- Albert Einstein published his Theory of Relativity in 1905, when he was working as a patent clerk in Bern
- Switzerland was the birthplace of Le Corbusier, born Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, one of the most influentual architects of the 20th century.
- The flag of the Red Cross is the flag of Switzerland with the colours inverted.
- The flag of Vatican, is the only other square flag, apart from Switzerland's.
- Switzerland has the second highest life expectancy, after Sweden
- The number of elderly people is increasing: Switzerland has more centenarians per head of population than any other country in Europe.
- Switzerland has a population of about 7.4 million.
- Foreigners account for 20% of the population.
- People marry relatively late (men with 31 years and women with 28.7 years); divorce rate around 53 percent.
- The average number of children per woman is around 1.4; the average age of a woman at birth of first child is 29.
- Swiss women were the last in Europe to get the vote (apart from Liechtenstein). It was only in 1971 that the male electorate agreed to allow them voting rights at federal level.
- Some 400,000 Swiss emigrated between 1850 and 1914 to North and South America, and founded Swiss colonies.
- Bern has 26 towns & villages named after it in the US.
- The size of Switzerland is less than a third of NY state - but if you could just flatten the Alps, it would be much bigger.
- Switzerland leads the world in chocolate consumption. It is said that an average Swiss eats 23lbs of chocolate annually.
- The most popular alcoholic drink in Switzerland is wine.
- 60% of Switzerland's electricity is produced by hydroelectric power.
- Switzerland has one of the lowest crime rates of all industrialised countries
- Switzerland is also known as Confoederatio Helvetica, which explains the abbreviation CH.
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