I put together some interesting facts I found that I think make Switzerland Swiss.
Political Level
Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft, Confédération suisse, Confederazione Svizzera, Confederazium svizra
I guess with 4 official languages it’s difficult to decide which one to use as the official name of the country. That’s probably why they chose none of the above, but the Latin variation: Confoederatio Helvetica (CH). Switzerland is the only country in Europe recognized as a confederacy of States and consists of 26 cantons. Except in matters to federal law, each canton is a sovereign state. Although the city of Berne is the capital, the constitution doesn’t define one. It is referred to as the federal city.
Direct Democracy
The Swiss are sent to vote around 4 times per year. Every citizen can challenge any law or propose modifications to the federal constitution. Depending on if it is a referendum or an initiative, petitions with 50,000 or 100,000 signatures must be collected. I’m not saying that it is easy, but it can be done.
Head of State
Well, there is no Head of State but a 7 member council who is elected by the Federal Assembly.
The president is named in a yearly rotation cycle from the seven. They are known as the ‘primus inter pares’, the Swiss love their Latin, that would be ‘first among equals’.
That’s the basics but there are a lot of fine distinctions about who is chosen and why. One of them is called the ‘magic formula’ that dictates which political parties are represented in the council. The ‘magic formula’ is the de facto law and although used, is regularly questioned. It is particularly challenged by the parties who feel slighted or underrepresented in the council.
Geographics
Of the 41,285 square kilometers that make up Switzerland over 65% of that is mountainous. There are 407 mountains over 3000m high and 29 over 4’000m, now that’s a lot of mountains. The famous Matterhorn is only the 6th highest in measuring in at 4478 meters. The Dufour summit is the highest, being 4634 meters. If you are wondering if the Alps are shrinking or growing, the answer is neither or both. They are eroding and growing but at the same time and same amount. So they cancel each other out.
Military
Neutrality
Part of Switzerland’s foreign policy says that Switzerland is not to be involved in armed conflicts between other states. In spite of this policy Switzerland has a compulsory military service starting at 18. Austria is the only other country in western Europe to have a mandatory military service. Who would’ve guessed that such a small country could, at one time in the 1980’s have the largest army in Europe.
In Case of War or Nuclear Catastrophe
But being neutral won’t shield you from being in a war. In case of a nuclear war or catastrophe, Switzerland wants to be ready. If you build a new home you are required to build a fallout shelter or pay extra communal tax. I don’t believe you are allowed to keep it as a storage room either. Unless you can empty it within a certain amount of time. Although I’ve never seen it for myself, I read that the military keeps fully stocked bunkers disguised as homes in the middle of populated villages. Sneaky, sneaky, these Swiss.
Then again, with all those mountains and in case of war, it would be nice to have more runways available. Many countries have constructed highways with the possibility to convert them into landing strips, Switzerland included. There are a number of highway strips called NOLA (Notlandepisten [Emergency Landing Strips]) in Switzerland. They were set up between 1969 and 2004. I remember the first time Ben told me we were driving on a landing strip. I thought, why not, it’s straight, flat and wide enough. Only problem was there were a heck of a lot of cars on the highway, no room for planes.
Life
Population
Almost one out of every four person living in Switzerland doesn’t have a Swiss passport. That means with a population of around 8.3 million people, 24.3% (2015) were foreigners. This is one of the highest percentages in the world. It should also be said that one does not automatically become Swiss if they are born here. The children of foreigners remain foreigners.
Crime Rates
It’s nice to know that you live in a country that has a low crime rate. Sure, bad things happen here, too. But statically the chances of a bad thing happening to you is pretty low. In the world, Switzerland is rated behind Singapore, Luxembourg, Japan, Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Germany. Number 8 isn’t a podium spot but we’ll take what we can.
Most sources I’ve seen, say Switzerland is so safe because the Swiss have more money. Not quite sure how that works. Maybe because no one can make a quick getaway; everyone has to walk slowly as not to slip on the gold covered streets.
Quality of Life
I read that Switzerland is the best place to be born. Well, as far as I know, you don’t really have a say in where you will be born. And if you are reading this, that makes it a bit of a moot point because you already are born. Alea iac ta est, the die is cast. Sorry, now I’m getting carried away with Latin. But somewhere in some statistical evaluation, someone decided that Switzerland was THE place to be born. The Swiss won’t contradict you.
In 2015 Switzerland was the world’s happiest country. In 2016 they came in second and Denmark won, blasted, now how did that happen?
Family
How could Switzerland be the world’s happiest country in 2015 if almost half the marriages end in divorce? French speaking parts (Geneva and Neufchâtel) have the highest rates. The average number of children in a Swiss family is 1.5. Exactly how can you have a half a child?
Money
My guess is that money probably has something to do with the prosperity of the Swiss. Sure, everything is more expensive in Switzerland, but somehow the balance is good. Earn more, spend more.
As a teenager I had a summer job at a hardware store. Another person there, a teacher also had a summer job there too. His teacher’s salary wasn’t enough to keep him above water. A teacher’s salary in Switzerland in 2010 was around SFr. 110,000. That is the highest annual salary out of the 30 OECD countries. Ben explained to me that the Swiss want to keep teaching an attractive job. They also believe a good education is needed for a good job. And to get a good education you need good teachers. And to attract good teachers you need attractive working conditions. You can see you get a nifty little upward spiral going here.
When you think money and Switzerland, you think Swiss Bank accounts. Bank secrecy. Well, that has changed in the last couple of years. In 1934 there was a criminal act of confidentiality between bank and person safe havens. In 2015, although many Swiss were against it, it changed. No more secrecy and hiding money for foreigners here. You’ll have to go to Hong Kong and Singapore if you want secrecy.
Chocolate
Here I go, talking about chocolate again. Yes, chocolate really is a major Swiss export. The Swiss exported 115,500 tons of chocolate in 2015. There are 18 Swiss chocolate companies who obviously know what they are doing.
And yes, Swiss really eat around 11 kg chocolate per year. How can you not?
Speaking of eating chocolate. Why in the world would you want to combine the world’s best chocolate with gold and then eat it? Just because you can? DeLafée’s will sell you 8 chocolate truffles with pure edible gold. That sounds like the Swiss are going just a smidgen overboard with their creativity. Eating gold? I’m sorry, but wouldn’t it be better to spend your money on something more meaningful and sensible?
Ah, but the Swiss wouldn’t be Swiss without going that extra mile.
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