This country comparison is a concise, tabular overview of numerous data from our respective country pages for Switzerland and United States. There, we provide many explanations and details per country that go far beyond this comparison.
See also: Explanations and country ranking on quality of life
General information
| Switzerland | United States | |
|---|---|---|
| Region: | Western Europe | North America |
| Area: | 41,290 km² | 9,831,510 km² |
| National language: | German | English |
| Government form: | Federal republic | Federal presidential republic |
| Independent since: | 1499 AD | 1776 AD |
| Capital: | Bern | Washington, D.C. |
Population
Details for Switzerland and the United States| Switzerland | United States | |
|---|---|---|
| Population: | 8,703,000 | 331,894,000 |
| Inhabitants/km²: | 210.8 | 33.8 |
| Life expectancy males: | Ø 81 years | Ø 75 years |
| Life expectancy females: | Ø 85 years | Ø 80 years |
| Average age: | Ø 42.7 years | Ø 38.5 years |
| Birth rate: | 9.90 ‰ | 10.90 ‰ |
| Death rate: | 8.80 ‰ | 10.30 ‰ |
| Migrationrate: | 4.52 ‰ | 3.02 ‰ |
Quality of life
Values from 0 (bad) to 100 (very good)See also: Explanations and country ranking on quality of life
| Switzerland | United States | |
|---|---|---|
| Political stability: | 91 | 65 |
| Civil rights: | 99 | 83 |
| Health: | 93 | 71 |
| Climate: | 35 | 66 |
| Cost of Living: | 44 | 37 |
| Popularity: | 40 | 71 |
Economy
Details for Switzerland and the United States| Switzerland | United States | |
|---|---|---|
| Currency: | Swiss franc (1 CHF = 100 Rappen) | US dollar (1 USD =100 Cents) |
| Unemployment rate: | 5.3 % | 5.5 % |
| Inflation rate: | 0.58 % | 4.70 % |
| Cost of Living: (USA = 100%) | 142.40 % | 100.00 % |
| Commercial taxes and contributions: | 28.80 % | 36.60 % |
| Average income: | 90,600 US$ | 70,930 US$ |
| Corruption index: | 18 (good) | 31 (moderate) |
| CHE: total | per 1000 inh. | USA: total | per 1000 inh. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross domestic product: | 800,640 M US$ | 91.99 M US$ | 23,315,081 M US$ | 70.25 M US$ |
| Gross national product: | 788,512 M US$ | 90.60 M US$ | 23,539,918 M US$ | 70.93 M US$ |
| Exported goods: | 571,376 M US$ | 65.65 M US$ | 2,556,638 M US$ | 7.70 M US$ |
| Imported goods: | 480,522 M US$ | 55.21 M US$ | 3,401,688 M US$ | 10.25 M US$ |
Infrastructure
Details for Switzerland and the United States| CHE: total | per 1000 inh. | USA: total | per 1000 inh. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roadways: | 71,557 km | 8.22 km | 6,586,610 km | 19.85 km |
| Railways: | 3,236 km | 0.37 km | 293,564 km | 0.88 km |
| Waterways: | 1,292 km | 0.15 km | 41,009 km | 0.12 km |
| Harbours: | 20 | 0.0023 | 3,627 | 0.0109 |
| Passenger airports: | 5 | 0.0006 | 436 | 0.0013 |
Energy balance
Details for Switzerland and the United States| CHE: total | per 1000 inh. | USA: total | per 1000 inh. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Energy consumption: | 58.46 bn kWh | 6.72 m kWh | 3.902 tn kWh | 11.76 m kWh |
| Energy production: | 59.01 bn kWh | 6.78 m kWh | 4.095 tn kWh | 12.34 m kWh |
| Energy export: | 30.17 bn kWh | 3.47 m kWh | 9.70 bn kWh | 29,211.16 kWh |
| Energy imports: | 34.10 bn kWh | 3.92 m kWh | 72.72 bn kWh | 219,106.27 kWh |
| CO2 emissions: | 37.38 m t | 4,294.87 t | 4.82 bn t | 14,515.85 t |
Telecommunication
Details for Switzerland and the United States| Switzerland | United States | |
|---|---|---|
| International dialing: | +41 | +1 |
| Internet domain: | .ch | .us |
| CHE total | CHE per 1000 inh. | USA total | USA per 1000 inh. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Landlines: | 2,956,500 | 340 | 101,526,000 | 306 |
| Mobile cellulars: | 11,060,700 | 1271 | 351,477,000 | 1059 |
| Internet server: | 5,301,000 | 609 | 505,000,000 | 1522 |
| Internet users: | 8,317,789 | 956 | 301,691,414 | 909 |
| Broadband Internet: | 4,007,000 | 460 | 127,032,000 | 383 |
Healthcare system
Details for Switzerland and the United States| Switzerland | United States | |
|---|---|---|
| Hospital beds per 1000 inh.: | 4.63 | 2.87 |
| Physicians per 1000 inh.: | 4.24 | 2.59 |
| Diabetes: | 5.7 % | 10.8 % |
| HIV: | 0.05 % | 0.20 % |
| Tuberculosis: | 0.05 ‰ | 0.03 ‰ |
| Tuberculosis cure rate: | 74.0 % | 74.0 % |
| Smokers: | 25.5 % | 23.0 % |
Climate
We also provide a more detailed climate comparison of both countries.The data for each country can be found here: Switzerland and United States
| Switzerland | United States | |
|---|---|---|
| Daytime temperatures: | 15.3 °C | 18.9 °C |
| Nighttime temperatures: | 6.5 °C | 7.3 °C |
| Water temperature: | 10.8 °C | 17.7 °C |
| Rel. humidity: | 76 % | 67 % |
| Rain days: | 9.5 | 7.1 |
| Sunshine hours per day: | 5.3 | 7.2 |
Native languages
| Switzerland | United States | |
|---|---|---|
| English: | n/a | 82.1 % |
| German: | 62.5 % | 0.6 % |
| French: | 21.3 % | 0.7 % |
| Spanish: | 1.1 % | 10.7 % |
| Italian: | 8.3 % | 0.6 % |
| Croatian: | 1.4 % | n/a |
| Albanian: | 1.3 % | n/a |
| Portuguese: | 1.2 % | 0.2 % |
| Chinese: | n/a | 0.9 % |
| Romansh: | 0.5 % | n/a |
| Tagalog: | n/a | 0.4 % |
| Korean: | n/a | 0.3 % |
| Polish: | n/a | 0.3 % |
| Vietnamese: | n/a | 0.2 % |
| Japanese: | n/a | 0.2 % |
| Russian: | n/a | 0.2 % |
| Eskimo: | n/a | 0.0 % |
| other: | 2.4 % | 2.6 % |
Religions
| Switzerland | United States | |
|---|---|---|
| Christianity: | 70.8 % | 78.5 % |
| Nondenominational: | 21.4 % | n/a |
| Islam: | 4.9 % | 1.1 % |
| Jewry: | 0.2 % | 1.8 % |
| Sikhism: | n/a | 1.6 % |
| Hinduism: | n/a | 1.0 % |
| Buddhism: | n/a | 0.7 % |
| other: | 2.7 % | 15.3 % |