Names: conventional long form: Swiss Confederation conventional short form: Switzerland local long form: Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft (German); Confederation Suisse (French); Confederazione Svizzera (Italian) local short form: Schweiz (German); Suisse (French); Svizzera (Italian)

Capital City: Bern

Population: 7,523,934 (July 2006 est.)

GDP Per Capita: $33,600 (2006 est.)

Currency: Swiss franc (CHF)

Languages: German (official) 63.7%, French (official) 20.4%, Italian (official) 6.5%, Serbo-Croatian 1.5%, Albanian 1.3%, Portuguese 1.2%, Spanish 1.1%, English 1%, Romansch 0.5%, other 2.8% (2000 census) note: German, French, Italian, and Romansch are all national languages, but only the first three are official languages

Total Area: total: 41,290 sq km land: 39,770 sq km water: 1,520 sq km slightly less than twice the size of New Jersey

Region: Europe

Industries: machinery, chemicals, watches, textiles, precision instruments

Agriculture: grains, fruits, vegetables; meat, eggs

Resources: hydropower potential, timber, salt

Labor Force: 3.81 million (2006 est.)
agriculture: 4.6% industry: 26.3% services: 69.1% (1998)

Exports: $166.3 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)
machinery, chemicals, metals, watches, agricultural products

Imports: $162.3 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)
machinery, chemicals, vehicles, metals; agricultural products, textiles

Overview: Switzerland is a peaceful, prosperous, and stable modern market economy with low unemployment, a highly skilled labor force, and a per capita GDP larger than that of the big Western European economies. The Swiss in recent years have brought their economic practices largely into conformity with the EU's to enhance their international competitiveness. Switzerland remains a safehaven for investors, because it has maintained a degree of bank secrecy and has kept up the franc's long-term external value. Reflecting the anemic economic conditions of Europe, GDP growth stagnated during the 2001-03 period, improved during 2004-05 to 1.8% annually and to 2.9% in 2006. Even so, unemployment has remained at less than half the EU average.

_{CIA World Book}

In 2007 Missouri exported $33,663,719 in goods to Switzerland. This ranks Switzerland 38^th among the 223 international buyers of Missouri goods. Missouri exports to Switzerland increased from the previous year by $1,668,050 a change of 5.21%. State exports to Switzerland have increased over the last 5 years by $8,494,434 a change of 33.74%. Missouri exports account for .25%. of all 2007 US exports to Switzerland.