counts); about CHF 92,000 a head; the wages the highest anywhere and the prices with them |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$105,700 (2026; the IMF's PPP economy about US$961 billion) — among the ten highest of the world, about 45% above Germany's and a sixth above the United States' |
| GDP growth | 1.4% in 2024 and 1.3% in 2025 by the IMF (1.3% projected for 2026; the SNB's 1.5% to 2% for 2026 and about 1.5% for 2027 after an "exceptionally strong" second quarter of the pharma exports, both stated) — the slow, steady growth of a rich country: the rebound of 2022, 0.7% in 2023; the risks the American tariffs on the watches and the machines, the Middle East war's oil, the strong franc and the "over-capacity" investigation of Washington; the pharma the swing of every quarter |
| Economy by sector | Services about 74% of GDP — the banks (UBS since its rescue of Credit Suisse on 19 March 2023, the cantonal banks, Raiffeisen, Julius Bär, Pictet and the private banks of Geneva; a quarter of the world's cross-border private wealth), the insurers (Zurich, Swiss Re, Swiss Life), the commodity traders of Geneva and Zug (Glencore, Trafigura, Vitol, Mercuria — a third of the world's oil and metals by the traders' counts), the tourism, the trade, the health care, the public sector; industry about 25% — the pharmaceuticals and chemicals of Basel (Roche, Novartis, Lonza, the Sandoz generics; about 40% of exports), the machines, precision instruments and electronics (ABB, Schindler, Bühler, Georg Fischer, Sulzer, Stadler Rail, the medtech of Straumann and Ypsomed), the watches (Rolex, Swatch Group's Omega, Richemont's Cartier and IWC, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet; CHF 26 billion of exports), the food of Nestlé (the largest food company of the world, Vevey), Lindt and Barry Callebaut, the gold refining of Ticino (about half the world's gold passes through by the estimates), the cement of Holcim; agriculture about 0.7% — the dairy and the direct payments; the SMEs of 99% of the firms; the Swiss stock exchange (SIX) of Zurich |
| Currency and prices | The franc at about 0.83 to the U.S. dollar and 0.945 to the euro (28 September 2026) — the safe haven that rose through every crisis since 1971 (1.20 to the euro held from 6 September 2011 to the "Frankenschock" of 15 January 2015, when the SNB let it go and it jumped 20% in a morning), about 3% weaker against the dollar in the month and 4% in the year; inflation the lowest of the rich world — 0.8% in August 2026 by the CPI (the oil of the Middle East war lifting it from 0.6% in May; the negative months of 2025), the SNB's forecast 0.7% for 2026, 0.8% for 2027 and 2028; the policy rate 0% since 19 June 2025 (from 1.75% in 2024; the negative rate of −0.75% of 2015–22 the world's lowest), held on 24 September 2026, the bank ready to buy foreign currency against a stronger franc; the SNB's balance sheet of some CHF 850 billion and its foreign reserves; the prices about 70% above the EU's average, the rents and the health premiums the drivers; the "cash is freedom" vote of 8 March 2026 |
| Tourism | More than 42 million hotel overnight stays in 2025, a record by the FSO's count (the Swiss themselves about 45% of them; the Germans, Americans, Britons, Chinese, Indians, French, Gulf visitors and the Koreans), about CHF 20 billion of foreign spending — Zermatt and the Matterhorn, the Jungfrau and Interlaken, Lucerne and the Rigi, St. Moritz and Davos (the World Economic Forum of January), Geneva and Lausanne, Zurich, Bern, Lugano and Ticino, the Glacier Express and the Bernina Express, the Rhine Falls, Gruyères, the Lavaux; the skiing of 200 resorts (Verbier, Zermatt, St. Moritz, Laax, Arosa-Lenzerheide, Adelboden, Wengen) and the summer hiking of 65,000 km of trails; the Crans-Montana fire of 1 January 2026 on the ski town's season; Switzerland Tourism and the "Grand Tour"; the cows of the alps and the cheese |
| Autos, industry and energy | The exports of about CHF 300 billion of goods a year (about 60% of GDP with the services) — the pharmaceuticals and chemicals (about CHF 140 billion; Roche, Novartis, Lonza, the vaccines and the diagnostics), the watches (CHF 26 billion; Rolex alone about CHF 10 billion by the estimates), the machines and instruments (CHF 35 billion), the precious metals and the gold bars of the Ticino refineries (Valcambi, Argor-Heraeus, PAMP, Metalor — the trade that swelled the U.S. deficit and the tariff of 2025), the jewelry, the food (Nestlé's CHF 90 billion of sales worldwide, mostly abroad), the medtech, the trains of Stadler, the elevators of Schindler, the turbines and the cement; no car industry but the parts (Autoneum, Feintool) and the Sauber-Audi Formula 1 team of Hinwil; the "Swiss Made" of 60% Swiss value by the law of 2017; the "Swiss Business Hub" of the exporters; Swissmem and economiesuisse the industry's voices against the tariffs of Washington (the 12.5% of 24 July 2026 "unjustified") |
| Agriculture and fisheries | About 48,000 farms on a million hectares, the direct payments of about CHF 2.8 billion a year the state's (about 60% of the farm income) — the milk of 1.5 million cattle (the Simmental, the Brown Swiss, the Holsteins; the cheeses of 700 kinds, the Gruyère AOP, the Emmentaler, the Appenzeller, the Tête de Moine, the Vacherin Mont-d'Or), the meat, the cereals and the sugar beet of the Plateau, the potatoes of the rösti, the apples and the cherries of Thurgau and the Baselbiet (the kirsch), the vines of 15,000 ha (the Chasselas of Vaud and the Valais, the Merlot of Ticino, the Pinot of the Grisons; a tenth exported), the tobacco gone, the rapeseed and the sunflowers; the self-sufficiency about 50%; the organic 18%, the "IP-Suisse" of the ladybird; the alpine summer of 300,000 cattle and the transhumance (Intangible Heritage 2023); the fisheries of the lakes small (the perch and the whitefish); the "food initiative" of 27 September 2026 for a plant-based, 70%-self-sufficient country refused by 72.5% |
| Services and finance | The banks — UBS (the world's largest wealth manager, with Credit Suisse absorbed in 2023–24; the capital rules of the Federal Council's proposal of June 2025 to add about US$26 billion of capital, the Parliament's fight of 2026), Raiffeisen, the Zürcher Kantonalbank and the 24 cantonal banks, PostFinance, Julius Bär, Vontobel, EFG, the private banks of Geneva (Pictet, Lombard Odier, Mirabaud); the SIX Swiss Exchange (Nestlé, Roche, Novartis, UBS, Zurich the giants of the SMI), the FINMA of the supervision, the SNB; the insurance of Zurich, Swiss Re (the world's second reinsurer) and Swiss Life; the commodity traders of Geneva, Zug and Lugano; the Crypto Valley of Zug; the trusts and the family offices; the banking secrecy of 1934 ended for the tax authorities of the world in 2017 (the automatic exchange), the Swiss "financial center" of some CHF 8 trillion of managed assets by the bankers' count; the lump-sum taxation of the rich foreigners; the WEF of Davos; the Swiss Post and Swisscom of the state; the pension funds of CHF 1.2 trillion |
| Trade | Exports about CHF 300 billion of goods (2025; about US$380 billion) — the pharmaceuticals and chemicals 40%, the watches, the machines, the precious metals and jewelry, the food, the instruments; Germany, the United States (the largest single buyer of the pharma and the watches, about 18%; the tariffs of 2025–26), China, Italy, France, Britain, Austria, Japan, Spain and the Netherlands the markets; imports about CHF 250 billion — the gold (the largest item by the refineries), the cars, the machines, the chemicals, the oil and gas, the food — from Germany (the largest partner by far), Italy, the United States, France, China, Austria, the Netherlands and Britain; the surplus of the goods about CHF 50 billion and the current account about 7% of GDP; the free-trade agreements of the EFTA with 40 partners (China 2014, India of 2024 in force 2025, Mercosur 2025); the EU the partner of half the trade; the American tariffs — 39% from 1 August 2025 (the highest on any rich country), 15% by the deal of 14 November 2025 (the Swiss pledges of investment), the IEEPA duties struck down by the Supreme Court in February 2026, the 12.5% of 24 July 2026 under Section 301 (the EU's goods at 10%) |
| Energy | Electricity from water and the atom — hydropower about 57% (the 1,500 plants, the Grande Dixence, the pumped storage of Linthal, Nant de Drance and Emosson), nuclear about 30% (the four reactors of Beznau 1 and 2 (1969 and 1971, the oldest in operation in the world; to close 2032–33), Gösgen and Leibstadt; the new-build ban of the Energy Strategy of 2017 to be lifted by the Federal Council's counter-proposal to the "Blackout" initiative of 2025–26), solar about 10% and rising fast (the roofs of the Alps), the wind and the biomass small, the gas plants for the winter reserve; the electricity agreement with the EU in the package of 2026; the winter shortfall and the imports from France and Germany; oil and gas imported in full (the heating oil of the villages, the gas of 15% of the energy), the refinery of Cressier; the "Energy Strategy 2050" of the vote of 21 May 2017 and the climate law of 18 June 2023 (net zero by 2050, 59% yes); the CO2 levy; the district heating of the lakes; the Swiss Federal Railways on hydro since 1920 |
| Labor and wages | A labor force of about 5.3 million (a third of it foreign, with the 400,000 cross-border commuters from France, Italy and Germany), the participation the highest of Europe (about 84% of the 15–64s), the part-time work of 60% of the women; registered unemployment 3.0% in August 2026 (141,544; 3.1% seasonally adjusted; the young 3.4%; the ILO measure about 4.5%); no minimum wage by federal law (the cantonal ones of Geneva at CHF 24.48 an hour, Neuchâtel, Jura, Ticino and Basel-Stadt), the median wage about CHF 6,800 a month, the highest anywhere; the apprenticeship of two-thirds of the young; the unions (Unia, the SGB) of about 15% and the "labor peace" of 1937 (the Friedensabkommen; strikes near unknown); the 42-hour week, the four weeks' holiday (the initiative for six lost in 2012), the pension at 65 (the AHV 21 of 2024; the 13th pension from December 2026), the three pillars; the "wage protection" the unions' price for the EU package |
| Public finances | The debt brake of 2001 (in force 2003; the vote of 85%) — the federal budget balanced over the cycle: revenue about CHF 85 billion (the VAT of 8.1%, the direct federal tax, the withholding tax, the fuel and tobacco duties), the spending on the social insurance, the cantons' transfers, the transport, the army (rising to 1% of GDP) and the education; the deficits of 2025–26 and the "relief package 2027" of CHF 3 billion of cuts (the aid, the culture, the cantons' share); the general government debt about 38% of GDP by the IMF's count and lower by the Swiss (the federal debt about CHF 140 billion), among the lowest of Europe, the AAA of the agencies; the taxes low and the cantons' competition (Zug and Schwyz the lowest; the OECD minimum tax of 15% since 2024); the total tax burden about 28% of GDP, the health premiums outside it; the 13th AHV pension of CHF 4 billion a year and the VAT rise of 0.7 points on the ballot of 29 November 2026; the individual taxation of couples voted 8 March 2026 (in force 2028 by the plan); the cantons' and communes' budgets half the public spending; the Federal Audit Office; the "Konjunkturstabilität" |
| Income classification | High income by the World Bank (about US$115,600 a head); very high human development (0.970, level with Norway behind Iceland); a developed market; the world's most innovative economy (first in the Global Innovation Index since 2011); the AAA sovereign; the safe-haven currency; neither EU nor euro |
Transport & infrastructure
| Airports | Zurich Airport (ZRH) at Kloten — more than 31 million passengers in 2025 by the counts, the hub of Swiss International Air Lines (the Lufthansa subsidiary of 2005 that rose from Swissair's grounding of 2 October 2001; about 90 aircraft) and of Edelweiss, the airport of the year awards, the Circle; Geneva (GVA) at Cointrin, about 18 million, half its passengers the low-cost of easyJet, the French sector; EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg (BSL/MLH), the binational field on French soil, about 9 million; Bern-Belp and Lugano-Agno small, St. Gallen-Altenrhein, Sion, Samedan of the Engadine (the highest of Europe, 1,707 m); the military fields of Payerne, Emmen and Meiringen; the F-35s to come; the Rega air rescue of the 20 helicopters and its more than 3.5 million patrons |
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| Ports | The Rhine ports of Basel (Kleinhüningen, Birsfelden, Muttenz) — the country's "seaport," about 5 to 6 million metric tons and 100,000 containers a year up the Rhine from Rotterdam and Antwerp, a tenth of the imports (the oil, the grain); the Swiss merchant fleet under the federal flag (a dozen or so ships by the counts, down from about 50 in 2017; the Maritime Navigation Office at Basel); the lake fleets of the CGN on Lake Geneva (the Belle Époque paddle steamers), the Lake Lucerne, Lake Zurich, Lake Constance and Lake Thun-Brienz companies; the Rhine, the Aare and the Rhône unnavigable beyond |
| Railways | The densest and most used network of the world — about 5,300 km in all — the SBB/CFF/FFS of 1902, the state's, on about 3,200 km of standard gauge (about 1.3 million passengers a day, 2,500 km a year for every Swiss, the most anywhere) and about 2,000 km of the private and narrow-gauge lines (the Rhaetian Railway of the Grisons, the BLS of the Lötschberg, the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn of the Glacier Express, the Jungfrau Railway to the Jungfraujoch at 3,454 m, the Gornergrat, the Rigi of 1871, the first mountain railway of Europe, the Pilatus of 48%, the steepest), all electrified since 1960 on the SBB's own hydropower; the Gotthard Base Tunnel of 57 km (1 June 2016; the longest and deepest railway tunnel of the world), the Lötschberg Base Tunnel (34.6 km, 2007) and the Ceneri (2020) of the NRLA of CHF 23 billion, the Gotthard tunnel of 1882 (15 km), the Simplon of 1906 (19.8 km); the "Taktfahrplan" of 1982 and Rail 2000, the Bahn 2050; the half-fare card of 3 million and the GA travelcard of 500,000; the Cisalpino and the TGV Lyria, the night trains; the punctuality of 93% |
| Roads | About 84,000 km of roads — the national motorways of about 1,550 km (the A1 Geneva–St. Gallen, the A2 Basel–Chiasso through the Gotthard road tunnel of 16.9 km (1980; the second tube in building for the end of the decade), the A3, the A9 of the Valais, the A13 of the San Bernardino), the vignette of CHF 40 a year, the six motorway projects refused by the vote of 24 November 2024; the alpine passes closed by the snow (the Furka, Grimsel, Susten, Great St. Bernard by road; the Simplon and the Bernina open), the car-carrying trains of the Lötschberg, the Furka and the Vereina; the Great St. Bernard tunnel (1964) and the Mont Blanc's neighbor; the truck transit limited to 40 metric tons and the heavy-vehicle fee of 2001 that pays the tunnels (the "Alpine Initiative" of 1994 to put the freight on rail); about 4.8 million cars (the electric about 20% of the new), the PostBus of the yellow coaches on 900 lines; right-hand traffic; the car-free villages of Zermatt, Saas-Fee, Wengen, Mürren and Braunwald |
| City transport | The trams of Zurich (the VBZ of 1882, the world's most tram-served city per head), Basel (the BVB and BLT to France and Germany), Bern, Geneva (the TPG) and Lausanne (the M2 metro of 2008, the only metro of the country, with the M1 and the M3 to come), the trolleybuses of Lucerne, Winterthur, St. Gallen and Fribourg, the S-Bahn of Zurich (1990) and the RER of Geneva's Léman Express (2019; to France), the funiculars of Lausanne, Fribourg and Zurich (the Polybahn), the boats of the lakes; the integrated fares of the ZVV and the TPG; the bicycle of Basel and Bern; the Swiss Travel Pass; the congestion of Geneva and the Gotthard's summer queues |
| Utilities | Electricity — Axpo, Alpiq, BKW, the cantonal and communal utilities of the 600 suppliers, the Swissgrid transmission (the "electricity island" without an EU agreement until the package of 2026), the winter imports; water — the purest of the tap from the springs, the lakes and the groundwater (Zurich's from the lake), the mineral waters of Henniez, Valser and Aproz; the waste burned in the 30 incinerators for heat; the telecoms of Swisscom (the state's 51%), Sunrise and Salt, the fiber to 60% of the homes, the 5G against the "5G-free" communes; the Swiss Post of the yellow vans and the PostBus, the SRG public broadcaster of the four languages (the fee of 335 francs, cut to 300 by 2029 after the vote of 8 March 2026); the 360,000 bomb shelters for the whole population; the Rega; the church bells' quarrel with the sleepers |
| The country | The Matterhorn from Zermatt and the Gornergrat; the Jungfraujoch, the Eiger and the Lauterbrunnen valley; Lucerne's Chapel Bridge and the Rigi; the Rhine Falls; Bern's arcades and bears; Geneva's Jet d'Eau and the Palais des Nations; Lausanne's Olympic Museum and the Lavaux terraces; Basel's Münster and the Beyeler; Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse and the lake; St. Gallen's library; the Chillon castle; Gruyères and its cheese; the Bernina and Glacier expresses; St. Moritz and Davos; the Aletsch from the Eggishorn; the Creux du Van; Ticino's Lugano, the Verzasca and the castles of Bellinzona; the Rütli meadow of the oath; Appenzell's Landsgemeinde; Montreux's jazz; the Engadine's Sgraffito houses and Guarda; the Val Müstair; the Gotthard pass and the Devil's Bridge; the Landwasser viaduct; the cows coming down in September |
History in dates
| c. 5000 BC – 58 BC | The pile dwellings of the lakes (the Neolithic villages of Zurich, Biel and Neuchâtel; World Heritage 2011); the Bronze and Iron Ages of the Hallstatt and La Tène cultures (La Tène on Lake Neuchâtel the type site of the Celtic Iron Age); the Celtic Helvetii of the Plateau, the Rhaetians of the Alps; Caesar turns back the Helvetii's migration at Bibracte (58 BC) and Rome takes the land |
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| 15 BC – 401 | Roman Helvetia and Rhaetia — Aventicum (Avenches) the capital, Augusta Raurica by Basel, Vindonissa's legion, the Great St. Bernard road, Geneva and Zurich (Turicum) the customs posts; the Alemanni raid across the Rhine from 260; the legions leave (401) and the Alemanni settle the north and east (the German), the Burgundians the west (the French), the Romans hold on in the south and the Grisons (Italian, Romansh) — the language borders of today drawn |
| c. 500 – 1291 | The Franks and the Carolingians; the abbeys of St. Gall (612, Gallus; 719), St. Maurice, Einsiedeln (934) and Müstair; Burgundy and Swabia; the Holy Roman Empire from 1032; the Zähringens found Bern (1191) and Fribourg (1157); the Habsburgs of the Aargau rise; the Gotthard route opened by the Devil's Bridge (about 1230) makes the forest cantons matter; Uri (1231) and Schwyz (1240) win imperial immediacy |
| 1 August 1291 | The Federal Charter (Bundesbrief) of the three forest cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden "at the beginning of August 1291," after Rudolf of Habsburg's death — the Rütli oath of the legend (1307) and William Tell's apple (Schiller's play of 1804); the National Day; the Confederates beat the Habsburg knights at Morgarten (15 November 1315) and the Confederacy grows |
| 1332 – 1353 | The Eight Cantons — Lucerne (1332), Zurich (1351), Glarus and Zug (1352), Bern (1353) join the three; Laupen (1339); Sempach (9 July 1386; Duke Leopold killed, Arnold von Winkelried's legend) and Näfels (1388) end the Habsburg claim; the Confederacy a league of city and country states with the Tagsatzung diet |
| 1476 – 1499 | The Burgundian Wars — Grandson (2 March 1476), Morat (22 June 1476) and Nancy (1477), Charles the Bold destroyed and the Swiss pikemen the terror of Europe (the mercenaries of the "Reisläufer" sold to the French kings for three centuries; the Swiss Guard of the Pope from 1506); Fribourg and Solothurn join (1481; the Stans Compact of Nicholas of Flüe), Basel and Schaffhausen (1501), Appenzell (1513) — the Thirteen Cantons; the Swabian War of 1499 and the Peace of Basel (22 September 1499), independence of the Empire in fact |
| 13 September 1515 | Marignano — the Confederates' army destroyed by Francis I's guns and cavalry outside Milan, the end of the Swiss great-power ambition and, by the tradition, the beginning of the neutrality; the Perpetual Peace with France (1516) and the mercenary service; Zwingli's Reformation at Zurich (1519–25), the Bible of Zurich (1531), Zwingli killed at Kappel (11 October 1531) as the cantons split by faith; Calvin's Geneva (1536–64), "the Protestant Rome"; the Grisons and the Valais the allies |
| 24 October 1648 | The Peace of Westphalia recognizes the Confederacy's independence of the Holy Roman Empire (Basel's mayor Wettstein's clause); the Thirty Years' War passed by, the first neutrality; the Peasants' War of 1653; the Villmergen wars of 1656 and 1712 between the Catholic and Protestant cantons; the patrician oligarchies of Bern and Zurich; the watchmakers of Geneva and the Jura, the cotton of the east, the "Ancien Régime" of the 18th century, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Euler and the Bernoullis, Haller, Lavater |
| 1798 – 1815 | The French invade (1798) and make the Helvetic Republic, the one unitary state, Bern's treasure taken; Napoleon's Act of Mediation restores the cantons as 19 (1803: St. Gallen, the Grisons, Aargau, Thurgau, Ticino, Vaud new); the Congress of Vienna recognizes the neutrality (20 March 1815) and adds Valais, Neuchâtel and Geneva — 22 cantons; the Federal Treaty of 7 August 1815; the famine of 1816–17 |
| 1830 – 1847 | The "Regeneration" — the liberal cantonal constitutions of the 1830s; the Zurich University (1833), the Bern University (1834); the Catholic-conservative cantons' Sonderbund (1845) of seven cantons; the Sonderbund War of 3–29 November 1847, General Dufour's federal army beats it in 26 days with about 100 dead — the last war on Swiss soil |
| 12 September 1848 | The Federal Constitution — the federal state of the two chambers on the American model, the Federal Council of seven (Jonas Furrer the first president), the federal city Bern (28 November 1848), one franc (1850), one post, one customs, the free movement within; the Constitution of 29 May 1874 adds the optional referendum on laws and the federal law, the Federal Supreme Court at Lausanne; the initiative of 1891 |
| 1863 – 1882 | Henry Dunant, Solferino and the International Committee of the Red Cross (17 February 1863; the first Geneva Convention of 22 August 1864); the railways — the "Spanisch-Brötli-Bahn" of 1847, the Gotthard Tunnel of 1882 (15 km; 199 dead in its digging), the Rigi rack railway of 1871; the Nestlé of Henri Nestlé (1866) and the milk chocolate of Daniel Peter (1875), the Maggi, the Suchard and the Lindt conche (1879); the Zurich Polytechnic (1855); the Jura watch industry and the Swiss cross |
| 1891 – 1914 | The popular initiative (1891); the Federal Insurance and the SBB nationalized (1902); the Simplon Tunnel (1906); the Federal Palace (1902); the Civil Code (1907); the Jungfrau Railway to the Joch (1912); the Swiss National Park (1914); Einstein at the Bern patent office (1902–09) and the year of 1905; the "Landi" and the Alpine tourism of the British; the Swiss National Bank (1907) |
| 1914 – 1918 | The First World War — the neutrality and the mobilization under General Ulrich Wille, the Röstigraben of sympathies (the German Swiss for Germany, the Romands for France), the Lenin of Zurich's Spiegelgasse and the sealed train (1917), the Dada of the Cabaret Voltaire (1916); the general strike of 12–14 November 1918 (the Landesstreik; three dead), the proportional election of 1919 that ended the Radicals' rule; the League of Nations at Geneva (1920) and the "differential neutrality" the voters accepted (16 May 1920) |
| 1939 – 1945 | The Second World War — the mobilization of 430,000 under General Henri Guisan, the Rütli report of 25 July 1940 and the Réduit of the Alps, the neutrality kept between the Axis' jaws; the trade with Germany, the gold of the Reichsbank through the SNB (the Bergier Commission's findings of 2002; the US$1.25 billion settlement of 1998 with the Jewish organizations), the "boat is full" of the refugee policy (about 25,000 turned away; 300,000 taken in), the bombing of Schaffhausen by the Americans (1 April 1944); the ICRC's prisoners' work; the "Swiss diplomacy" of the protecting powers |
| 1945 – 1959 | The postwar prosperity and the "Swiss miracle," the guest workers of Italy (the "Gastarbeiter" of a million by 1970); the AHV old-age pension (1948); the UN refused, the Council of Europe (1963) later; the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission of Korea (1953); the Grande Dixence (1961); the "magic formula" of the Federal Council of 17 December 1959 — two Radicals, two Catholic-Conservatives, two Socialists and one of the Farmers' Party; the Geneva summits of 1955 and 1985 |
| 7 February 1971 | The women win the federal vote (65.7% yes) — the last of Europe's democracies but Liechtenstein and Portugal, Appenzell Innerrhoden holding out for the cantonal vote until the Federal Supreme Court's ruling of 27 November 1990; the first women elected to the National Council that October (ten of them) and Lise Girardin the first in the Council of States; the year after the Schwarzenbach "overforeignization" initiative was refused (7 June 1970; 54% no on a 74% turnout) |
| 1973 – 1989 | The oil shock and the three car-free Sundays (25 November – 9 December 1973); the canton of Jura carved from Bern by the votes of 23 June 1974 and 24 September 1978 (82.3% yes of the people and every canton), in being from 1 January 1979 — the Moutier question settled by the vote of 28 March 2021 and the transfer of 1 January 2026; the Zurich youth riots (30 May 1980); Elisabeth Kopp the first woman in the Federal Council (2 October 1984) and the first to resign (12 January 1989); UN membership refused (16 March 1986; 75.7% no); the Schweizerhalle chemical fire that poisoned the Rhine (1 November 1986); the "Fichenaffäre" of some 900,000 secret police files (November 1989) and the army-abolition initiative of 26 November 1989 (35.6% yes) — the shock of the Cold War's end |
| 6 December 1992 | The people and the cantons refuse the European Economic Area (50.3% no; the Romandie yes, the German Swiss no; Christoph Blocher's SVP the victor) — the "Sonntag of the Swiss" that set the course of the Bilaterals instead: the Bilaterals I signed 21 June 1999 (the free movement of persons; voted 21 May 2000, 67%), the Bilaterals II of 2004 (Schengen and Dublin; voted 5 June 2005); the Swissair grounding of 2 October 2001; the UN joined 10 September 2002 by the vote of 3 March; the 2003 magic formula of two SVP (Blocher elected) and one CVP |
| 2008 – 2011 | The financial crisis — UBS rescued by the state and the SNB (16 October 2008; US$60 billion of toxic assets), the banking secrecy broken by the American case against UBS (2009) and the automatic exchange of 2017; the minaret ban by initiative (29 November 2009; 57.5%); the deportation initiative (28 November 2010); the franc's floor of 1.20 (6 September 2011); the Fukushima year and the nuclear phase-out decided (2011) — the Energy Strategy of 2017 |
| 9 February 2014 – 2016 | The "mass immigration" initiative of the SVP (50.3% yes) to cap the EU immigration, defused by the Parliament's "light" implementation of 2016 to save the Bilaterals; the "Frankenschock" of 15 January 2015; the Gotthard Base Tunnel opened (1 June 2016; the world's longest); the EU application of 1992 withdrawn (2016); the "Enforcement initiative" refused (2016) |
| 2017 – 2021 | The Energy Strategy 2050 voted (21 May 2017); the "Swissness" law; the corporate tax reform and AHV financing (STAF, 19 May 2019); the "climate strike" and the Green wave of the election of 20 October 2019 (the Greens 13%); the framework agreement with the EU abandoned by the Federal Council (26 May 2021); the burqa ban (7 March 2021; 51.2%); the marriage for all (26 September 2021; 64.1%); the pandemic (the "COVID law" voted twice, 2021); the Crypto AG revelations (2020) |
| 24 February 2022 – 2023 | Russia invades Ukraine and Switzerland adopts the EU's sanctions (28 February 2022), the "neutrality debate" reopened, the re-export of Swiss arms to Ukraine refused (the Gepard ammunition); the F-35 purchase signed (September 2022); the election of 22 October 2023 (the SVP 27.9%, the Greens fall); Credit Suisse collapses and is taken over by UBS in a state-brokered weekend (19 March 2023; CHF 3 billion, the AT1 bonds written off, the 167-year bank gone); the Brienz evacuation; the climate law (18 June 2023; 59%); Switzerland's first seat on the Security Council (2023–24) |
| 2024 | The 13th AHV pension by initiative (3 March 2024; 58.2%; the first social expansion by the people) and the retirement age initiative refused; the women's retirement at 65 (AHV 21); Viola Amherd the President; the Bürgenstock summit on Ukraine (15–16 June 2024; 100 delegations, Russia absent); the six motorways refused (24 November 2024); the EU negotiations concluded (20 December 2024); Nemo wins the Eurovision (11 May 2024) and Basel hosts 2025; the Brienz landslide's second evacuation |
| 2025 | Karin Keller-Sutter the President; Martin Pfister elected to the Federal Council (12 March) for Amherd; Blatten buried by the Birch glacier's fall (28 May; one dead); the American tariff of 39% (1 August; the highest on a rich country) cut to 15% by the deal of November after Bern's pledges; the UBS capital rules of June; the Eurovision at Basel (May); the women's Euro hosted (July); the SNB to 0% (19 June); the Nestlé chief executive dismissed over an affair (1 September) and the Nestlé chairman out; the Federal Council's fee cut for the SRG; the EU package adopted for the dispatch; the Schwingen "Eidgenössisches" at Mollis |
| 1 January – 8 March 2026 | Guy Parmelin the President; Moutier joins the Jura (1 January); the Crans-Montana bar fire of New Year's night, at least 41 dead (1 January); the Maduro assets frozen (5 January); the Winter Olympics of Milan-Cortina (6–22 February; 23 medals, 8th, von Allmen's three golds); the Goppenstein avalanche on the train (16 February); the EU treaties signed in Brussels (2 March); the votes of 8 March — individual taxation yes (54.3%), the cash counter-proposal yes (73.4%), the cash initiative no, the SRG fee cap no (62.0%), the climate fund no (70.7%) |
| 10 March – 14 June 2026 | The Kerzers postal bus arson, six dead (10 March); the EU package's dispatch to Parliament (13 March); the Engelberg cable-car death (18 March); the arms exports to the United States halted over the Iran war (20 March); CERN's antiprotons on the road (24 March); the Winterthur station stabbing (28 May); the ice hockey world championship hosted at Zurich and Fribourg, the final lost to Finland 0–1 in overtime (31 May); the votes of 14 June — the 10-million initiative refused (54.8% no), the civilian service law approved (52.5%); Jean Ziegler dies (10 June); the World Cup begins (11 June) |
| July – September 2026 | The World Cup — Algeria 2–0 (2 July), Colombia on penalties (7 July), the quarterfinal lost to Argentina 1–3 after extra time (11 July), the first since 1954; the Society of Saint Pius X consecrates four bishops at Écône against Rome (1 July); the American tariff of 12.5% under the forced-labor investigation (24 July); the Piotta power plant explosion, two dead (9 September); the Mengele dossier of the intelligence service and the Grisons coach crash of five dead (10 September); the SNB holds at 0% (24 September); THE VOTES OF 27 SEPTEMBER — the neutrality initiative refused by 70.2% and every canton, the food initiative by 72.5%, Zurich's assisted-suicide counter-proposal approved (68.1%), turnout 47% |
| The confederation | 735 years since the oath of 1291 and 178 since the federal state of 1848 — neutral, direct, federal and rich, at the ballot box four times a year and about to vote on Europe once more |
Records & firsts
| The direct democracy | About 700 federal votes since 1848 — more national referendums than all the rest of the world together; the people's initiative of 1891, the double majority of the people and the cantons, the four ballots a year, the Landsgemeinden of Glarus and Appenzell Innerrhoden still voting by a show of hands |
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| The Red Cross | The International Committee of the Red Cross of Geneva, founded by Henry Dunant and four Genevans on 17 February 1863 — the first Geneva Convention of 1864, the Swiss flag reversed for its emblem, the three Nobel Peace Prizes of the ICRC (1917, 1944, 1963) and Dunant's of 1901, the first ever |
| The longest railway tunnel | The Gotthard Base Tunnel, 57.1 km, opened 1 June 2016 — the longest and deepest railway tunnel of the world (2,300 m of rock above it), 17 years of digging for CHF 12 billion; the Lötschberg (34.6 km) and the Simplon (19.8 km; the longest of the world from 1906 to 1982) |
| The highest railway station of Europe | The Jungfraujoch, 3,454 m, "the Top of Europe," reached by the Jungfrau Railway of 1912 through the Eiger and the Mönch; the Rigi railway of 1871 the first mountain railway of Europe, the Pilatus of 1889 the steepest rack railway of the world (48%) |
| The World Wide Web | Born at CERN in Geneva — Tim Berners-Lee's proposal of 12 March 1989, the first website of 1991, the web given to the world free on 30 April 1993; CERN's Large Hadron Collider of 27 km the largest machine ever built, the Higgs boson found there in 2012 |
| The neutrality | Neutral in practice since Marignano (1515) and by the Congress of Vienna (1815) — 211 years since the last foreign war, no war on its soil since the 26-day Sonderbund of 1847; the initiative to harden it into the Constitution refused by 70.2% on 27 September 2026 |
| The four languages | Four national languages on one banknote — German, French, Italian and Romansh — and no majority language's name for the country: "Confoederatio Helvetica" and CH the Latin peace between them |
| The richest | The highest GDP per head of any large country (about US$116,000 in 2025 by the IMF; Luxembourg, Ireland and the microstates the only ones above by the counts), the highest wealth per adult in the world (about US$700,000 by the UBS report), the highest wages and the highest prices; the 1,000-franc note among the most valuable in circulation anywhere |
| The most innovative | First in the Global Innovation Index every year since 2011 — the ETH and the EPFL, CERN, the Nobel laureates of about 30 (the most per head), the patents per head the most of the world (Roche, Novartis, ABB, Nestlé); the Swiss Army knife, the Velcro, the LSD, the Helvetica, the Swatch, the milk chocolate and the muesli |
| The watches | About half the world's watches by value from the Jura arc — Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Omega, the Swatch of 1983 that saved the industry from the quartz crisis; the "Swiss made" of the law; La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle the watch cities of the World Heritage |
| The Rhine Falls | The largest waterfall of Europe by flow — 23 m high and 150 m wide at Schaffhausen, 600 cubic meters a second in the summer melt; the Grande Dixence of 285 m the tallest gravity dam of the world; the Aletsch the longest glacier of the Alps |
| The Landsgemeinde | The Landsgemeinde of Appenzell Innerrhoden and Glarus — the open-air assemblies of all citizens that have met since the 14th century (Glarus first recorded 1387); the Federal Charter of 1291 among the oldest founding documents still honored; the Rütli oath |
| The longest lives of Europe | Life expectancy about 84 years (women 85.8, men 82.2 by the FSO of 2024), with Spain and Japan the longest of the world; the oldest population it has ever had — more over 65 than under 20 for the first time in 2025 |
| The Federer | Roger Federer of Basel — 20 Grand Slam titles, eight Wimbledons (a record), 310 weeks at No. 1 (237 of them in a row, the record), the first Swiss man at the top; Martina Hingis the youngest No. 1 at 16; Marco Odermatt's five overall World Cups in a row (2022–26); the World Cup quarterfinal of 2026, the Nati's best in 72 years |
| The Swiss Guard | The Pontifical Swiss Guard of 22 January 1506 — the oldest military unit in continuous service in the world, 135 Swiss Catholic men in Michelangelo's stripes at the Vatican, the last of the five centuries of the Swiss mercenaries |
| The Nobels of Geneva | The International Committee of the Red Cross with three Nobel Peace Prizes, Dunant's first (1901), the Bern-and-Zurich Einstein (1921), Hesse (1946), the CERN of the web; and the Nobel of the ballot — the initiative, the referendum and the neutrality that the people themselves confirmed on 27 September 2026 |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Switzerland?
The Swiss Confederation — Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft in German, Confédération suisse in French, Confederazione Svizzera in Italian, Confederaziun svizra in Romansh, the four national languages, and Confoederatio Helvetica in the Latin the state uses to favor none of them, which is why the country's code is CH, its domain .ch and its coins say "Helvetia." A "confederation" in name since the oath of the three forest cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden in August 1291 (the Federal Charter; the National Day of 1 August), it has in fact been a federal state since the Constitution of 12 September 1848, written after the Sonderbund war, with 26 cantons that keep their own constitutions, parliaments, courts, schools and taxes; "Switzerland" and "Schweiz" come from Schwyz, the canton whose red flag with the white cross became the flag of all. It is a country of 41,285 km² and 9.1 million people in the Alps and the Jura between Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein, neutral by the practice of two centuries and the Congress of Vienna of 1815, the seat of the Red Cross and of Geneva's United Nations, a member of the UN only since 2002 and of no European Union or alliance, the richest large country on Earth by income a head and the home of the referendum: its people vote four times a year — in 2026 on 8 March, 14 June and 27 September so far, the last time rejecting a stricter neutrality by 70%, with 29 November to come.
What is the capital of Switzerland?
Bern — the "federal city" (Bundesstadt), the seat of the Federal Council, the Federal Assembly and the federal administration since 1848, though no law names a capital: the Federal Palace of 1902 on the hill above the Aare holds the two chambers and the government, the Federal Supreme Court sits in Lausanne, the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona, the Federal Administrative Court in St. Gallen and the National Bank in Zurich and Bern by design. Bern's medieval old town on its bend of the river, with its 6 km of arcades, the Zytglogge clock tower, the cathedral of 1421 and the bear pits, has been a World Heritage site since 1983; about 135,000 people live in the city and about 420,000 in its agglomeration, the fifth of the country. Zurich (about 440,000 in the city, 1.4 million in the metropolis) is the largest city and the financial capital of the banks, the exchange and the airport; Geneva (about 205,000; 600,000 with its French suburbs) the second, the city of the United Nations, the Red Cross, CERN, the watchmakers and the private banks; Basel (about 175,000) the city of the pharmaceutical giants Roche and Novartis on the Rhine; Lausanne (about 145,000) the Olympic capital on Lake Geneva; then Winterthur, Lucerne, St. Gallen, Lugano and Biel/Bienne, the bilingual watch town.
How big is Switzerland, and how many people live there?
41,285 km² (15,940 sq mi) — the 132nd country of the world, a little smaller than the Netherlands or twice the size of New Jersey, 348 km from west to east and 220 km from north to south, landlocked between Germany (a border of about 346 km), France (572 km), Italy (734 km), Austria (165 km) and Liechtenstein (41 km): the Alps take three-fifths of it (only a tenth of the people live there), the Jura a tenth in the northwest, and the Swiss Plateau (the Mittelland) between them, a third of the land from Lake Geneva to Lake Constance, holds two-thirds of the population and all the big cities. The Federal Statistical Office counted more than 9.1 million permanent residents at the end of 2025 — up 76,100 (0.8%) in the year, nine-tenths of it immigration (204,300 came, 133,800 left; the Germans and the returning Swiss the largest groups), the growth slowing from 1.7% in 2023 — and, for the first time, more people over 65 (1,810,600) than under 20 (1,804,500); 27.7% of the residents are foreign nationals, the highest share of any large European country, the Italians, Germans, Portuguese, French and Kosovars the largest of them, and two in five of those 15 and over have an immigrant background. The fertility rate fell to about 1.3, the lowest ever, life expectancy stands at about 84 years, among the two or three longest of the world, and the median age at about 43. About 220 people to the square kilometer overall, 450 and more on the Plateau; the vote of 14 June 2026 rejected the SVP's initiative to cap the population at 10 million by 2050 (54.8% no).
What are the highest and lowest points of Switzerland?
The Dufourspitze (Punta Dufour), 4,634 m (15,203 ft), the highest summit of the Monte Rosa massif on the Italian border above Zermatt — the highest peak of Switzerland and the second of the Alps after Mont Blanc, named in 1863 for General Dufour, the mapmaker of the country and the Sonderbund war's victor; the Dom (4,545 m), the highest mountain entirely in Switzerland, the Weisshorn (4,506 m), the Matterhorn (4,478 m; first climbed by Whymper's party on 14 July 1865, four of them dying on the descent), the Jungfrau (4,158 m) with the Jungfraujoch railway station of 3,454 m, the highest in Europe, the Eiger and its north face, the Finsteraarhorn, the Piz Bernina (4,049 m) of the Engadine — 48 summits above 4,000 m in all; the Aletsch Glacier, the largest of the Alps at 20 km (a World Heritage site of 2001), shrinking by tens of meters a year as the glaciers lose their ice (the Blatten landslide of 28 May 2025 that buried a village came off a thawing mountain). The lowest point is the shore of Lake Maggiore at Ascona and Brissago in Ticino, 193 m above the sea, where the Ticino river leaves for Italy; Lake Geneva lies at 372 m, Lake Constance at 395 m, Basel on the Rhine at 245 m, Bern at 540 m, St. Moritz at 1,822 m and Juf in the Grisons at 2,126 m, the highest village of Europe lived in all year by the counts. The Rhine (375 km in Switzerland), the Rhône, the Inn, the Ticino and the Aare all rise in the Gotthard massif, the water tower of Europe, and drain to three seas.
What currency does Switzerland use?
The Swiss franc (ISO code CHF; Fr. or SFr.), of 100 centimes (Rappen in German, centesimi in Italian), the currency of the federal state since the Coinage Act of 7 May 1850 and of Liechtenstein too since 1924 — issued by the Swiss National Bank (1907) of Zurich and Bern under Chairman Martin Schlegel since October 2024, in the notes of 10 to 1,000 francs of the ninth series (2016–19; the 1,000 among the most valuable notes in general circulation anywhere), and the last of the world's currencies to leave gold backing (1999). The "Swissie" is the safe haven of the world's money: about 0.83 francs to the U.S. dollar and 0.945 to the euro on 28 September 2026, a franc worth more than a euro since 2022 and about a fifth stronger against the dollar than a decade ago, the reason the National Bank held the franc to 1.20 to the euro from 2011 to 15 January 2015 and ran negative rates from 2015 to 2022. Its policy rate stands at 0% since the cut of 19 June 2025, held at the assessments of 2026 to that of 24 September 2026 (the sight deposits above a threshold charged a quarter-point); inflation ran at 0.8% in August 2026 by the consumer price index, lifted by the oil of the Middle East war from the 0.6% of May, and the bank forecasts 0.7% for 2026 and 0.8% for 2027 and 2028 inside its 0–2% band; the country's prices are among the highest on Earth, its wages the highest. The clocks keep Central European Time (UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer); Switzerland drives on the right.
Who governs Switzerland?
The people, more than anywhere else, and a seven-member government that answers to them: the Federal Council (Bundesrat), elected for four years by the two chambers of the Federal Assembly sitting together and never dismissed between elections, governs as a collegium — each councillor a minister of one department, the presidency rotating each year with almost no power beyond the chair. In 2026 the President of the Confederation is Guy Parmelin of the Swiss People's Party (SVP; economic affairs, education and research), the Vice President Ignazio Cassis of the Liberals (FDP; foreign affairs), and the others Karin Keller-Sutter (FDP; finance), Albert Rösti (SVP; environment, transport, energy and communications), Élisabeth Baume-Schneider (Social Democrat; home affairs), Beat Jans (Social Democrat; justice and police) and Martin Pfister (The Center; defense, civil protection and sport, the newest, elected 12 March 2025), with Viktor Rossi the Federal Chancellor — the "magic formula" of 1959 in its form of 2003: two SVP, two Social Democrats, two Liberals and one of The Center. The Federal Assembly of the National Council (200, by proportional representation) and the Council of States (46, two a canton) makes the laws, the SVP its largest party since 1999 (27.9% at the election of 22 October 2023; the next on 24 October 2027); the 26 cantons run the schools, the police, the hospitals and most of the taxes; and the voters have the last word — 50,000 signatures force a referendum on any law, 100,000 propose an amendment to the Constitution, and the ballot comes four times a year: on 27 September 2026 they threw out the SVP's neutrality initiative by 70.2% and the food-security initiative of a plant-based, home-grown diet by 72.5%, on 14 June the SVP's 10-million-population cap by 54.8%, on 8 March the cap on the broadcasting fee by 62% while approving individual taxation of married couples by 54.3%; on 29 November they vote on a VAT rise for the pensions, fireworks, the taxation of couples and the war-materiel law. The treaties with the European Union signed on 2 March 2026 are before Parliament, and the people will have the last word on those too.
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