Canton of Geneva

46.2186.166Coordinates: 46° 13′ N, 6° 10′ E; CH1903: 501800 / 119304

Geneva (Swiss German Gämf/Gänf, French Genève [ʒənɛv, ʒnɛv], Franco-Provençal Zeneva [ðəˈnɛva, ˈzɛnəva], Italian Ginevra, Rhaeto-Romanic Genevra^{? /i}), official French. République et Canton de Genève (Republic and Canton of Geneva), is a canton of Switzerland. It is located in French-speaking French-speaking Switzerland, is part of the cross-border metropolitan region of Geneva-Lausanne and borders on France and the canton of Vaud. The capital is the eponymous city of Geneva.

Geography

The canton of Geneva forms the southwestern tip of Switzerland. It is located in Romandy (French-speaking Switzerland) and is almost completely surrounded by French territory: its border with France - and its departments of Ain and Haute-Savoie - is 103, while that with the Swiss canton of Vaud is only 4.5 kilometres long.

The canton encloses the southwestern end of Lake Geneva, at the outflow of the Rhone towards the Mediterranean. The second important river is the Arve, which, coming from Chamonix, joins the Rhone in Geneva. The canton lies in the "Geneva basin" ("cuvette genevoise") between the four highest peaks of the Jura mountain range and the French mountains of Vuache, Salève and Voirons. The landscape is hilly. The highest point (516 m above sea level) is boundary stone No. 141 at Les Arales near the hamlet of La Monniaz in the municipality of Jussy, the lowest point (340 m above sea level) is also the westernmost point of Switzerland and lies on the Rhone near Chancy.

The political commune of Céligny forms two exclaves of the canton of Geneva in the canton of Vaud on the right bank of Lake Geneva.

Population

As of 31 December 2019, the population of the Canton of Geneva was 504,128, with a population density of 1785 inhabitants per square kilometre, well above the Swiss average (208 inhabitants per square kilometre). The proportion of foreigners (registered residents without Swiss citizenship) was 40.0 per cent on 31 December 2019, compared to 25.3 per cent registered foreigners nationwide. As of January 31, 2021, the unemployment rate was 5.6 percent compared to 3.7 percent at the federal level.

Languages

The official language is French. Sign language is recognised (Art. 16 Geneva Constitution).

The original language of the region, Franco-Provençal, was replaced by French at the level of the chancery language in the late Middle Ages, but persisted at the dialectal level until the 20th century, particularly in the communes that were Savoyard until 1815. Today, the Genevan patois is extinct.

81 percent of the canton's population report French, 11 percent English, 10 percent Portuguese, 8 percent Spanish, 7 percent Italian and 5 percent German as their main language(s). (Due to multiple responses, the total does not add up to 100 percent).

Religions - Denominations

The areas that had already belonged to Geneva before 1815 are traditionally Reformed, while those that were annexed at the Congress of Vienna, formerly French and Savoyard, are traditionally Catholic. As a result of strong immigration from Swiss mountain regions and southern Europe, the Catholic proportion of the population has increased sharply. State and church have been separated since 1907 according to the French model.

According to a nationwide survey on religion conducted by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) in 2014, 43 per cent of the inhabitants of the canton of Geneva identify themselves as Catholic, 10 per cent as Reformed and 27 per cent as non-denominational. The remaining 20 percent are mostly followers of other Christian denominations (including Evangelicals) and Muslims. Just under half (49%) of the canton's population describe themselves as spiritual and only a good third (35%) as religious. 44% of the population believe in life after death, 30% do not believe in it and a further 26% are undecided or do not know the answer.