Switzerland - Geography

Geography - People - Economy - Government - Communications - Transportation - Military - Transnational Issues

Switzerland is located Central Europe, east of France, north of Italy. The climate is temperate, but varies with altitude; cold, cloudy, rainy/snowy winters; cool to warm, cloudy, humid summers with occasional showers. The terrain is mostly mountains (Alps in south, Jura in northwest) with a central plateau of rolling hills, plains, and large lakes.

Location

This entry identifies the country's regional location, neighboring countries, and adjacent bodies of water.
Location : Central Europe, east of France, north of Italy

Geographic coordinates

This entry includes rounded latitude and longitude figures for the purpose of finding the approximate geographic center of an entity and is based on the locations provided in the Geographic Names Server (GNS), maintained by the National Geospatial- Intelligence Agency on behalf of the US Board on Geographic Names.
Geographic coordinates : 47 00 N, 8 00 E

Map references

This entry includes the name of the Factbook reference map on which a country may be found. Note that boundary representations on these maps are not necessarily authoritative. The entry on Geographic coordinates may be helpful in finding some smaller countries.
Map references : Europe

Area

This entry includes three subfields. Total area is the sum of all land and water areas delimited by international boundaries and/or coastlines. Land area is the aggregate of all surfaces delimited by international boundaries and/or coastlines, excluding inland water bodies (lakes, reservoirs, rivers). Water area is the sum of the surfaces of all inland water bodies, such as lakes, reservoirs, or rivers, as delimited by international boundaries and/or coastlines.
Area - total : 41,290 sq km
Area - land : 39,770 sq km
Area - water : 1,520 sq km

Area - comparative

This entry provides an area comparison based on total area equivalents. Most entities are compared with the entire US or one of the 50 states based on area measurements (1990 revised) provided by the US Bureau of the Census. The smaller entities are compared with Washington, DC (178 sq km, 69 sq mi) or The Mall in Washington, DC (0.59 sq km, 0.23 sq mi, 146 acres).
Area - comparative : slightly less than twice the size of New Jersey

Land boundaries

This entry contains the total length of all land boundaries and the individual lengths for each of the contiguous border countries. When available, official lengths published by national statistical agencies are used. Because surveying methods may differ, country border lengths reported by contiguous countries may differ.
Land boundaries - total : 1,852 km
Land boundaries - border countries : Austria 164 km, France 573 km, Italy 740 km, Liechtenstein 41 km, Germany 334 km

Coastline

This entry gives the total length of the boundary between the land area (including islands) and the sea.
Coastline : 0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims

This entry includes the following claims, the definitions of which are excerpted from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which alone contains the full and definitive descriptions
Maritime claims : none (landlocked)

Climate

This entry includes a brief description of typical weather regimes throughout the year.
Climate : temperate, but varies with altitude; cold, cloudy, rainy/snowy winters; cool to warm, cloudy, humid summers with occasional showers

Terrain

This entry contains a brief description of the topography.
Terrain : mostly mountains (Alps in south, Jura in northwest) with a central plateau of rolling hills, plains, and large lakes

Elevation extremes

This entry includes both the highest point and the lowest point.
Elevation extremes - lowest point : Lake Maggiore 195 m
Elevation extremes - highest point : Dufourspitze 4,634 m

Natural resources

This entry lists a country's mineral, petroleum, hydropower, and other resources of commercial importance.
Natural resources : hydropower potential, timber, salt

Land use

This entry contains the percentage shares of total land area for three different types of land use
Land use - arable land : 9.91%
Land use - permanent crops : 0.58%
Land use - other : 89.51% (2005)

Irrigated land

This entry gives the number of square kilometers of land area that is artificially supplied with water.
Irrigated land : 250 sq km (2003)

Total renewable water resources

This entry provides the long-term average water availability for a country in cubic kilometers of precipitation, recharged ground water, and surface inflows from surrounding countries. The values have been adjusted to account for overlap resulting from surface flow recharge of groundwater sources. Total renewable water resources provides the water total available to a country but does not include water resource totals that have been reserved for upstream or downstream countries through international agreements. Note that these values are averages and do not accurately reflect the total available in any given year. Annual available resources can vary greatly due to short-term and long-term climatic and weather variations.
Total renewable water resources : 53.3 cu km (2005)

Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural)

This entry provides the annual quantity of water in cubic kilometers removed from available sources for use in any purpose. Water drawn-off is not necessarily entirely consumed and some portion may be returned for further use downstream. Domestic sector use refers to water supplied by public distribution systems. Note that some of this total may be used for small industrial and/or limited agricultural purposes. Industrial sector use is the quantity of water used by self-supplied industries not connected to a public distribution system. Agricultural sector use includes water used for irrigation and livestock watering, and does not account for agriculture directly dependent on rainfall. Included are figures for total annual water withdrawal and per capita water withdrawal.
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural) - total : 2.52 cu km/yr (24%/74%/2%)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural) - per capita : 348 cu m/yr (2002)

Natural hazards

This entry lists potential natural disasters.
Natural hazards : avalanches, landslides, flash floods

Environment - current issues

This entry lists the most pressing and important environmental problems. The following terms and abbreviations are used throughout the entry
Environment - current issues : air pollution from vehicle emissions and open-air burning; acid rain; water pollution from increased use of agricultural fertilizers; loss of biodiversity

Environment

Environment - international agreements - party to : Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
Environment - international agreements - signed, but not ratified : Law of the Sea

Geography - note

This entry includes miscellaneous geographic information of significance not included elsewhere.
Geography - note : landlocked; crossroads of northern and southern Europe; along with southeastern France, northern Italy, and southwestern Austria, has the highest elevations in the Alps

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