Switzerland occupies an area of 41,300 square kilometres. The country is bordered by Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. The capital city of Bern has 128,000 residents. The largest cities are Zurich (383,000), Geneva (188,000), Basel (167,000) and Lausanne (122,000).
Of the total population of 7.9 million, 21.7% are foreigners. The official languages are Swiss Standard German, which is spoken, alongside various Alemannic dialects, by 64% of the population, French (20%), Italian (6.5%) and Romansh (0.5%).
Switzerland is a federal parliamentary republic. It comprises 26 cantons, each with its own constitution, parliament and government.
Legislative power resides in the Federal Assembly, which consists of two houses of equal rights – the National Council with 200 deputies elected by a proportional representation system to four-year terms, and the Council of States with 46 deputies elected on a majority basis. Swiss citizens have the right of vote in parliamentary elections from the age of 18. The councils' chairpersons are elected for one year.
The collective head of state and the supreme executive body is the Federal Council, a seven-member collegial board. The seven ministers are elected by parliament to four-year terms. The presidency of the Federal Council rotates annually among members. The head of government, the so-called president of the confederation, is elected by parliament and presides over council meetings and is mostly involved in public relations.
Switzerland has a highly developed industry, an intensive agriculture, and is one of the world's main financial and banking centres. Swiss banks control up to 40% of global property management. The banking sector generates 12% of the GDP, brings 10% of the fiscal income to the state budget and employs 3.5% of the working population.
The most important source of Swiss national income is the transit of 50% of the total cargo traffic between the north and the south of Western Europe.
Switzerland has the world's seventh highest GDP per capita (69,600 Swiss francs) and ranks fifth in terms of productivity. Seventy percent of the working population are employed in services, 25.8% in industry and 4.1% in agriculture and forestry. The average monthly wage is 5,410 Swiss francs. As of December 2012, 3.3% of the working age population were unemployed.
The chief branches of industry are chemistry, pharmaceutics, mechanical engineering, watchmaking, textiles and foodstuffs. Farming – mainly cattle breeding (75% of the total output) – accounts for 2.4% of the GDP and meets 60% of the country's agricultural produce needs.
Switzerland trades primarily with Western Europe and North America. Eighty-three percent of the total foreign trade volume is with EU members, which account for up to 60% of Swiss exports and supply up to 80% of Swiss imports. Exported capital is mainly channelled towards 10 leading industrial countries. The volume of Swiss direct investments abroad is 665.6 billion Swiss francs, while portfolio investments reach 1.075 trillion, and the value of Swiss banks' foreign assets is 2.6 trillion Swiss francs.
The cities of Basel, Zurich, Bern, St Gallen, Geneva, Lausanne, Fribourg, Neuchatel, Lugano and Lucerne have universities. There are also higher polytechnic schools in Zurich (ETH) and Lausanne (EPFL), and the Management School of St Gallen. Of the total number of 166,000 students, 20% are foreigners. Twenty-two Swiss researchers won Nobel prizes at different times, including nine for medicine, seven for chemistry and six for physics.
Many eminent personalities were born or worked in Switzerland – philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, architect Charles Edouard Le Corbusier, sculptor Alberto Giacometti, educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, authors Gottfried Keller, Hermann Hesse, Max Frisch and Friedrich Duerrenmatt, composers Arthur Honegger and Frank Martin, artists Felix Vallotton, Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen and Ferdinand Hodler.