Buy data    Donate

Updates: 

Update 15 to the GEC, the successor to the FIPS standard, is dated 2014-03-31. It gives the names of cantons in various languages. It also changes the codes of two cantons, producing ambiguous codes. This is an error that will be corrected soon.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter number I-5, dated 2003-09-05, shows a change in spelling for two Swiss half-cantons. As they are presented in the Swiss constitution, the two parts of Appenzell are spelled "Appenzell Ausserrhoden" and "Appenzell Innerrhoden". Previously, under Federal Law 1995-10-06, they were "Appenzell Ausser-Rhoden" and "Appenzell Inner-Rhoden", respectively. Update 8 to Geopolitical Entities and Codes, the successor to FIPS standard 10-4, is dated 2012-05-01. It changes the name of one of the half-cantons from "Ausser-Rhoden" to "Appenzell Ausserrhoden", and analogously for the other one.

Country overview: 

Short name	SWITZERLAND
ISO code	CH
FIPS code	SZ
Language	German (de), French (fr), Italian (it), Romansh (rm)
Time zone	+1~
Capital	Bern

 

Switzerland has been independent throughout the 20th century.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Schweiz, Svejts
2. Dutch: Zwitserland, Zwitserse Bondsstaat (formal)
3. English: Swiss Confederation (formal)
4. Finnish: Sveitsi
5. French: Suisse, Confédération f Suisse f (formal)
6. German: Schweiz f, Schweizerische Eidtgenossenschaft f (formal)
7. Icelandic: Sviss
8. Italian: Svizzera, Confederazione f Svizzera f (formal)
9. Latin: Confoederatio Helvetica, Helvetia
10. Norwegian: Det sveitsiske edsforbund (formal) (Bokmål), Det sveitsiske eidssambandet (formal) (Nynorsk), Sveits
11. Portuguese: Suíça, Confederação Helvética (formal), Confederação f Suíça f (formal)
12. Romansh: Svizra, Confederaziun Svizra (formal)
13. Russian: Швейцария, Швейцарская Конфедерация (formal)
14. Spanish: Suiza, Confederación f Suiza f (formal)
15. Swedish: Schweiz
16. Turkish: İsviçre, İsviçre Konfederasyonu (formal)

Origin of name: 

name of Schwyz, one of the founding cantons, applied to the entire federation

Primary subdivisions: 

Switzerland is divided into 26 cantons (French or English), kantone (German), cantoni (Italian), chantuns (Romansh).

Canton	HASC	FIPS	NUTS	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Lng	Capital
Aargau	CH.AG	SZ01	CH033	611,466	1,405	542	g	Aarau
Appenzell Inner Rhodes	CH.AI	SZ10	CH054	15,688	172	66	g	Appenzell
Appenzell Outer Rhodes	CH.AR	SZ02	CH053	53,017	243	94	g	Herisau
Basel-Landschaft	CH.BL	SZ03	CH032	274,404	428	165	g	Liestal
Basel-Stadt	CH.BS	SZ04	CH031	184,950	37	14	g	Basel
Bern	CH.BE	SZ05	CH021	979,802	6,049	2,336	g	Bern
Fribourg	CH.FR	SZ06	CH022	278,493	1,670	645	fg	Fribourg
Geneva	CH.GE	SZ07	CH013	457,715	282	109	f	Geneva
Glarus	CH.GL	SZ08	CH051	38,608	685	264	g	Glarus
Graubünden	CH.GR	SZ09	CH056	192,621	7,106	2,744	gr	Chur; Coire (f); Coira (i)
Jura	CH.JU	SZ26	CH025	70,032	838	323	f	Delémont; Delsberg (g)
Lucerne	CH.LU	SZ11	CH061	377,610	1,492	576	g	Lucerne
Neuchâtel	CH.NE	SZ12	CH024	172,085	797	308	f	Neuchâtel
Nidwalden	CH.NW	SZ13	CH065	41,024	276	106	g	Stans
Obwalden	CH.OW	SZ14	CH064	35,585	491	189	g	Sarnen
Sankt Gallen	CH.SG	SZ15	CH055	478,907	2,014	778	g	Saint Gall
Schaffhausen	CH.SH	SZ16	CH052	76,356	298	115	g	Schaffhausen
Schwyz	CH.SZ	SZ17	CH063	146,730	908	351	g	Schwyz
Solothurn	CH.SO	SZ18	CH023	255,284	791	305	g	Solothurn
Thurgau	CH.TG	SZ19	CH057	248,444	1,013	391	g	Frauenfeld
Ticino	CH.TI	SZ20	CH07	333,753	2,811	1,085	i	Bellinzona; Bellenz (g)
Uri	CH.UR	SZ21	CH062	35,422	1,077	416	g	Altdorf
Valais	CH.VS	SZ22	CH012	312,684	5,226	2,018	fg	Sion; Sitten (g)
Vaud	CH.VD	SZ23	CH011	713,281	3,219	1,243	f	Lausanne; Losanna (i)
Zug	CH.ZG	SZ24	CH066	113,105	239	92	g	Zug
Zurich	CH.ZH	SZ25	CH04	1,373,068	1,729	667	g	Zürich
26 cantons				7,870,134	41,296	15,942
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. If periods are replaced by hyphens, these are the same as the canton codes from ISO 3166-2. The two-letter codes have been the official Swiss abbreviations for years. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. NUTS: Codes from the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics. Population: 2010-12-31 census, based on population registers. Lng: Majority language(s): French (f), German (g), Italian (i), Romansh (r) Capital: English name of capital. Name is also given in French, German, or Italian, when different from English. Exception: when canton has same name as capital, look under "Other names of subdivisions," because the foreign names of the capital will be the same.

 

The NUTS code system also defines groupings of cantons. All the cantons whose NUTS codes begin with the same four characters (for example, CH02-) can be designated as a group using those four characters. Here are the descriptions of the seven level-two NUTS regions of Switzerland.

Description	NUTS
Espace Mittelland	CH02
Nordwestschweiz	CH03
Ostschweiz	CH05
Région lémanique	CH01
Ticino	CH07
Zentralschweiz	CH06
Zürich	CH04

 

"Région lémanique" refers to the region around Lac Léman, which English speakers know better as Lake Geneva.

Postal codes: 

Switzerland uses a four-digit postal code (Liechtenstein is also part of the system). The postal code areas are not directly correlated with canton boundaries. The prefix CH- is often used on international mail within Europe to designate Swiss postal codes.

Further subdivisions:

See the Districts of Switzerland page.

Technically, Switzerland is divided into 23 cantons, of which three are further divided into half-cantons (French, demi-cantons; German, halb-kantone): Appenzell into Outer Rhodes and Inner Rhodes; Basel into Basel-Landschaft and Basel-Stadt; and Unterwalden into Nidwalden and Obwalden. The cantons are the territorial divisions. Switzerland is also divided into 26 states, of which 20 are coextensive with the 20 undivided cantons, and six are coextensive with the half-cantons. The states are the administrative divisions. On a lower level, the cantons are divided into districts, which are further subdivided into communes.

Territorial extent: 

1. Appenzell Inner Rhodes consists of three separate areas, each of which lies on the border between Appenzell Outer Rhodes and Sankt Gallen. Appenzell as a whole is entirely surrounded by Sankt Gallen, although at one point Sankt Gallen is only a corridor less than one kilometer wide between Appenzell and Austria.
2. Bern has five exclaves. There are two tiny ones surrounded by Fribourg and containing Münchenwiler and Clavaleyres. There are also three that were created in 1979, when Jura was split from Bern.
3. Fribourg has four exclaves: one tiny one surrounded by Bern, two surrounded by Vaud, and the largest, around Estavayer-le-Lac, surrounded by Vaud on three sides and Lake Neuchâtel on the fourth.
4. Geneva has two exclaves. One tiny one is surrounded by Vaud. A larger one nearby is surrounded on three sides by Vaud and the fourth by Lac Léman (Lake Geneva), where it has a water border with France.
5. Obwalden consists of two separate sections separated by Nidwalden, and both bordering on Bern. The smaller one contains Engelberg.
6. Schaffhausen has three separate areas. They are all predominantly on the right bank of the Rhine. The first one, heading downstream from the Bodensee (Lake Constance), contains Ramsen and Stein am Rhein (and has a tiny extension on the left bank). The second, main section contains Schaffhausen city. The third and smallest contains Buchberg.
7. Solothurn has three exclaves. The ones containing Kleinlützel and Mariastein are on the French border, separated from the main part of Solothurn by part of Bern. The tiny one containing Steinhof is surrounded by Bern.
8. Thurgau has a small exclave containing the town of Horn, although if territorial waters in the Bodensee are taken into account, the exclave may be connected to the main section.
9. Vaud has one exclave around Avenches, separated from it by Fribourg, but also bordering on Bern and having a water boundary with Neuchâtel.

The UN LOCODE page  for Switzerland lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

Origins of names: 

1. Aargau: from the river Aar and German gau: district
2. Appenzell: from Latin abbatis cella: abbot's chamber
3. Basel-Landschaft: Rural Basel, from Ancient Greek basileia: royal (was fort of Emperor Valentinian I)
4. Basel-Stadt: Basel City
5. Bern: possibly from Indo-European ber: swampy place, or from Italian Verona (city name); see also Berlin, Germany
6. Fribourg: German frei: free, burg: fort
7. Geneva: Indo-European gen: bend, ava: water
8. Glarus: possibly from Latin claris: clear, for a village in a clearing
9. Graubünden: German graue bund: gray league, a league devoted to resistance to the Hapsburg Empire
10. Jura: after the Jura Mountains, from Gallic iuris: wooded mountain
11. Lucerne: probably after Saint Leodegar, the city's patron, but possibly Latin lucerna: lantern
12. Neuchâtel: Latin Novum Castellum: new castle
13. Nidwalden: German nieder: lower, Wald: forest
14. Obwalden: German ober: upper, Wald: forest
15. Sankt Gallen: site of an abbey founded by Saint Gall in 612
16. Schaffhausen: Old German Sciphúsen: ship houses, because boats in Lake Constance trade were sheltered there
17. Solothurn: Latin Salodurum, from durum: fort
18. Ticino: after the Ticino River
19. Valais: Latin Vallis Poenina: pennine valley
20. Vaud: Latin Comitatus Valdensis, possibly from valdum: defensible spot

Change history: 

1. 1979-01-01: Jura canton split from Bern. The basis of the split was religious and linguistic (Jura is predominantly French-speaking, Roman Catholic).
2. 2000-01-01: Official spelling of the Appenzell half-cantons changed from Ausser-Rhoden and Inner-Rhoden to Ausserrhoden and Innerrhoden, respectively.

Other names of subdivisions: 

Rudolf Schmid writes that the Swiss government adopted a new official naming practice in 2001. When a geographical entity has more than one official language, its name is to be written in all languages, separated by slashes (/), ordered according to the magnitude of the area where each language is spoken, in descending order. For example, in Bern canton the greatest area speaks German, but there are some French-speaking areas. The canton name is Bern in German and Berne in French. Therefore, it should be written "Bern/Berne".

1. Aargau: Argovia (Italian, Romansh); Argóvia (Portuguese); Argovie (French)
2. Appenzell Outer Rhodes: Appenzell Ausserrhoden (German); Appenzell Ausser-Rhoden (obsolete); Appenzell dadens (Romansh); Appenzell Rhodes Extérieures (French); Appenzello Esterno (Italian)
3. Appenzell Inner Rhodes: Appenzell Innerrhoden (German); Appenzell Inner-Rhoden (obsolete); Appenzell dador (Romansh); Appenzell Rhodes Intérieures (French); Appenzello Interno (Italian)
4. Basel-Landschaft: Bâle-Campagne (French); Basel-Country, Baselland, Basel-Land (variant); Basilea campagna (Italian); Basilea Campaña (Spanish); Basilea-Champagna (Romansh); Basiléia região (Portuguese)
5. Basel-Stadt: Bâle-Ville (French); Basel-City, Basel-Town (variant); Basilea-Citad (Romansh); Basilea Ciudad (Spanish); Basilea città (Italian); Basiléia cidade (Portuguese)
6. Bern: Berna (Italian, Portuguese, Romansh, Spanish); Berne (Finnish, French)
7. Fribourg: Freiburg (Dutch, German, Swedish); Friburg (Romansh); Friburgo (Italian, Portuguese, Spanish)
8. Geneva: Cenevre (Turkish); Genebra (Portuguese); Geneve (Finnish); Genève (Dutch, French, Norwegian, Swedish); Genevra (Romansh); Genf (German); Ginebra (Spanish); Ginevra (Italian); Женева (Russian)
9. Glarus: Glaris (Finnish, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish); Glarona (Italian); Glaruna (Romansh)
10. Graubünden: Grigioni (Italian); Grischun (Romansh); Grisons (French)
11. Jura: Giura (Italian, Romansh)
12. Lucerne: Lucerna (Italian, Portuguese, Romansh, Spanish); Luzern (Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Norwegian, Swedish)
13. Neuchâtel: Neuenburg (Dutch, German)
14. Nidwalden: Nidvaldo (Italian); Nidwald, Unterwalden-le-Bas (French); Nidwaldo (Italian-variant); Sutsilvania (Romansh)
15. Obwalden: Obvaldo (Italian); Obwald, Unterwalden-le-Haut (French); Obwaldo (Italian-variant); Sursilvania (Romansh)
16. Sankt Gallen: Saint-Gall (Finnish, French, Portuguese, Spanish); San Gallo (Italian); Son Gagl (Romansh)
17. Schaffhausen: Schaffhouse (French); Schaffusa (Romansh); Sciaffusa (Italian)
18. Schwyz: Schwytz (French-variant); Svitto (Italian); Sviz (Romansh)
19. Solothurn: Soletta (Italian); Soleure (French); Soleuro (Spanish); Soloturn (Romansh)
20. Thurgau: Thurgovie (French); Turgovia (Italian, Romansh, Spanish); Turgóvia (Portuguese)
21. Ticino: Tesino (Spanish); Tessin (Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Romansh, Swedish)
22. Valais: Vallais (Romansh); Vallese (Italian); Wallis (Dutch, German)
23. Vaud: Vad (Romansh); Waadt, Waadtland (German)
24. Zug: Zoug (French); Zugo (Italian)
25. Zurich: Turitg (Romansh); Zürich (Danish, Finnish, German, Norwegian, Swedish); Zurigo (Italian); Zürih (Turkish-variant); Zurique (Portuguese); Цюрих (Russian)

Population history:

Canton	1888-12-01	1900-12-01	1910-12-01	1930-12-01	1941-12-01	1950-12-01	1960-12-01	1970-12-01	1980-12-01	1989-12-01	2000-12-05	2010-12-31
Aargau	194,000	206,498	229,850	259,644	270,463	300,782	360,940	433,284	453,442	489,567	547,493	611,466
Outer Rhodes	54,000	55,281	57,723	48,977	44,756	47,938	48,920	49,023	47,611	54,087	53,504	53,017
Inner Rhodes	13,000	13,499	14,631	13,988	13,383	13,427	12,943	13,124	12,844	14,680	14,618	15,688
Basel-Land	62,000	68,497	76,241	92,541	94,459	107,549	148,282	204,889	219,822	234,910	259,374	274,404
Basel-Stadt	74,000	112,227	135,546	155,030	169,961	196,498	225,588	234,945	203,915	197,403	188,079	184,950
Bern	539,000	589,433	642,744	688,774	728,916	801,943	889,523	983,296	912,022	942,721	957,197	979,802
Fribourg	120,000	127,951	139,200	143,230	152,053	158,695	159,194	180,309	185,246	203,878	241,706	278,493
Geneva	107,000	132,609	154,159	171,366	174,855	202,918	259,234	331,599	349,040	377,108	413,673	457,715
Glarus	34,000	32,349	33,211	35,653	34,771	37,663	40,148	38,155	36,718	37,686	38,183	38,608
Graubünden	96,000	104,520	118,262	126,340	128,247	137,100	147,458	162,086	164,641	177,096	187,058	192,621
Jura									64,986	65,376	68,224	70,032
Lucerne	136,000	146,159	166,782	189,391	206,608	223,249	253,446	289,641	296,159	316,210	350,504	377,610
Neuchâtel	109,000	126,279	132,184	124,324	117,900	128,152	147,633	169,173	158,368	159,543	167,949	172,085
Nidwalden	13,000	13,070	13,796	15,055	17,348	19,389	22,188	25,634	28,617	35,393	37,235	41,024
Obwalden	15,000	15,260	17,118	19,401	20,340	22,125	23,135	24,509	25,865	30,837	32,427	35,585
Sankt Gallen	229,000	250,285	301,141	286,362	286,201	309,106	339,489	384,475	391,995	416,578	452,837	478,907
Schaffhausen	38,000	41,514	45,943	51,187	53,772	57,515	65,981	72,854	69,413	71,210	73,392	76,356
Schwyz	50,000	55,385	58,347	62,337	66,555	71,082	78,048	92,072	97,354	108,576	128,704	146,730
Solothurn	86,000	100,762	116,728	144,198	154,944	170,508	200,816	224,133	218,102	223,803	244,341	255,284
Thurgau	105,000	113,221	134,055	136,063	138,122	149,738	166,420	182,835	183,795	201,773	228,875	248,444
Ticino	127,000	138,638	158,556	159,223	161,882	175,055	195,566	245,458	265,899	286,537	306,846	333,753
Uri	17,000	19,700	22,055	22,968	27,302	28,556	32,021	34,091	33,883	34,042	34,777	35,422
Valais	102,000	114,438	129,579	136,394	148,319	159,178	177,783	206,563	218,707	249,473	272,399	312,684
Vaud	251,000	281,379	315,428	331,853	343,398	377,585	429,512	511,851	528,747	576,319	640,657	713,281
Zug	23,000	25,093	28,013	34,395	36,643	42,239	52,489	67,996	75,930	84,742	100,052	113,105
Zurich	340,000	431,036	500,679	617,706	674,505	777,002	952,304	1,107,788	1,122,839	1,152,769	1,247,906	1,373,068
Totals	2,933,000	3,315,083	3,741,971	4,066,400	4,265,703	4,714,992	5,429,061	6,269,783	6,365,960	6,742,317	7,288,010	7,870,134

 

All figures are census data. Jura was part of Bern until 1979.

Sources: 

1. [1] Statistisches Jahrbuch der Schweiz 1990. Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zürich, 1989.
2. [2] Chisholm, George G., ed., Longman's Gazetteer of the World. Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1920 (apparently not revised since the 1895 first edition).
3. [3] Medienmitteilung . Eidgenössisches Departement des Innern, Bundesamt für Statistik (dated 2011-08-25, retrieved 2011-09-23).
4. [4] Keltie, J. Scott, ed. The Statesman's Year-Book 1913. Macmillan, London, 1913.