Canton of Zürich

• Highest elevation: Schnebelhorn 1291.8 m
• Lowest point: 330 m on the Hochrhein near Weiach
• Centre of the Canton of Zurich: in Wangen-Brüttisellen

The canton of Zurich lies largely on the Swiss Plateau. However, the extreme southeast of the canton is pre-Alpine in character, and the extreme northwest has a share of the easternmost Jura foothills. The canton borders the canton of Schaffhausen and Germany (border between Germany and Switzerland) to the north, the canton of Aargau to the west, the cantons of Zug and Schwyz to the south, and the cantons of Thurgau and St. Gallen to the east. East of the canton of Zurich begins Eastern Switzerland.

With the Rafzerfeld, the Canton of Zurich - along with Basel-Stadt and Schaffhausen - is one of only three cantons that have territorial shares on the right bank of the High Rhine.

Waters

The largest body of water in the canton is the long Lake Zurich, which extends into the southern part of the canton and also includes parts of the neighbouring cantons of Schwyz and St. Gallen to the east. The Greifensee and Pfäffikersee lakes in the Zurich Oberland are two other larger lakes in the canton. The Türlersee, Katzensee, Lützelsee and Husemersee are smaller bodies of water.

The Limmat leaves Lake Zurich in the city of Zurich and later joins the Reuss, the Aare and the Rhine at KoblenzAG in the canton of Aargau. In sections, the Rhine forms the border with the canton of Schaffhausen and Switzerland's state border with Germany. The Glatt, whose entire course lies in the canton, drains the Glatttal and the Zurich Oberland and flows into the Rhine near Glattfelden in the Zurich Unterland. The Töss is also a mountain river that rises in the Zurich Oberland and flows into the Rhine at Tössegg. The Thur also flows through Canton Zurich for the last few kilometres. The Sihl rises in Canton Schwyz, flows through Zurich's Sihltal valley and joins the Limmat in Zurich. The Reuss forms a small section of the border with Aargau in the southwest.

Two centuries ago, the small but water-rich mountain rivers and streams of the Zurich Oberland formed the beginning of Swiss industry with their hydroelectric power.

Mountains

The highest mountain in the canton of Zurich is the Schnebelhorn at 1292 m. Other well-known excursion peaks in the Zurich Oberland are the Bachtel and the Hörnli. The local mountain of the city of Zurich, the Uetliberg, belongs to the Albis chain, which is up to 915 m high. The Lägern in the northwest is already a foothill of the Jura mountains.

Regions

The canton of Zurich is divided into various smaller regions. Some of these are characteristically rural, but urbanization in the canton of Zurich is well advanced: The capital Zurich dominates the canton.

In the very north of the canton, between Winterthur and Schaffhausen, lies the Zürcher Weinland. It is very sparsely populated and has retained its rural character like no other Zurich region. The Winterthur region lies to the south of the Weinland. Winterthur is the sixth largest city in Switzerland and the second largest in the canton.

To the west of the Winterthur region and northeast of the city of Zurich lies the Zürcher Unterland. This is already part of the Zurich agglomeration; the central Glatttal in particular is heavily urbanised or partly intergrown with Zurich, while the Furttal, Wehntal and Rafzerfeld on the other side of the Rhine are still largely outside the inner agglomeration. Zurich Airport is also located and dominates in the Unterland.

The capital of the canton of Zurich, the major city of the same name, with its strong international character, lies somewhat to the west of the geographical centre of the canton at the northern end of Lake Zurich. It occupies the entire valley there, which is flowed through by the Limmat and Sihl rivers and bounded by the hill ranges of Uetliberg, Hönggerberg, Zürichberg and Adlisberg. To the west of the city, on the Limmat at the border with Canton Aargau, lies the Limmattal region. This is highly urbanized and its municipalities have partly merged with the city of Zurich.

Lake Zurich spreads out to the south of the city. Both shores are practically completely overbuilt. The right bank has become the prosperous so-called Gold Coast due to its sunny location, while the left bank is sometimes slightly derogatorily called the Pfnüsel Coast. Immediately behind the Lake Zurich communities are the hills of the Zimmerberg (left shore) and the Pfannenstiel (right shore). The Zimmerberg in particular, with the Hirzel region in the southernmost tip of the canton, is sparsely populated by comparison.

In the southeast of the canton lies the partially pre-Alpine Zürcher Oberland, which contains both Zurich suburban communities, decidedly rural areas and medium-sized former industrial centres (Uster, Wetzikon).

The Knonauer Amt, popularly known as Säuliamt, lies in the south-western corner. It is separated from the rest of the canton by the Albis chain and has a predominantly rural character. Between the Albis and the Zimmerberg lies the Sihltal. In its northern part, close to the city, are other suburban municipalities of Zurich, while in the south it is practically uninhabited.

In 2015, the Canton of Zurich had a higher Human Development Index than any independent state on earth and any other sub-state region, apart from the Australian Capital Territory.

Inhabitants

At the end of 2016, 1,482,003 people lived in the canton of Zurich, of whom 386,545 did not have Swiss citizenship.

Languages

The official language of the canton is German. The colloquial language is Swiss German or its local variant, Zurich German.

According to the new Zurich constitution, sign language also falls under the freedom of language.

Religions - Denominations

History

The Canton of Zurich is one of the traditionally Reformed cantons, since the city of Zurich, under Zwingli's leadership, adopted the Reformation and enforced it throughout its subject territory. This made the canton the first Reformed place in Switzerland. Historical exceptions are the parity Dietikon (assigned in 1803 when the canton of Baden was dissolved) and the former Catholic monastery village of Rheinau (also assigned in 1803 to replace the loss of Stein am Rhein and Dörflingen).

As a result of strong immigration (Zurich as an economic centre) and increasing non-denominationalism, the canton is now multi-religious; none of the communities has an absolute majority any more. The Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Zurich is recognised under public law, as have the Roman Catholic Body of the Canton of Zurich since 1963 and the cantonal parish of the Christ Catholic Church of Switzerland, and on the basis of the new cantonal constitution since 2005 two of Zurich's Jewish communities, whereas others have preferred to remain under private law.

Confession statistics

At the end of 2020, the canton of Zurich had 1,551,342 inhabitants, 26.2% (406,800) of whom were Protestant Reformed and 24.2% (375,901) Roman Catholic. The remaining 49.6% of the population belonged to no religious community or to another religious community. At the end of 2011, 34% of the population was still Reformed and 28% Catholic; 0.1% each belonged to the Christian Catholic Church or one of the two Jewish communities recognized under public law. In 2011, the Reformed national church had lost 5617 members (then new 467,000); the membership of the Roman Catholic Church in the canton of Zurich grew by 1500 people in the same year (then new 389,000).

Precise membership figures for other religious communities in the canton of Zurich have not been available since the 2000 census. However, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) carries out sample surveys that also cover other religious communities in the canton. At the end of 2017, 6.5 per cent of respondents aged 15 and over said they belonged to another Christian denomination (neither (Christian) Catholic nor Reformed), 6.5 per cent were of the Muslim faith, 0.5 per cent belonged to a Jewish community (including state-recognised communities), 1.7 per cent were members of other denominations and 29.2 per cent of respondents described themselves as non-denominational. The statistical confidence interval of the individual results lies between 1.6 percent and 15.2 percent.

The 2017 structural survey also reveals major differences in the religious affiliation of the various population groups: while among respondents aged 15 and over with Swiss citizenship, members of the Protestant Reformed Church (36.3 per cent) form the largest group, among respondents aged 15 and over with foreign citizenship, those without a religious affiliation (35.5 per cent) form the largest grouping. Although among 15-24 year olds, members of the Protestant Reformed Church (28.4 percent) make up the largest proportion, the proportion of respondents with a Muslim faith is highest in this age group at 10.4 percent. By comparison, only 1.8 percent of those over 65 said they were members of a Muslim community. The largest group in this age group are members of the Protestant Reformed Church (44.9 percent).