Population

Number of inhabitants: 7,164,000 (74% German, 20% French, 4% Italian, 1% Romansch) and 19.6% foreigners.
Number of students: 154,800 in 1998/1999, of which 20% are foreign students and 40% of postgraduate students are foreign.
Capital: Bern (123,000 inhabitants)
Principal cities: Zurich (336,000), Geneva (172,000), Basel (168,000), Bern (123,000), Lausanne (114,000), Lucerne (57,000)
Principal university cities: There are 14 institutions classed as universities in Switzerland, composed of eight state (canton) universities: Basel, Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Lausanne, Neuchâtel, St. Gallen and Zurich, two Federal Institutes of Technology in Lausanne and Zurich, the College of Secondary Education of St. Gallen, the schools of theology of Chur and Lucerne and the new university of Lugano which opened in 1996. The most important university city is Zurich with 20,000 students. There are also 120 private schools.