Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is geographically divided among the Swiss Plateau, the Alps and the Jura; the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory, whereas most of the country's population of 9 million are concentrated on the plateau, which hosts its largest cities and economic centres, including Zürich, Geneva, and Basel.
The Economy of Switzerland is one of the world's most advanced and a highly-developed free market economy. The economy of Switzerland has ranked first in the world since 2015 on the Global Innovation Index and third in the 2020 Global Competitiveness Report. According to United Nations data for 2016, Switzerland is the third richest landlocked country in the world after Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. Together with the latter and Norway, they are the only three countries in the world with a GDP per capita (nominal) above US$90,000 that are neither island nations nor ministates. Among OECD nations, Switzerland has a highly efficient and strong social security system; social expenditure stood at roughly 24.1% of GDP.
Extensive telecommunication facilities exist in Switzerland. They include the telephone system, internet, and broadcast media.
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the form of the first three confederate allies used to be referred to as the Waldstätte. Two important periods in the development of the Old Swiss Confederacy are summarized by the terms Acht Orte and Dreizehn Orte.
Denner is a discount supermarket chain in Switzerland. It is Switzerland's third-largest supermarket chain after Migros and Coop with 11.4% market share. It is owned by the Federation of Migros Cooperatives since 2007.
Switzerland is not a member state of the European Union (EU). It is associated with the Union through a series of bilateral treaties in which Switzerland has adopted various provisions of European Union law in order to participate in the Union's single market, without joining as a member state. Among Switzerland's neighbouring countries, all but one are EU member states.
Didier Eric Burkhalter is a Swiss politician who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2009 to 2017. A member of FDP.The Liberals, he was President of the Swiss Confederation in 2014.
Internet usage is notably extensive in Switzerland, with 96% of the population aged between 15 and 88 engaging online in 2021. This figure demonstrates a wide adoption across age demographics, highlighted by the fact that over half of those aged 75 and above are daily internet users. The country's advanced broadband infrastructure plays a key role in facilitating this level of usage. By the end of 2022, Switzerland was ranked highest in broadband penetration among the countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The federal administration of Switzerland is the ensemble of agencies that constitute, together with the Swiss Federal Council, the executive branch of the Swiss federal authorities. The administration is charged with executing federal law and preparing draft laws and policy for the Federal Council and the Federal Assembly.
The Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology is a Swiss research institution for application-oriented materials science and technology. It has three locations – Dübendorf, St. Gallen and Thun. As part of the ETH Domain, it is assigned to the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER). For more than 100 years since its foundation in 1880, Empa has been a material testing institute. Since the late 1980s, it has increasingly transformed into an interdisciplinary research institute for materials and technologies.
The Pirate Party Switzerland is a political party in Switzerland, based on the model of the Swedish Pirate Party. The party was founded on 12 July 2009 in Zürich, by about 150 people. By the end of February 2012, the PPS had around about 1,800 members.
SIX is a key financial market infrastructure company in Switzerland. The company provides services relating to securities transactions, the processing of financial information, payment transactions and is building a digital infrastructure. The company name SIX is an abbreviation and stands for Swiss Infrastructure and Exchange. SIX is globally active, with its headquarters in Zurich.
Emilie Lieberherr, was a Swiss politician.
Women in Switzerland are women who live in and are from Switzerland. The legal and social role of Swiss women has evolved significantly from the mid-20th century onwards.
The Federal Department of Home Affairs is a department of the federal administration of Switzerland and serves as the Swiss ministry of the interior. Since 2024, it is headed by Federal Councillor Élisabeth Baume-Schneider.
Galenica AG, headquartered in Bern, is an internationally active Swiss pharmaceutical and logistics company group, named after the ancient physician Galenus. It dates back to the 1927 Collaboration Pharmaceutique SA, a purchasing center for pharmaceutical products founded by 16 pharmacists in Clarens. This was renamed to Galenica AG in 1932 and moved from Vaud's Le Châtelard to Bern. The Galenica shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and are a component of the SMI MID index.
The global minimum corporate tax rate, or simply the global minimum tax, is a minimum rate of tax on corporate income internationally agreed upon and accepted by individual jurisdictions in the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework. Each country would be eligible for a share of revenue generated by the tax. The aim is to reduce tax competition between countries and discourage multinational corporations (MNC) from profit shifting that avoids taxes.
Switzerland has a long tradition of brewing, with significant domestic beer production and a growing craft brewing sector.
Pascale Baeriswyl is a Swiss diplomat, Ambassador and currently Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations (UN) in New York. She was the first woman to hold the post of State Secretary of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and has headed the Swiss Mission to the UN in New York since June 2020. From January 2023 to December 2024, Baeriswyl will represent Switzerland on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), during the country's first ever term as an elected member of the council.
The militia system, also known as the militia principle, is a common organizational principle in Swiss public life. In the Swiss model of society, the militia system forms a central pillar alongside direct democracy, federalism and concordance.
