PeopleSocial DemographyThe Swiss Co

People
Social Demography
The Swiss Confederation (also known as Switzerland) has an estimated total population of approxi-
mately seven and a half million people. According to the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (SFSO)
Information Service, in recent years, the majority of the population was made up of Swiss citizens,
while over 1.5 million were foreign residents. In other words, foreigners comprise a significant minor-
ity of the permanent resident population. According to recent estimates, nearly one-half of non-Swiss
born persons residing in Switzerland are from the former Yugoslavia and Italy.
Also according to the SFSO Information Service, the Swiss population - in keeping with much of the
rest of Western Europe - is aging. While the number of children relative to the population as a whole
has been declining, the number of elderly has been increasing. Indeed, Switzerland now has more than
twice as many residents over the age of 64 and four times as many over 80 as it did in 1950. In recent
years, 23 percent of the population was age 19 or below, 28.9 percent was 20 to 39 years old, 32.7 per-
cent was 40 to 64 years old, 11.3 percent was 65 to 79 years old, and 4.1 percent was age 80 or above.

Ethnicity
In terms of ethnic and religious groups, ethnic Germans comprise approximately 65 percent of Swit-
zerland's estimated total population. An estimated 18 percent of the population are ethnic French; 10
percent are ethnic Italian; one percent of the populationare Rhaeto-Romanics (or Romansch). Other
ethnic minorities make up the remaining six percent.

Religion
In terms of religious affiliation, over 46 percent are Roman Catholic, while 40 percent are Protestant.
Small groups of other Christian denominations, Jews and Muslims are also resident.

Languages
Switzerland is a linguistically diverse state with four official languages - German, French, Italian and
Rhaeto-Romanic (or Romansch). According to Swiss government statistics, nearly 74 percent of the
population speaks German as their first language, while about 20 percent speak French primarily.
Approximately 4.5 percent speak Italian as their first language. Rhaeto-Romanic (or Romansch), a
Latin-based language, is spoken by about 0.8 percent of the population (approximately 50,000 people).
(Other estimates suggest that only 64 percent of the Swiss speak German primarily, while nearly 8 per-
cent speak Italian as their first language). It should be noted that while these percentages are estima-
tions of how many Swiss speak German, French, Italian and Romansch primarily, many Swiss speak
or, at the least understand, more than one language.
Social Overview People
Switzerland Review 2010 76
The Swiss Confederation is comprised of 26 smaller political units known as cantons. Of these, 17 are
German-speaking; four western cantons are French-speaking. In three cantons, both German and
French are spoken. Italian is spoken in one canton (Ticino).
Three languages are spoken in Grisons canton: German, Italian and Rhaeto-Romanic (Romansch). It
should be noted that while High German (standard German) is written by Swiss German-speakers,
spoken Swiss-German has many different dialects. This is not the case in western, French-speaking
Switzerland. Dialects (known as "patois") do exist, but they are not spoken with great frequency and
are not typically written. Italian-speakers have dialects mostly used at home or among friends, but not
for business or other public matters.
Rhaeto-Romanic (Romansch) has at least four dialects. As each of these dialects has its own written
tradition, in 1982 - in an attempt to consolidate their language in the face of the far-greater numbers of
German-, French-, and Italian-speaking Swiss-Romansch speakers created a standard form known as
"Rumantsch Grischun."
Typically, school children are taught in their canton's first language and also learn one other official
language. In the German-speaking cantons, children learn French; in the French-speaking cantons,
children learn German. In the Italian- and Rhaeto-Romanic-speaking cantons, children learn both Ger-
man and French. The multiple Swiss-German dialects can pose difficulties for the French-, Italian-,
and Romansch-speaking Swiss-as they learn High German in school-but most often encounter the var-
ious Swiss-German dialects in daily life.
Increasingly, in addition to speaking their first language and understanding one other official Swiss
language, the Swiss also speak English. Several cantons are contemplating teaching English-rather
than an official Swiss language-as the second language. These proposals are not appreciated by many
of the cantons and have set the stage for what may turn out to be a hard-fought national debate in 2001
on a proposed constitutional amendment mandating the teaching of an official Swiss language as the
second language-as opposed to, for example, English.


Human Development
Fewer births and longer life expectancies have led to the aging demographic trend which is expected to
continue. The population growth rate in recent years was .24 percent. The infant mortality rate was
4.42 deaths per 1,000 live births according to statistics for the same year. Estimated life expectancy in
recent years was averaged at 80 years of age -- 77 years of age for males and 83 for females.
Similar to other Western European countries, Switzerland is increasingly concerned about its workers-
to-pensioners (retirees) ratio, currently four to one. At the turn of the century, the ratio was 10 to one.
This ratio is important because current workers in Switzerland pay into a social insurance scheme that
provides for current pensioners. As the current demographic trends continue, fewer and fewer workers
will be supporting more and more pensioners.
One notable measure used to determine a country's quality of life is the Human Development Index
(HDI), which has been compiled annually since 1990 by the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP). The HDI is a composite of several indicators, which measure a country's achievements in
three main arenas of human development: longevity, knowledge and education, as well as economic
standard of living. In recent rankings of 177 countries, the HDI placed Switzerland in the high human
development category at 7th place.
Human Development Index Social Overview
77 Switzerland Review 2010
Note: Although the concept of human development is complicated and cannot be properly captured by
values and indices, the HDI, which is calculated and updated annually, offers a wide-ranging assess-
ment of human development in certain countries, not based solely upon traditional economic and
financial indicators.

© Copyright 2010 CountryWatch, Inc. All Rights Reserved. For permission to cite CountryWatch,
please email [e-mail]. For the full CountryWatch offering, please visit www.coun-
trywatch.com.
Human Development Index
Human Development Index (Ranked Numerically)
The Human Development Index (HDI) is used to measure quality of life in countries across the world.
The HDI has been compiled since 1990 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on a
regular basis. The HDI is a composite of several indicators, which measure a country's achievements in
three main arenas of human development: longevity, education, and economic standard of living.
Although the concept of human development is complicated and cannot be properly captured by val-
ues and indices, the HDI offers a wide-ranging assessment of human development in certain countries,
not based solely upon traditional economic and financial indicators. For more information about the
methodology used to calculate the HDI, please see the "Source Materials" in the appendices of this
review.
Copyright of Switzerland Country Review is the property of CountryWatch Incorporated and its content may
not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written
permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.

Результаты (русский) 1:

ЛюдиСоциальная демографияШвейцарской Конфедерации (также известный как Швейцария) имеет общее население приблизительно-приблизительно семь с половиной миллионов человек. По словам Федеральное статистическое управление Швейцарии (ФСУШ) Информационная служба, в последние годы, большинство населения состоит из швейцарских граждан, Хотя более 1,5 миллионов иностранных граждан. Другими словами иностранцы составляют значительную минор-ность постоянного населения. Согласно последним оценкам, почти половина-Швейцарский родился человек, проживающих в Швейцарии, из бывшей Югославии и Италии.Также по данным информационной службы ФСУШ, швейцарского населения - в соответствии с много Отдых в Западной Европе - это старение. В то время как количество детей по отношению к населению в целом был сокращается, число пожилых людей растет. Действительно, Швейцария теперь имеет более чем вдвое больше жителей в возрасте старше 64 и четыре раза больше свыше 80, как это сделал в 1950 году. В последние годы лет, 23% населения было 19 лет или ниже, 28,9% 20 до 39 лет, 32,7 за-процентов 40 до 64 лет, 11,3% было 65 до 79 лет, старый и 4,1 процента было 80 лет или выше. Этническая принадлежностьС точки зрения этнических и религиозных групп этнических немцев составляют около 65% Свит-zerland по оценкам, Общая численность населения. Примерно 18% населения являются этническими французский; 10 percent are ethnic Italian; one percent of the populationare Rhaeto-Romanics (or Romansch). Other ethnic minorities make up the remaining six percent. ReligionIn terms of religious affiliation, over 46 percent are Roman Catholic, while 40 percent are Protestant. Small groups of other Christian denominations, Jews and Muslims are also resident. LanguagesSwitzerland is a linguistically diverse state with four official languages - German, French, Italian and Rhaeto-Romanic (or Romansch). According to Swiss government statistics, nearly 74 percent of the population speaks German as their first language, while about 20 percent speak French primarily. Approximately 4.5 percent speak Italian as their first language. Rhaeto-Romanic (or Romansch), a Latin-based language, is spoken by about 0.8 percent of the population (approximately 50,000 people). (Other estimates suggest that only 64 percent of the Swiss speak German primarily, while nearly 8 per-cent speak Italian as their first language). It should be noted that while these percentages are estima-tions of how many Swiss speak German, French, Italian and Romansch primarily, many Swiss speak or, at the least understand, more than one language.Social Overview PeopleSwitzerland Review 2010 76The Swiss Confederation is comprised of 26 smaller political units known as cantons. Of these, 17 are German-speaking; four western cantons are French-speaking. In three cantons, both German and French are spoken. Italian is spoken in one canton (Ticino).Three languages are spoken in Grisons canton: German, Italian and Rhaeto-Romanic (Romansch). It should be noted that while High German (standard German) is written by Swiss German-speakers, spoken Swiss-German has many different dialects. This is not the case in western, French-speaking Switzerland. Dialects (known as "patois") do exist, but they are not spoken with great frequency and are not typically written. Italian-speakers have dialects mostly used at home or among friends, but not for business or other public matters.Rhaeto-Romanic (Romansch) has at least four dialects. As each of these dialects has its own written tradition, in 1982 - in an attempt to consolidate their language in the face of the far-greater numbers of German-, French-, and Italian-speaking Swiss-Romansch speakers created a standard form known as "Rumantsch Grischun."Typically, school children are taught in their canton's first language and also learn one other official language. In the German-speaking cantons, children learn French; in the French-speaking cantons, children learn German. In the Italian- and Rhaeto-Romanic-speaking cantons, children learn both Ger-man and French. The multiple Swiss-German dialects can pose difficulties for the French-, Italian-, and Romansch-speaking Swiss-as they learn High German in school-but most often encounter the var-ious Swiss-German dialects in daily life.Increasingly, in addition to speaking their first language and understanding one other official Swiss language, the Swiss also speak English. Several cantons are contemplating teaching English-rather than an official Swiss language-as the second language. These proposals are not appreciated by many of the cantons and have set the stage for what may turn out to be a hard-fought national debate in 2001 on a proposed constitutional amendment mandating the teaching of an official Swiss language as the second language-as opposed to, for example, English. Human DevelopmentFewer births and longer life expectancies have led to the aging demographic trend which is expected to continue. The population growth rate in recent years was .24 percent. The infant mortality rate was 4.42 deaths per 1,000 live births according to statistics for the same year. Estimated life expectancy in recent years was averaged at 80 years of age -- 77 years of age for males and 83 for females.Similar to other Western European countries, Switzerland is increasingly concerned about its workers-to-pensioners (retirees) ratio, currently four to one. At the turn of the century, the ratio was 10 to one. This ratio is important because current workers in Switzerland pay into a social insurance scheme that provides for current pensioners. As the current demographic trends continue, fewer and fewer workers will be supporting more and more pensioners.One notable measure used to determine a country's quality of life is the Human Development Index (HDI), which has been compiled annually since 1990 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The HDI is a composite of several indicators, which measure a country's achievements in three main arenas of human development: longevity, knowledge and education, as well as economic standard of living. In recent rankings of 177 countries, the HDI placed Switzerland in the high human development category at 7th place.Human Development Index Social Overview77 Switzerland Review 2010Note: Although the concept of human development is complicated and cannot be properly captured by values and indices, the HDI, which is calculated and updated annually, offers a wide-ranging assess-ment of human development in certain countries, not based solely upon traditional economic and financial indicators. © Copyright 2010 CountryWatch, Inc. All Rights Reserved. For permission to cite CountryWatch, please email [e-mail]. For the full CountryWatch offering, please visit www.coun-trywatch.com.Human Development IndexHuman Development Index (Ranked Numerically)The Human Development Index (HDI) is used to measure quality of life in countries across the world. The HDI has been compiled since 1990 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on a regular basis. The HDI is a composite of several indicators, which measure a country's achievements in
three main arenas of human development: longevity, education, and economic standard of living.
Although the concept of human development is complicated and cannot be properly captured by val-
ues and indices, the HDI offers a wide-ranging assessment of human development in certain countries,
not based solely upon traditional economic and financial indicators. For more information about the
methodology used to calculate the HDI, please see the "Source Materials" in the appendices of this
review.
Copyright of Switzerland Country Review is the property of CountryWatch Incorporated and its content may
not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written
permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.

Результаты (русский) 3:

Людей
социальной демографии
Швейцарской Конфедерации (также известные как Швейцария) имеет, по оценкам общая численность населения добровольном взносе-
сельского хозяйства семь с половиной миллионов человек. По данным швейцарского Федерального статистического управления (ШФСУ)
информации, в последние годы, большинство населения было граждан Швейцарии,
в то время как более 1,5 млн. иностранных граждан. Другими словами,