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red square with a bold, equilateral white cross in the center that does not extend to the edges of the flag
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Switzerland flag information
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Official country name
Swiss Confederation
Short name
Switzerland
Local names
Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft (German); Confederation Suisse (French); Confederazione Svizzera (Italian); Confederaziun Svizra (Romansh) (long)
Schweiz (German); Suisse (French); Svizzera (Italian); Svizra (Romansh) (short)
Schweiz (German); Suisse (French); Svizzera (Italian); Svizra (Romansh) (short)
Nationality
Swiss (singular and plural) (noun) Schweiz (German); Suisse (French); Svizzera (Italian); Svizra (Romansh) (adjective)
Languages spoken
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)
Notes
German, French, Italian, and Romansch are all national and official languages
Capital
Bern
Government type
formally a confederation but similar in structure to a federal republic
Population
7,581,520 ranked 97, (data 2008)
Geography
crossroads of northern and southern Europe; along with southeastern France, northern Italy, and southwestern Austria, has the highest elevations in the Alps. The lowest point is Lake Maggiore 195 m.
Coastline
Coastline 0 km.
Land borders
1,852km, Austria 164 km, France 573 km, Italy 740 km, Liechtenstein 41 km, Germany 334 km.
Administrative divisions
26 cantons, singular - canton in French; cantoni, singular - cantone in Italian; Kantone, singular - Kanton in German); Aargau, Appenzell Ausser-Rhoden, Appenzell Inner-Rhoden, Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt, Bern, Fribourg, Geneve, Glarus, Graubunden, Jura, Luzern, Neuchatel, Nidwalden, Obwalden, Sankt Gallen, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, Solothurn, Thurgau, Ticino, Uri, Valais, Vaud, Zug, Zurich
6 of the cantons - Appenzell Ausser-Rhoden, Appenzell-Inner-Rhoden, Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt, Nidwalden, Obwalden - are styled half cantons because they elect only one member to the Council of States and, in popular referendums where a majority of popular votes and a majority of cantonal votes are required, these six cantons only have a half vote
Independence
1 August 1291 (founding of the Swiss Confederation)