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Swiss Confederation
National name: Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera/Svizra
President: Samuel Schmid (2004)
Area: 15,942 sq mi (41,290 sq km)
Note: We give
the information above in the Christian Personals Primer
so that you will have a little background on the country before
you contact a perspective mate, just in case you don't know the
basics. Perhaps this info will give you something to talk about
Population (2004 est.): 7,450,867 (growth rate: 0.5%);
birth rate: 9.8/1000; infant mortality rate: 4.4/1000; life
expectancy: 80.3; density per sq mi: 467
Capital (2003 est.): Bern, 122,700
Largest cities: Zurich, 971,800 (metro. area), 348,100
(city proper); Geneva, 178,900; Basel, 162,800; Lausanne,
117,400
Monetary unit: Swiss franc
Languages: German 63.7%, French 12.9%, Italian
7.6%, Romansch 0.6% (all official); other 8.9%
Ethnicity/race: German 65%, French 18%,
Italian 10%, Romansch 1%, other 6%
Religions: Roman Catholic 46.1%, Protestant
40%, other 5%, no religion 8.9% (1990)
Literacy rate: 99% (1980 est.)
France, UK, Russia, Austria, Netherlands.
Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 4.82
million (1998); mobile cellular: 1.967 million (1999). Radio
broadcast stations: AM 4, FM 113 (plus many low power
stations), shortwave 2 (1998). Radios: 7.1 million
(1997). Television broadcast stations: 115 (plus 1,919
repeaters) (1995). Televisions: 3.31 million (1997). Internet
Service Providers (ISPs): 44 (Switzerland and Liechtenstein)
(2000). Internet users: 3.85 million (2002). |