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SWITZERLAND

,604,467 (July 2009 est.)

country comparison to the world: 94

Age structure:

0-14 years: 15.6% (male 616,561/female 571,610)
15-64 years: 68.1% (male 2,609,673/female 2,567,245)
65 years and over: 16.3% (male 514,761/female 724,617) (2009 est.)

Median age:

total: 41 years
male: 40 years
female: 42 years (2009 est.)

Population growth rate:

0.276% (2009 est.)

country comparison to the world: 177

Birth rate:

9.59 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)

country comparison to the world: 203

Death rate:

8.59 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)

country comparison to the world: 88

Net migration rate:

1.76 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)

country comparison to the world: 44

Urbanization:

urban population: 73% of total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: 0.5% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)

Sex ratio:

at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.08 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.71 male(s)/female
total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

Infant mortality rate:

total: 4.18 deaths/1,000 live births
country comparison to the world: 209
male: 4.64 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 3.68 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:

total population: 80.85 years
country comparison to the world: 10
male: 78.03 years
female: 83.83 years (2009 est.)

Total fertility rate:

1.45 children born/woman (2009 est.)

country comparison to the world: 189

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:

0.6% (2007 est.)

country comparison to the world: 69

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:

25,000 (2007 est.)

country comparison to the world: 74

HIV/AIDS - deaths:

fewer than 500 (2007 est.)

country comparison to the world: 88

Nationality:

noun: Swiss (singular and plural)
adjective: Swiss

Ethnic groups:

German 65%, French 18%, Italian 10%, Romansch 1%, other 6%

Religions:

Roman Catholic 41.8%, Protestant 35.3%, Muslim 4.3%, Orthodox 1.8%, other Christian 0.4%, other 1%, unspecified 4.3%, none 11.1% (2000 census)

Languages:

German (official) 63.7%, French (official) 20.4%, Italian (official) 6.5%, Serbo-Croatian 1.5%, Albanian 1.3%, Portuguese 1.2%, Spanish 1.1%, English 1%, Romansch (official) 0.5%, other 2.8% (2000 census)

note: German, French, Italian, and Romansch are all national and official languages

Literacy:

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99%
male: 99%
female: 99% (2003 est.)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):

total: 15 years
male: 15 years
female: 15 years (2006)

Education expenditures:


Switzerland sits at the crossroads of several major European cultures, which have heavily influenced the country's languages and cultural practices. Switzerland has four official languages -- German, French, Italian, and Romansch (based on Latin and spoken by a small minority in the Canton Graubuenden). The German spoken here is predominantly a Swiss dialect, but newspapers and some broadcasts tend to use High German. Many Swiss speak more than one language. English is widely known, especially among professionals.

POPULATION GRAPH