Switzerland

• temperate, but varies with altitude;
• cold, cloudy, rainy/snowy winters;
• cool to warm, cloudy, humid summers with occasional showers

mean elevation:

1,350 m

elevation extremes:

195 m lowest point: Lake Maggiore; 4634 highest point: Dufourspitze

• air pollution from vehicle emissions;
• water pollution from agricultural fertilizers;
• chemical contaminants and erosion damage the soil and limit productivity;
• loss of biodiversity

• landlocked;
• crossroads of northern and southern Europe;
• along with southeastern France, northern Italy, and southwestern Austria, has the highest elevations in the Alps

noun:

Swiss (singular and plural)

adjective:

Swiss

0-14 years:

15.23% (male 650,151 /female 612,479)

15-24 years:

10.69% (male 453,003 /female 433,101)

25-54 years:

42.88% (male 1,781,425 /female 1,774,124)

55-64 years:

12.88% (male 535,457 /female 532,454)

65 years and over:

18.34% (male 672,024 /female 848,591) (2018 est.)

total dependency ratio:

48.8 (2015 est.)

youth dependency ratio:

22 (2015 est.)

elderly dependency ratio:

26.8 (2015 est.)

potential support ratio:

3.7 (2015 est.)

at birth:

1.06 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

0-14 years:

1.06 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

15-24 years:

1.04 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

25-54 years:

1.01 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

55-64 years:

1 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

65 years and over:

0.78 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

total population:

0.97 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

conventional long form:

Swiss Confederation

conventional short form:

Switzerland

local long form:

Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft (German)

local short form:

Schweiz (German)

abbreviation:

CH

etymology:

name derives from the canton of Schwyz, one of the founding cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy that formed in the 14th century; Confederation Suisse (French) Confederazione Svizzera (Italian) Confederaziun Svizra (Romansh) Suisse (French) Svizzera (Italian) Svizra (Romansh)

name:

Bern

geographic coordinates:

46 55 N, 7 28 E

time difference:

UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)

daylight saving time:

+1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October

history:

previous 1848, 1874; latest adopted by referendum 18 April 1999, effective 1 January 2000 (2016)

amendments:

• proposed by the two houses of the Federal Assembly or by petition of at least one million voters (called the "federal popular initiative");
• passage of proposals requires majority vote in a referendum;
• following drafting of an amendment by the Assembly, its passage requires approval by majority vote in a referendum and approval by the majority of cantons;
• amended many times, last in 2016 (2016)

citizenship by birth:

no

citizenship by descent only:

at least one parent must be a citizen of Switzerland

dual citizenship recognized:

yes

residency requirement for naturalization:

12 years including at least 3 of the last 5 years prior to application

highest courts:

Federal Supreme Court (consists of 38 justices and 19 deputy justices organized into 7 divisions)

judge selection and term of office:

• judges elected by the Federal Assembly for 6-year terms;
• note - judges are affiliated with political parties and are elected according to linguistic and regional criteria in approximate proportion to the level of party representation in the Federal Assembly

subordinate courts:

• Federal Criminal Court (established in 2004);
• Federal Administrative Court (established in 2007);
• note - each of Switzerland's 26 cantons has its own courts

chief of state:

• President of the Swiss Confederation Ueli MAURER (since 1 January 2019);
• Vice President Simonetta SOMMARUGA (since 1 January 2019);
• note - the Federal Council, which is comprised of 7 federal councillors, constitutes the federal government of Switzerland;
• council members rotate the 1-year term of federal president (chief of state and head of government)

head of government:

President of the Swiss Confederation Ueli MAURER (since 1 January 2019); Vice President Simonetta SOMMARUGA (since 1 January 2018)

cabinet:

Federal Council or Bundesrat (in German), Conseil Federal (in French), Consiglio Federale (in Italian) indirectly elected, usually from among its members by the Federal Assembly for a 4-year term

elections/appointments:

• president and vice president elected by the Federal Assembly from among members of the Federal Council for a 1-year, non-consecutive term;
• election last held on 5 December 2018 (next to be held in December 2019)

election results:

• Ueli MAURER elected president;
• Federal Assembly vote - 201 of 209;
• Simonetta SOMMARUGA elected vice president;
• Federal Assembly vote - 196 of 216

chief of mission:

Ambassador Martin Werner DAHINDEN (since 18 November 2014)

chancery:

2900 Cathedral Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

telephone:

[1] (202) 745-7900

FAX:

[1] (202) 387-2564

consulate(s) general:

Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco

chief of mission:

Ambassador Edward "Ed" MCMULLEN (since 21 November 2017) note - also accredited to Liechtenstein

embassy:

Sulgeneckstrasse 19, CH-3007 Bern

mailing address:

use embassy street address

telephone:

[41] (031) 357-70-11

FAX:

[41] (031) 357-73-20

• red square with a bold, equilateral white cross in the center that does not extend to the edges of the flag;
• various medieval legends purport to describe the origin of the flag;
• a white cross used as identification for troops of the Swiss Confederation is first attested at the Battle of Laupen (1339)

agriculture:

3.3%

industry:

19.8%

services:

76.9% (2015)

lowest 10%:

19% (2007)

highest 10%:

19% (2007)

general assessment:

highly developed telecommunications infrastructure with excellent domestic and international services (2016)

domestic:

• ranked among leading countries for fixed-line teledensity and infrastructure;
• mobile-cellular subscribership roughly 140 per 100 persons;
• extensive cable and microwave radio relay networks (2016)

international:

country code - 41; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean) (2016)

• the publicly owned radio and TV broadcaster, Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG/SSR), operates 7 national TV networks, 3 broadcasting in German, 2 in Italian, and 2 in French;
• private commercial TV stations broadcast regionally and locally;
• TV broadcasts from stations in Germany, Italy, and France are widely available via multi-channel cable and satellite TV services;
• SRG/SSR operates 17 radio stations that, along with private broadcasters, provide national to local coverage (2015)

number of registered air carriers:

12 (2015)

inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 163 (2015)

annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers:

26,843,991 (2015)

annual freight traffic on registered air carriers:

1,322,379,468 mt-km (2015)

total:

5,652 km (2014)

standard gauge:

4,424.8 km 1.435-m gauge (3,634.1 km electrified) (2014)

narrow gauge:

2 km 1.200-m gauge (2 km electrified) (2014); 1188.3 1.000-m gauge (1,167.3 km electrified) 36.4 0.800-m gauge (36.4 km electrified)

total:

71,464 km (2011)

paved:

71,464 km (includes 1,415 of expressways) (2011)

• 19-26 years of age for male compulsory military service;
• 18 years of age for voluntary male and female military service;
• every Swiss male has to serve at least 260 days in the armed forces;
• conscripts receive 18 weeks of mandatory training, followed by seven 3-week intermittent recalls for training during the next 10 years (2012)

refugees (country of origin):

30,935 (Eritrea), 13,639 (Syria), 8,151 (Afghanistan), 5,581 (Sri Lanka) (2017)

stateless persons:

62 (2017)

• a major international financial center vulnerable to the layering and integration stages of money laundering;
• despite significant legislation and reporting requirements, secrecy rules persist and nonresidents are permitted to conduct business through offshore entities and various intermediaries;
• transit country for and consumer of South American cocaine, Southwest Asian heroin, and Western European synthetics;
• domestic cannabis cultivation and limited ecstasy production