Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft (German)

Confédération Suisse (French)

Confederazione Svizzera (Italian)

Confederaziun Svizra (Romansch)

Political Status: Neutral confederation since 1291; equivalent of federal system embodied in constitution of May 29, 1874; current constitution, revising and reforming that of 1874, adopted April 18, 1999, effective January 1, 2000.

Area: 15,943 sq. mi. (41,293 sq. km).

Population: 8,516,000 (2020E—World Bank); 8,348,737 (2020E—U.S. Census). (After having conducted a standard full census every ten years since 1850, Switzerland in 2010 adopted a new system under which a census is completed each year using advanced methods of data collection and evaluation that rely on cantonal and communal population registers as well as a survey of approximately 5 percent of the population annually.)

Major Urban Centers (metropolitan area, 2018E—UN): BERN (122,000), Zürich (342,000), Geneva (184,000), Basel (165,000).

Official Languages: German, ...