Switzerland , officially the
Swiss Confederation (, hence its abbreviation CH), is a country in
Europe. While still named the "Swiss Confederation" for historical reasons, modern Switzerland is a
federal directorial republic consisting of
26 cantons, with
Bern as the seat of the federal authorities, called
Bundesstadt ("federal city"). The country is situated in
Western and
Central Europe, and is bordered by
Italy to the south,
France to the west,
Germany to the north, and
Austria and
Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a
landlocked country geographically divided between the
Alps, the
Swiss Plateau and the
Jura, spanning an area of . While the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory, the Swiss population of approximately 8 million people is concentrated mostly on the Plateau, where the largest cities are to be found: among them are the two
global and economic centres,
Zürich and
Geneva.
