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| | Background The Swiss Confederation was founded in 1291 as a defensive alliance among three cantons. In succeeding years, other localities joined the original three. The Swiss Confederation secured its independence from the Holy Roman Empire in 1499. Switzerland's sovereignty and neutrality have long been honored by the major European powers, and the country was not involved in either of the two World Wars. The political and economic integration of Europe over the past half century, as well as Switzerland's role in many UN and international organizations, has strengthened Switzerland's ties with its neighbors. However, the country did not officially become a UN member until 2002. Switzerland remains active in many UN and international organizations but retains a strong commitment to neutrality. The People | Population | 7,554,661 (July 2007 est.) | | Age structure | 0-14 years: 16.1% (male 630,341/female 584,167)
15-64 years: 68.2% (male 2,596,996/female 2,553,108)
65 years and over: 15.8% (male 489,895/female 700,154) (2007 est.) | | Life expectancy at birth | total population: 80.62 years
male: 77.8 years
female: 83.59 years (2007 est.) | Population growth rate | 0.381% (2007 est.) | | 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) | | Population below poverty line | NA% | | People living with HIV/AIDS | 13,000 (2001 est.) | | HIV/AIDS - deaths | less than 100 (2003 est.) | | Mobile phones in use | 7.418 million (2006) | | Internet users | 4.36 million (2006) |
Data (Background & The People) provided by The World Factbook |
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