en Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air
Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity,
Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification,
Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear
Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83,
Wetlands, Whaling; signed, but not ratified - Air Pollution-Sulphur
94, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Desertification, Law of the Sea

Note: landlocked; crossroads of northern and southern Europe; along
with southeastern France and northern Italy, contains the highest
elevations in Europe

@Switzerland:People

Population: 7,084,984 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 17% (female 594,565; male 622,436)
15-64 years: 68% (female 2,375,792; male 2,448,213)
65 years and over: 15% (female 623,136; male 420,842) (July 1995 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.57% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 12.04 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 9.16 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: 2.82 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 6.3 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 78.36 years
male: 74.99 years
female: 81.88 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.6 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Swiss (singular and plural)
adjective: Swiss

Ethnic divisions:
total population: German 65%, French 18%, Italian 10%, Romansch 1%,
other 6%
Swiss nationals: German 74%, French 20%, Italian 4%, Romansch 1%,
other 1%

Religions: Roman Catholic 47.6%, Protestant 44.3%, other 8.1% (1980)

Languages: German 65%, French 18%, Italian 12%, Romansch 1%, other 4%
note: figures for Swiss nationals only - German 74%, French 20%,
Italian 4%, Romansch 1%, other 1%

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1980 est.)
total population: 99%

Labor force: 3.48 million (900,000 foreign workers, mostly Italian)
by occupation: services 50%, industry and crafts 34%, government 10%,
agriculture and forestry 6% (1992)

@Switzerland:Government

Names:
conventional long form: Swiss Confederation
conventional short form: Switzerland
local long form: Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft (German)
Confederation Suisse (French) Confederazione Svizzera (Italian)
local short form: Schweiz (German) Suisse (French) Svizzera (Italian)

Digraph: SZ

Type: federal republic