ABSTRACT
Set in the centre of western Europe and bordering on Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Liechtenstein, Switzerland has a population of 6.6 million people and a land area of 41,300 square kilometres (15,900 square miles). Switzerland has a complex cultural structure related directly to its equally complex linguistic structure: its largest single linguistic area – representing nearly three-quarters of the population – lies in the northwest, north and northeast, is German-speaking and is adjacent to Germany and Austria. In the west, next to France, 20 per cent of the Swiss population speak French; in the area south of the Alps near the border with Italy, 4 per cent speak Italian. A minority of 1 per cent in the east speak Romansh. The country as a whole is a federation of twenty-six autonomous cantons which have enormous independence especially in cultural and educational matters.
