- Government and society
- Cultural life
Labour and taxation
Services, including retail, trade, banking, and insurance, employ some two-thirds of Swiss workers. In contrast, manufacturing employs fewer than one-fifth of the workforce, and only about 5 percent of workers are employed in agriculture. Switzerland’s unemployment rate is very low in comparison with most other countries, regularly standing at less than 5 percent. Switzerland has among the highest rates of female participation in the workforce in Europe.
Employer-employee relations have generally been good. The Swiss Federation of Trade Unions (Schweizerischer Gewerkschaftbund), founded in 1880 and linked with the Social Democratic Party, is a coalition of more than a dozen individual trade unions representing nearly 400,000 workers. Other major unions include the Swiss White-Collar Federation (Vereinigung Schweizerischer Angestelltenverbände) and the Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (Christlichnationaler Gewerkschaftsbund). With about one-fifth of workers belonging to a trade union, Switzerland has among the lowest unionization rates in Europe. Since the Great Depression of the early 1930s, the unions have generally denounced the use of strikes as economic and political weapons, and disputes are usually settled by arbitration.
In matters of taxation, federal regulations extend mainly to customs duties, value-added tax, and a federal income tax. In general, income taxes, apart from the federal income tax, are cantonal responsibilities, and rates are fixed decisions of the voters of communal or cantonal parliaments. Although tax rates vary from canton to canton, Switzerland has among the lowest income and social-security tax rates in Europe.
Transportation and telecommunications
Control of the most important Alpine passes and the ancient route through the Mittelland between the Rhône, Rhine, and Danube waterways has given Switzerland a key position in European transit traffic. Indeed, the main artery of European trans-Alpine traffic, the Saint Gotthard Pass, runs through Swiss territory.
The large-scale technical undertaking of modern highway construction was preceded by the building of the railway system, which has thousands of miles of track and includes hundreds of tunnels, among them the 12.5-mile (20-km) Simplon Tunnel and the famous winding tunnels of the Saint Gotthard railway, by means of which elevation differences between valley levels are overcome. At the turn of the 21st century the Swiss planned the construction of new Alpine railway tunnels that would follow deeper and more level routes than the older tunnels. In 2007 the Lötschberg base tunnel, at that time the world’s longest overland tunnel, opened; the rail link was 21.5 miles (34.6 km) long. Another project was a railway tunnel running well below the existing Saint Gotthard tunnels; once completed, this 35-mile (57-km) base tunnel would accommodate high-speed trains. Nearly all of the track in the Swiss railway system has been electrified. The Swiss Federal Railways, which constitute more than half of the system, are operated by the federal government, though in 1999 they began to function as a limited company. The remainder of the railways, including the numerous mountain railways, are distributed among scores of private railroads partially owned by the cantons and municipalities. The Vitznau-Rigi Bahn, built in 1871 as the world’s first cogwheel railway, achieved early fame. The highest cogwheel railway in the world tunnels within the Jungfrau, reaching the Jungfraujoch at more than 11,400 feet (3,500 metres). Regular main-line trains link the main Swiss cities. The airports of Zürich and Geneva have their own rail stations that connect with the Swiss network. The railways account for about one-sixth of passenger and nearly three-fifths of freight traffic.
Switzerland has among the highest numbers of automobiles per 1,000 inhabitants in Europe. Extensive use of cars has caused severe traffic and parking congestion. The network of main roads and motorways is packed, especially during the summer and winter tourist seasons, when hundreds of thousands of foreign automobiles pass through Switzerland daily. Three Alpine tunnels have been built: the Great Saint Bernard connects Valais with Valle d’Aosta in Italy; the 10-mile- (15-km-) long Saint Gotthard links Göschenen and Airolo under the Saint Gotthard Pass; and the San Bernardino binds the cantons of Graubünden and Ticino. The dense traffic, especially in the Alpine valleys, is responsible for serious air and noise pollution.
Since World War II, Switzerland has also maintained its own small “oceangoing fleet” of merchant ships (i.e., Swiss-owned ships that sail on the high seas). Regular service is provided on several lakes by more than 100 vessels, which include some paddle wheelers. In addition, the steamers cruising on several lakes in the summer are very popular.
Swissair, established in 1931 as the national airline, ranked among the world’s major commercial carriers until financial weakness caused it to stop flying in 2002. Much of Swissair’s extensive worldwide operations were sold off to other airlines or taken over by Crossair, a former regional unit of Swissair that was later renamed Swiss International Air Lines (generally known simply as Swiss). The main airports are in Zürich (Kloten) and Geneva (Cointrin). Bern (Belpmoos) and Lugano (Agno) have international flights and a few domestic flights, and Mulhouse in France is used by Basel.
The telecommunications sector was long dominated by Telecom PTT (renamed Swisscom in 1997), which enjoyed a legal government monopoly. However, during the late 1990s Swisscom, which is still partly government owned, lost its monopoly, and the sector was liberalized and opened to free competition. The telecommunications sector, regulated by the Swiss Federal Office of Communications and the Federal Communications Commission, expanded rapidly at the end of the 1990s, with more than 100 new companies entering the market. Among the leading companies are Sunrise and Cablecom. Internet use also grew dramatically during the 1990s and early 21st century.
Government and society
Switzerland’s constitution (modeled after that of the United States) was adopted in 1848 and substantially revised in 1874. A thoroughly revised constitution, approved by three-fifths of voters, entered into force in 2000, though the changes were mainly formal, with little alteration to the structure of Switzerland’s government. Because the old constitution had become immethodical and difficult to understand, the new constitution coherently incorporated the multitude of amendments passed in the previous 125 years. Switzerland’s constitution contains some 200 articles, which establish the rights and duties of the citizens and of the governing bodies. It also created what has been termed a consociational democracy, which attempts to maintain political balance and stability, given the country’s linguistic and religious diversity.
The federal government supervises external and internal security, transportation affairs, forestry, and water conservation. It also is responsible for foreign policy and customs, the monetary system, the military, and social insurance programs. It has the authority to take steps to adjust the course of the economy and provide for uniform administration of justice in the areas of criminal and civil law.
Legislative power resides in the bicameral Federal Assembly, comprising the National Council, with 200 deputies elected by a system of proportional representation for four-year terms, and the Council of States, in which each canton is represented by two deputies and each demicanton by one deputy (46 deputies in total). The executive branch is headed by the Federal Council, a seven-member collegial board. The presidency of the Federal Council rotates among the members annually, and each councillor presides over a federal department. The governments of other countries often have 20 or more ministers, and because of the Federal Council’s increasing workload (domestic responsibilities coupled with Switzerland’s burgeoning international commitments), there has been considerable debate about enlarging the Council or adding another level of ministers between the Federal Council and the Federal Assembly. However, Swiss voters, who would have to approve this restructuring, are fairly cautious about making such constitutional changes, especially those that might upset the very subtle balance between the different language groups.
One of the unique aspects of Switzerland’s constitution is the number of decisions it requires citizens to make through referenda and initiatives. Sovereign power ultimately rests with the people, who vote on proposed legislation several times a year at the national level and often more frequently in the cantons; indeed, Switzerland has held more than half of the world’s national referenda. For example, in 1971 the constitution was amended by national referendum to grant women the right to vote in federal elections and to hold federal office, in 1991 the voting age in federal elections was reduced from 20 to 18 years, and in 2002 voters endorsed entry into the United Nations (UN). Referenda must be held on constitutional matters and major international treaties; voters may also call a referendum to challenge a law passed by the Federal Assembly by obtaining 50,000 signatures within 100 days of passage. For a referendum to pass, it must receive an overall majority both of the national vote and in a majority of the cantons. In addition to referenda, Swiss citizens can call a national vote on any issue by collecting 100,000 signatures. The first such initiative was undertaken in 1893, when voters decided against the wishes of the parliament and endorsed the prohibition of the killing of animals according to Jewish religious methods. More recently, voters have cast ballots on whether to join the European Economic Area (rejected), eliminate the Swiss army (rejected), reduce military spending (rejected), limit the foreign population of the country (rejected), conserve moorland (approved), and require that trucks passing through the country be put on railroad flatbeds (approved). The Swiss model has provided citizens with a direct voice in their own affairs that is without parallel in any other country, but it has sometimes been criticized on various grounds: voter turnout is often very low, averaging about two-fifths of the electorate; it often makes the passage of important legislation difficult (e.g., the parliament passed a law granting women the right to vote in 1959, but voters did not approve the change at the federal level until 12 years later); and it raises the prospect that the rights of minority groups can be undermined by a majority of the population, though Swiss voters in practice have generally respected the rights of minorities.
1Official long-form name in French is Confédération Suisse; in German, Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft; in Italian, Confederazione Svizzera; in Romansh, Confederaziun Svizra.
2The federal supreme court is located in Lausanne.
|Official name||Swiss Confederation1|
|Form of government||federal state with two legislative houses (Council of States ; National Council )|
|Head of state and government||President of the Federal Council: Simonetta Sommaruga|
|Official languages||French; German; Italian; Romansh (locally)|
|Monetary unit||Swiss franc (CHF)|
|Population||(2013 est.) 8,083,000|
|Total area (sq mi)||15,940|
|Total area (sq km)||41,285|
|Urban-rural population||Urban: (2011) 73.7%|
Rural: (2011) 26.3%
|Life expectancy at birth||Male: (2012) 80.5 years|
Female: (2012) 84.7 years
|Literacy: percentage of population age 15 and over literate||Male: 100%|
|GNI per capita (U.S.$)||(2012) 82,730|