Ah Switzerland ... Did you know?

There are a lot of mountains in Switzerland, some of them harboring glaciers.
There are a lot of lakes in Switzerland, the largest which is totally within the Swiss borders is Lac NeuchaÃel.
There are only about 7 million people in Switzerland (7.164 million as of Dec 1999).
About 20% of the people living in Switzerland are foreigners (19.6 in 1999).
That the Swiss system of government was patterned after the US Constitution? Unfortunately, the US courts have invalidated many important parts of the US Constitution whereas Switzerland still upholds those principles.
100,000 Swiss can demand via referendum that the Constitution be revised.
A new president of Switzerland is elected every year.
There are seven members of the Swiss Federal Council (Executive branch) who are elected for four years. A new President is elected from these seven each year.
The president of Switzerland for 1999 was a woman and Jewish. Her name is Ruth Dreifuss.
To see who is the current president of Switzerland, click here.
There are four official languages in Switzerland: German, French, Italian, and Romanch. English is sort of an unofficial fifth language, and you will find this selection of five languages on the main Swiss Government Web Page.
The Swiss voted in favor of a new Constitution 18 April 1999.
There really is no lake named: Lake Geneva. It's real name is Lake Leman.

The five largest Swiss cities and their populations are:

at the end of the year,
in thousands 1980 1990 1997 1998 Foreigners
in % 1998

Zurich 370.1 341.3 338.6 336.8 28.1

Basle 181.9 171.0 171.2 168.7 28.2

Geneva 156.6 167.2 172.6 172.8 43.7

Berne 146.8 134.6 124.4 123,3 21.1

Lausanne 126.3 123.2 114.0 114.2 34.1

at the end of the year, in thousands	1980	1990	1997	1998	Foreigners in % 1998
Zurich	370.1	341.3	338.6	336.8	28.1
Basle	181.9	171.0	171.2	168.7	28.2
Geneva	156.6	167.2	172.6	172.8	43.7
Berne	146.8	134.6	124.4	123,3	21.1
Lausanne	126.3	123.2	114.0	114.2	34.1

The Swiss Federal Web site can be found at www.admin.ch where there is a lot of information in English, though it is not as complete as the German, French and Italian versions. For more complete statistical data than presented here, try the Statistical Administration site, and pay particular notice to the really reasonable average taxation rates toward the bottom of the report.

The best all around site for information on Switzerland that I have found is www.switzerland.isyours.com.

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