Switzerland Cantons (original) (raw)

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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, Conf�d�ration 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) (Bokm�l), Det sveitsiske eidssambandet (formal) (Nynorsk), Sveits
  11. Portuguese: Su��a, Confedera��o Helv�tica (formal), Confedera��o f Su��a f (formal)
  12. Romansh: Svizra, Confederaziun Svizra (formal)
  13. Russian: Швейцария, Швейцарская Конфедерация (formal)
  14. Spanish: Suiza, Confederaci�n f Suiza f (formal)
  15. Swedish: Schweiz
  16. Turkish: İsvi�re, İsvi�re 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.�) Area(mi.�) 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
Graub�nden 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 Del�mont; Delsberg (g)
Lucerne CH.LU SZ11 CH061 377,610 1,492 576 g Lucerne
Neuch�tel CH.NE SZ12 CH024 172,085 797 308 f Neuch�tel
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 Z�rich
26 cantons 7,870,134 41,296 15,942
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. If periods are replaced by hyphens, these are thesame as the canton codes from ISO 3166-2. The two-letter codes have been the official Swissabbreviations 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 fromEnglish. 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
R�gion l�manique CH01
Ticino CH07
Zentralschweiz CH06
Z�rich CH04

"R�gion l�manique" refers to the region around Lac L�man, 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 M�nchenwiler 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 Neuch�tel 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 L�man (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 Kleinl�tzel 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 Neuch�tel.

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. Graub�nden: 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. Neuch�tel: 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 Sciph�sen: 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); Arg�via (Portuguese); Argovie (French)
  2. Appenzell Outer Rhodes: Appenzell Ausserrhoden (German); Appenzell Ausser-Rhoden (obsolete); Appenzell dadens (Romansh); Appenzell Rhodes Ext�rieures (French); Appenzello Esterno (Italian)
  3. Appenzell Inner Rhodes: Appenzell Innerrhoden (German); Appenzell Inner-Rhoden (obsolete); Appenzell dador (Romansh); Appenzell Rhodes Int�rieures (French); Appenzello Interno (Italian)
  4. Basel-Landschaft: B�le-Campagne (French); Basel-Country, Baselland, Basel-Land (variant); Basilea campagna (Italian); Basilea Campa�a (Spanish); Basilea-Champagna (Romansh); Basil�ia regi�o (Portuguese)
  5. Basel-Stadt: B�le-Ville (French); Basel-City, Basel-Town (variant); Basilea-Citad (Romansh); Basilea Ciudad (Spanish); Basilea citt� (Italian); Basil�ia 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); Gen�ve (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. Graub�nden: 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. Neuch�tel: 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); Turg�via (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); Z�rich (Danish, Finnish, German, Norwegian, Swedish); Zurigo (Italian); Z�rih (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
Graub�nden 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
Neuch�tel 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 Z�rcher Zeitung, Z�rich, 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 . Eidgen�ssisches Departement des Innern, Bundesamt f�r Statistik (dated 2011-08-25, retrieved 2011-09-23).
  4. [4] Keltie, J. Scott, ed. The Statesman's Year-Book 1913. Macmillan, London, 1913.