Brief description of the country

Switzerland is a Willensnation, literally a confederation of will or nation of consensus: it is not an ethnic, linguistic or religious union but rather a nation defined and united precisely by its diversity. It has been a federal republic since 1848. Its legal foundation is the Federal Constitution. Its population totals 7.3 million, of which approximately 20% live in the French-speaking part, 64% in the German-speaking part, and 6% in the Italian-speaking part.

Switzerland's official languages are French, German and Italian. Switzerland has a fourth national language, Romansh, spoken by 6.5 % of its inhabitants.

Switzerland has a federal structure, with three levels of government: the federal government, cantons and municipalities. Each of the cantons has its own constitution, government, parliament, courts and laws, however they may not conflict with those of the federal government, or confederation.

Switzerland's health care system is also strongly characterized by federalism, meaning health care responsibility lies with the individual cantons, not the federal government. Switzerland has a very costly health care system toward which 11.5% of GDP goes, making it the second most expensive health care system in the world behind the USA in terms of percent GDP. However, according to the WHO ranking of health care systems published in 2000, Switzerland occupies 20th place in terms of expenditure in absolute terms.

Switzerland was long considered an economic wonder and one of the world's richest countries. Yet its reputation as an economic wonder has become increasingly tarnished during the past ten years, though it is still extremely rich by international comparison. To be sure, it currently occupies 5th place in terms of per capita income adjusted for purchase power parity (PPP).