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Switzerland, officially the SwissConfederation, is a landlocked alpine country of roughly 7.6 million people in WesternEurope with an area of 41,285 km². It is bordered by the countries Germany, France,Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. Switzerland has a long history of neutrality— it has not been at war since 1815 — and hosts many internationalorganizations, including the Red Cross, the World Trade Organization and one ofthe U.N.'s two European offices. Switzerland is multilingual and has fournational languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. Switzerland is a federalrepublic consisting of 26 states called cantons. Berne is the seat of thefederal authorities, while the country's economic centers are its two globalcities, Geneva and especially Zürich. Switzerland is one of the richestcountries in the world by per capita Gross Domestic Product. Zurich and Genevahave respectively been ranked as having the first and second highest quality oflife in the world.

Switzerland is a peaceful, prosperous, and stable modernmarket economy with low unemployment, a highly skilled labor force, and a percapita GDP larger than that of the big Western European economies. The Swiss inrecent years have brought their economic practices largely into conformity withthe EU's to enhance their international competitiveness. Switzerland remains asafehaven for investors, because it has maintained a degree of bank secrecy andhas kept up the franc's long-term external value. The World Economic Forum's GlobalCompetitiveness Report currently ranks Switzerland's economy as the second mostcompetitive in the world. In 2005 the median household income in Switzerlandwas an estimated 95,000 CHF, the equivalent of roughly 55,000 USD in purchasingpower parity, which is similar to wealthy American states like California andVermont.

Chemicals, health and pharmaceutical, Measuring instruments,Musical instruments, real estate, banking and insurance, tourism, and internationalorganizations are important industries in Switzerland. The largest exportedgoods are chemicals (34% of exported goods), machines/electronics (20.9%), andprecision instruments/watches (16.9%). Exported services amount to a third ofexported goods. Switzerland has overwhelmingly private sectoreconomy and low tax rates by Western standards; overall taxation is one of thesmallest of developed countries. Switzerland is an easy place to do business.Apart from agriculture, economic and trade barriers between the European Unionand Switzerland are minimal and Switzerland has free trade agreementsworldwide.

The Swiss have for a long time restricted the sale ofproperty to foreigners. Now the Federal government has set an annual quota ofpermits for non-resident foreigners seeking to acquire property in Switzerland.In addition, cantonal authorization is needed before gaining a title. Eachcanton has slightly different rules, varying from commune to commune within thecanton. However by 2010 each canton will have the responsibility for its ownforeign property acquisition laws. This may result in faster transfer ofproperty titles as opposed to the current delays.