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Switzerland

OFFICIAL NAME: Swiss Confederation

DATE OF FORMATION: 1291

POPULATION: 7.2 million

DENSITY: 469 people per square mile

LANGUAGES: German, Swiss-German, French, Italian, Romansch

RELIGIONS: Roman Catholic 46%, Protestant 40%, Other and nonreligious 12%, Muslim 2%

ETHNIC MIX: German 65%, French 18%, Italian 10%, Other 6%, Romansch 1%

GOVERNMENT: Multiparty elections

CURRENCY: Swiss franc

 

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Switzerland lies at the center of western Europe geographically, but outside it politically. Sometimes called Europe's water tower, it is the source of all four of the region's major river systems: the Po, the Rhône, the Rhine, and the Inn–Danube. Switzerland has built one of the world's most prosperous economies, aided by the fact that it has retained its neutral status through every major European conflict since 1815. The process of European integration has been the latest and strongest challenge to Swiss neutralism, but it remains outside the EU.

 

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