How Well Do You Know Switzerland?

Expatica.com provide information for those of you preparingto visit or live in Switzerland. Here we share with you ten of the most obscure!

For the complete list see https://www.expatica.com/ch/about/basics/35-facts-about-switzerland-100041/

1. Foreigners account for nearly 25 percent of the population...

...one of the highest percentages in the world. However, in February 2014, Swiss voters narrowly passed through a controversial anti-immigration initiative. It aims to impose limits on the number of foreigners allowed into Switzerland and may signal an end to the country’s free movement accord with the European Union, although it is currently in EU negotiations. Despite this, the 2017 Schilling reported that the number of foreigners on Swiss executive boards rose to 45 percent, highlighting Switzerland’s ongoing need for executive workers regardless of nationality.

2. Switzerland’s main access points are wired to blow in case of an attack....

...one of the country’s defense strategies is to demolish every main road, bridge and railway access into Switzerland in case of a foreign invasion, with at least 3,000 locations around the country prepared to blow at a moment’s notice.

3. In Switzerland citizens can challenge any law passed by Parliament...

... provided they can gather 50,000 signatures against the law within 100 days. If successful, a national vote is held and voters decide by a simple majority whether to accept or reject the law.

4. Switzerland boasts some of the world’s most famous inventions...

...they created Velcro, cellophane, the Swiss Army Knife, absinthe, the potato peeler, Helvetica font, LSD, muesli, edible chocolate gold and milk chocolate to name a few. They were also pioneers in introducing bobsleigh, tobogganing and luge as a competitive sport to the world. Swiss scientists are also leading research in using LSD to treat mental illness and pain. Switzerland continues to lead the world in innovation, topping the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) ranking in 2017 for the seventh year in a row, ahead of the US (4th) and UK (5th).

5. Switzerland is one of the world’s best places to be born, live and be happy...

...according to consistently high rankings in global reports. Switzerland was ranked the world’s happiest country in 2015, and came second in 2016 (after Denmark) out of 156 countries, while Zurich was named the second best city to live in Mercer’s Quality of Living Report 2016 (after Vienna), and tied with Bern and Helsinki as the second best city for personal safesty, far above London (72) or the US (where no city ranked in the top 50). According to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) latest Where to be Born Index (2013), Switzerland was the best country to be born.

6. Switzerland is also known as Confoederatio Helvetica...

...which explains the abbreviation CH. It’s officially named the Swiss Confederation for historical reasons, although modern Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the federal city. The founding of the Swiss Confederation traditionally dates to 1 August 1291 and is celebrated annually as Swiss National Day.

7. Sundays in Switzerland are protected by a long list of social laws...

...making it illegal to undertake activities such as mowing, hanging out laundry, washing your car or recycling bottles to ensure peace and beauty is maintained. A peaceful night’s sleep is also guaranteed by building rules that frown upon noisy actions after 10pm, which can include peeing standing up, slamming a car door, flushing a toilet or emptying a bath.

8. Swiss law prohibits owning ‘social’ pets unless you have two of them...

...this makes it illegal in Switzerland to keep just one guinea pig, mouse, ferret, fish, canary, pig or other social creature. With the world’s most stringent animal welfare laws, Switzerland judges isolation for such animals as abuse. This has sparked services such as a lawyer who defends animals and a pet-renting servicein case one of a pair dies and the owner wants to avoid a pet-buying cycle to abide by the pairing law.

9. Coffee in Zurich is the most expensive in the world...

...costing an average CHF3.65 (USD 3.65) in the Coffee Price Index 2016, with Copenhagen, Basel, Bern and Geneva rounding out the top five respectively. Switzerland was also the origin of instant coffee when the Nestlé Company, started by Swiss businessman Henri Nestlé in 1867, created Nescafe in 1938.

10. The Swiss eat more chocolate than any other nation in the world...

...they eat a record of around 11kg per year. Chocolate is a major Swiss export; with 18 Swiss chocolate companies, Switzerland exported almost 115,500 tonnes of chocolate in 2015. They have also invented techniques like conching and tempering to perfect the art of chocolate making.

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