In September 2010, Simonetta Sommaruga was elected to Switzerland’s seven member executive. She joined Micheline Calmy-Rey, Doris Leuthard and Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf along with three male members: Didier Burkhalter, Ueli Maurer and Johann Schneider-Ammann, creating the first female executive majority since the creation of the Federal Council in 1848. All four of these women have served as […]
Swiss fact: Switzerland’s newest canton was created as recently as 1979
Most consider 1291 to be the date Switzerland became a nation. That year, the three cantons of Uri, Unterwalden and Schwyz, agreed to stand together against outside judges and aggressors. Progressively over the years Switzerland expanded from these three cantons, to 25, when Geneva joined in 1815. Switzerland would wait more than 160 years to […]
Swiss fact: Zurich has Switzerland’s sixth highest percentage of foreign residents
In 2015, 25.5% of Switzerland’s population were foreign, or one in four. However, foreigners were not spread evenly across the country. The canton with the highest percentage of non-Swiss living within its borders was Geneva, where 42.1% of the population lived without a Swiss passport. Next on the list were the cantons of Basel-City (36.2%), […]
Swiss fact: Switzerland has one of the world’s lowest home ownership rates
In Romania, 96.1% of the population owns the home they live in. In Switzerland the percentage is 37.4%. Home ownership rates vary significantly across the country. The lowest rates are found in the canton of Basel-City (16.0%) and Geneva (18.3%). Relative to these two cities, home ownership abounds in Valais (57.2%), the highest. Vaud (31.4%), Zurich […]
Swiss fact: Switzerland first country to consider dignity of animals in constitution
In 1992, Switzerland became the first country in the world to consider the dignity of animals in its constitution. In an article for the website Project Syndicate, entitled “The Cow Who“, the moral philosopher Peter Singer, well-known for his views on the treatment of animals, mentions Switzerland. On 17 May 1992, Swiss voters were asked […]
