General

Switzerland is not part of the European Union (2009). While Switzerland has the highest rate per capita of political refugees in Europe, there is resentment against “those who take” from the welfare system.

Ethnicity and Language

The Ethnic groups are:  German (65%), French (18%), Italian (10%), and Romansch (1%). The official languages of Switzerland are German, French, Italian and Romansch. Many businesspeople speak English.

The Pew Global Attitudes Project is an interactive database that allows users to explore public opinion trends in 55 countries on topics ranging from attitudes towards the U.S. to peoples assessments of their own lives to views about globalization, democratization and extremism and other important issues.

The country ranks as no. 5 (of 180 countries) on Transparency International’s 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index.