Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/483

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

AREA AND POPULATION.

447

Rhoden and Inner Rhoden, or Exterior and Interior ; and Unterwald into Obwald and Nidwald, or Upper and Lower; but their union is preserved by each of the moieties sending one member to the State Council, so that there are two members to the divided as well as the undivided cantons.

A general census of the population of Switzerland is taken every ten years. At the last, of Dec. 10, 1860, the people numbered 2,510,494 souls, of whom 1,236,363 were males and 1,274,131 females. The area of the republic at the same date was 41,418 square kilometres, or 15,233 English square miles, giving an average density of population of 81 per English square mile.

The following table gives the area, population, and density of population of each of the 22 cantons, in order of size, according to the census returns : —

Cantons

Area

Eng. sq. miles

Population

Population per Eng. sq. mile

GrauLunden (Grisons)

2,968-0

90,713

302

Bern

2,561-5

467,141

178-8

WaHis (Valais)

1,661-6

90,792

50-5

Vaud (Waadt)

1,181-9

213,157

168-8

Tessin (Ticino)

1,034-7

116,343

113-8

St. Gall .

7477

180,411

228-2

Zurich .

685-3

266,265

365-8

Luzern .

587-4

130,504

226-1

Fribourg

563-9

105.523

177-1

Aargau .

502-4

194,208

397-7

Uri . . .

420-8

14.741

34-4

Schwyz .

338-3

45,039

130-5

Neuchatel (NeuenLurg)

280-2

44,149

252-5

Glarus .

279-8

33,363

107-9

Thurgau .

268-3

90,080

368-6

Unterwald

262-8

24,902

95-6

Solothurn (Soleure)

254-6

69.263

273-6

Basel .

184-6

92,265

4 20-2

Appenzell

152-8

60,431

359-3

Sehaffhausen .

119-7

35,500

294-9

Geneve (Genf )

91-3

82.876

702-5

Zug . .

85-4

19,608

204-4

Total

15,233-0

2,510,494 j

81-0

The population of the republic is formed by three nationalities distinct by their language as German, French, and Italian, but the first constituting the great majority. The German language is spoken by the majority of inhabitants in sixteen cantons, the French in four, and the Italian in two. It is calculated that 702 out of every thousand inhabitants speak German, 226 French, and 72 Italian.