This map of Switzerland shows all 26 cantons: 20 full cantons and 6 traditionally called half-cantons. The cantons are grouped into 7 statistical regions, from the Lake Geneva Region to Ticino. Switzerland had 9,127,125 residents on 31 December 2025, and its capital is Bern, the federal city. On the Switzerland map above, click a region or canton to see its capital, population, area, languages, largest towns and UNESCO sites, or type a town in the search box to find its canton. The map already shows Moutier in Jura, where it moved from Bern on 1 January 2026.
How to use this map of Switzerland
Every region and canton on this Switzerland map is clickable.
- Explore a region: click or tap it to open its cantons, population, area, landmarks and food. Switch the Regions / Cantons toggle to see all 26 cantons on their own.
- Compare data: use View by to color the map by region, canton type, population, density, GDP per capita, UNESCO sites, year joined or language. The language layer colors each of the 2,110 municipalities by its main language, so the German-French border shows town by town.
- Find a town: type a town in the search box to see its canton and region. It answers questions such as which canton Lugano, Zermatt or Winterthur is in.
- Print it: Printables has a labelled map of Switzerland, a blank map and a blank map with the seven region colors, all in A4.
- Take the data: Export downloads all 26 cantons as CSV with a citation.
We publish the same kind of map for other countries: regions of Italy, which borders Ticino, Valais and Graubünden, and the map of Canada. For the continent, see Europe, and for everything we have on the country, Switzerland.
The 7 regions of Switzerland
The Federal Statistical Office (BFS) groups the 26 cantons into seven major regions, which match the NUTS 2 level used for European statistics. They are statistical units and have no government. Five contain several cantons. Zurich and Ticino are one canton each. Click a column heading to sort.
| Region | Cantons | Population | Area (km²) | Share of population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Geneva Region | 3 cantons | 1,776,847 | 8,719 | 19.5% |
| Espace Mittelland | 5 cantons | 1,974,171 | 10,062 | 21.6% |
| Northwestern Switzerland | 1 canton and 2 half-cantons | 1,251,797 | 1,959 | 13.7% |
| Zurich | 1 canton | 1,632,918 | 1,729 | 17.9% |
| Eastern Switzerland | 5 cantons and 2 half-cantons | 1,260,895 | 11,527 | 13.8% |
| Central Switzerland | 4 cantons and 2 half-cantons | 870,714 | 4,483 | 9.5% |
| Ticino | 1 canton | 359,783 | 2,812 | 3.9% |
Espace Mittelland has the most people, 1,974,171. Eastern Switzerland has the most land, 27.9% of the country’s area, but only 13.8% of its people. Zurich is the reverse: 17.9% of the population on 4.2% of the area. Ticino holds 3.9% of the population.
The regions of Switzerland one by one
Lake Geneva Region (Vaud, Valais, Geneva) has 1,776,847 people and is mostly French-speaking. Its two centers are Geneva (211,152) and Lausanne (145,596). The Valais, at the upper end of the Rhône valley, is bilingual and holds the Matterhorn and the Aletsch Glacier. Geneva is covered in our guide to things to do in Geneva.
Espace Mittelland (Bern, Fribourg, Solothurn, Neuchâtel, Jura) is the most populous region, with 1,974,171 people. It crosses the language border: Bern and Fribourg are bilingual, Solothurn is German-speaking, and Neuchâtel and Jura are French-speaking. The federal capital sits here.
Northwestern Switzerland (Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft, Aargau) has 1,251,797 people along the Rhine, where Switzerland meets Germany and France. Basel (180,097) anchors the pharmaceutical industry. Augusta Raurica, a Roman town on the border of Basel-Landschaft and Aargau, is one of the ruins in Switzerland.
Zurich is a region of one canton, with 1,632,918 people. The city of Zurich has 440,935, the most of any Swiss municipality, and the canton holds the main airport and the SIX Swiss Exchange. Students weighing ETH Zurich against Lausanne or Geneva can read about studying in Switzerland.
Eastern Switzerland (Glarus, Schaffhausen, the two Appenzells, St. Gallen, Graubünden, Thurgau) has 1,260,895 people. It reaches from Lake Constance and the Rhine Falls to the Engadin on the Italian border. Graubünden alone is 7,105.3 km², the largest canton, and the only one with three official languages.
Central Switzerland (Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Zug) has 870,714 people around Lake Lucerne. Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden, the two halves of which are today Obwalden and Nidwalden, founded the Confederation here in 1291. Uri also holds the north end of the Gotthard Base Tunnel.
Ticino is the only Italian-speaking canton and a region of its own, with 359,783 people. It lies south of the Alps around Lake Lugano and Lake Maggiore. Lugano (63,691) is the largest town, and Bellinzona (45,828) is the capital.
All 26 cantons of Switzerland
The table lists every canton with its two-letter code, capital, region, population, area, the year it joined and its official languages. The codes are the ones on Swiss number plates and in ISO 3166-2:CH. Click a heading to sort, or a canton name to open its card on the map. Population is the BFS figure for 31 December 2025, and area includes lakes.
All 26 cantons
| Code | Canton | Capital | Region | Population | Area (km²) | Joined | Official languages |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZH | Zurich | Zurich | Zurich | 1,632,918 | 1,729 | 1351 | German |
| BE | Bern | Bern | Espace Mittelland | 1,069,074 | 5,939 | 1353 | German, French |
| LU | Lucerne | Lucerne | Central Switzerland | 441,500 | 1,494 | 1332 | German |
| UR | Uri | Altdorf | Central Switzerland | 38,581 | 1,077 | 1291 | German |
| SZ | Schwyz | Schwyz | Central Switzerland | 170,072 | 908 | 1291 | German |
| OW | Obwalden | Sarnen | Central Switzerland | 39,879 | 491 | 1291 | German |
| NW | Nidwalden | Stans | Central Switzerland | 45,664 | 276 | 1291 | German |
| GL | Glarus | Glarus | Eastern Switzerland | 42,451 | 685 | 1352 | German |
| ZG | Zug | Zug | Central Switzerland | 135,018 | 239 | 1352 | German |
| FR | Fribourg | Fribourg | Espace Mittelland | 350,918 | 1,672 | 1481 | French, German |
| SO | Solothurn | Solothurn | Espace Mittelland | 291,583 | 791 | 1481 | German |
| BS | Basel-Stadt | Basel | Northwestern Switzerland | 204,157 | 37 | 1501 | German |
| BL | Basel-Landschaft | Liestal | Northwestern Switzerland | 303,872 | 518 | 1501 | German |
| SH | Schaffhausen | Schaffhausen | Eastern Switzerland | 90,087 | 298 | 1501 | German |
| AR | Appenzell Ausserrhoden | Herisau | Eastern Switzerland | 57,221 | 243 | 1513 | German |
| AI | Appenzell Innerrhoden | Appenzell | Eastern Switzerland | 16,890 | 173 | 1513 | German |
| SG | St. Gallen | St. Gallen | Eastern Switzerland | 544,040 | 2,028 | 1803 | German |
| GR | Graubünden | Chur | Eastern Switzerland | 207,400 | 7,105 | 1803 | German, Romansh, Italian |
| AG | Aargau | Aarau | Northwestern Switzerland | 743,768 | 1,404 | 1803 | German |
| TG | Thurgau | Frauenfeld | Eastern Switzerland | 302,806 | 994 | 1803 | German |
| TI | Ticino | Bellinzona | Ticino | 359,783 | 2,812 | 1803 | Italian |
| VD | Vaud | Lausanne | Lake Geneva Region | 863,650 | 3,212 | 1803 | French |
| VS | Valais | Sion | Lake Geneva Region | 376,113 | 5,225 | 1815 | French, German |
| NE | Neuchâtel | Neuchâtel | Espace Mittelland | 180,365 | 802 | 1815 | French |
| GE | Geneva | Geneva | Lake Geneva Region | 537,084 | 283 | 1815 | French |
| JU | Jura | Delémont | Espace Mittelland | 82,231 | 858 | 1979 | French |
Switzerland covers 41,290.6 km² and had 9,127,125 residents at the end of 2025, or 221 per km². That is 5.3% more than the 8,670,300 counted at the end of 2020. Four cantons, Zurich, Bern, Vaud and Aargau, hold 47.2% of the population.
Cantons and capitals of Switzerland
Bern is the capital of the canton of Bern and the seat of the federal government and parliament. The Federal Constitution names no national capital, and Bern’s official title is Bundesstadt, the federal city. It has 138,562 residents, the fifth most of any Swiss municipality after Zurich (440,935), Geneva (211,152), Basel (180,097) and Lausanne (145,596).
The federal courts sit elsewhere. The Federal Supreme Court is in Lausanne, with its two social-law divisions in Lucerne, the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona and the Federal Administrative Court in St. Gallen.
In most cantons the capital is also the largest municipality. These are the exceptions:
- Ticino: the capital is Bellinzona (45,828), but Lugano (63,691) is larger.
- Aargau: the capital is Aarau (22,932), and Baden (24,012) is larger.
- Solothurn: the capital is Solothurn (16,830), and Olten (19,265) is larger.
- Schwyz: the capital is Schwyz (16,735), and Freienbach (17,100) is larger.
- Basel-Landschaft: the capital is Liestal, and Allschwil (22,374) is larger.
- Appenzell Innerrhoden: the capital is Appenzell (6,191), and Schwende-Rüte (6,194) is larger by three people.
- Appenzell Ausserrhoden: the government and parliament are in Herisau and the cantonal court is in Trogen.
Full cantons and half-cantons
Switzerland has 20 full cantons and 6 half-cantons: Obwalden, Nidwalden, Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft, Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Appenzell Innerrhoden. Each pair comes from one historic canton that divided. Unterwalden split into Obwalden and Nidwalden in the Middle Ages, Appenzell split along religious lines in 1597, and Basel split into a city canton and a rural canton in 1833.
The 1999 Federal Constitution calls all 26 of them cantons. The old label survives in two rules. A half-canton sends one member to the Council of States instead of two, which makes 46 seats (20 × 2 plus 6 × 1). And its vote counts as half in the cantonal majority required for constitutional amendments, so the 26 cantons carry 23 votes and a majority takes 12.
The six half-cantons hold 667,683 people, 7.3% of the population and 4.2% of the area, but 13.0% of the seats in the Council of States. Use the canton type layer to see them on the map.
Does Switzerland have states or provinces?
Switzerland has neither states nor provinces by name. Its first level of government below the Confederation is the canton, and each canton is a state in the legal sense. Article 3 of the Federal Constitution makes the cantons sovereign except where the constitution limits them. Each has its own constitution, parliament, government, courts and tax rates, and the cantons run most schools, police forces and hospitals.
The Confederation handles foreign policy, defense, currency and the framework for much of the rest. Below the cantons are 2,110 municipalities. Together the three levels are the Swiss Confederation, a federal state since 1848.
Largest and smallest cantons
| Measure | Highest | Lowest |
|---|---|---|
| Area | Graubünden, 7,105.3 km² | Basel-Stadt, 37.0 km² |
| Population | Zurich, 1,632,918 | Appenzell Innerrhoden, 16,890 |
| Density per km² | Basel-Stadt, 5,517.8 | Graubünden, 29.2 |
| GDP per capita, 2024 | Zug, CHF 317,725 | Appenzell Ausserrhoden, CHF 54,642 |
| Population growth, 2020 to 2025 | Schaffhausen, 8.4% | Jura, 1.4% |
| Municipalities | Bern, 334 | Glarus and Basel-Stadt, 3 each |
Bern is the second-largest canton by both area (5,938.9 km²) and population (1,069,074). Graubünden covers 17.2% of the country and has 207,400 residents. Uri (35.8 per km²) and Glarus (61.9) are the next emptiest after Graubünden.
Zug and Basel-Stadt have GDP per capita of more than three times the national figure of CHF 95,486. The next highest are Geneva (CHF 165,459), Schaffhausen (151,492) and Neuchâtel (142,993). GDP per capita measures what companies based in a canton produce, not what residents earn, so commodity trading in Zug and pharmaceuticals in Basel lift it well above wages. For the living side, read the benefits of living in Switzerland. The GDP layer maps all 26.
Language regions: German, French, Italian and Romansh
Switzerland has four national languages, and each canton sets its own official languages. The map follows those, and uses the BFS statistical language areas, which have no legal status, for municipalities. The cantons divide as follows:
- German only (17 cantons): Zurich, Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Glarus, Zug, Solothurn, Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft, Schaffhausen, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden, St. Gallen, Aargau and Thurgau.
- French only (4 cantons): Vaud, Neuchâtel, Geneva and Jura.
- Italian only (1 canton): Ticino.
- German and French (3 cantons): Bern, Fribourg and Valais.
- German, Romansh and Italian (1 canton): Graubünden.
Of the 2,110 municipalities, 1,374 are in the German language area, 606 in the French, 115 in the Italian and 15 in the Romansh. The three bilingual cantons split differently. Bern has 299 German-area municipalities and 35 French, Fribourg has 93 French and 26 German, and Valais has 63 German and 59 French, with the French-speaking Lower Valais holding most of the people. Jura has 50 French-area municipalities and one German, Ederswiler. The informal border between French and German Switzerland is called the Röstigraben.
In the Structural Survey for 2022 to 2024, 61.3% of residents aged 15 and over named German as a main language, 22.5% French, 8.1% Italian and 0.5% Romansh. Respondents could name several languages, and 26.9% named at least one other language, from English and Portuguese to Albanian and Serbian. That share is highest in Geneva (42.3%), Basel-Stadt (39.5%) and Zug (35.0%). For who those speakers are, see Switzerland’s ethnic groups.
The highest single-language shares are Appenzell Innerrhoden for German (93.2%), Jura for French (90.1%) and Ticino for Italian (87.6%). Graubünden is the only canton where Romansh counts: 13.2% of residents name it, level with Italian at 13.0%. Romansh has been a national language since 1938 and an official language for dealings with Romansh speakers since 1996. Read more in our pages on official languages in Switzerland, languages spoken in Switzerland and indigenous languages in Switzerland.
Tourist regions: Bernese Oberland, Engadin, Lake Geneva Region and the rest
Travel sites divide Switzerland differently from the BFS. Tourist regions follow valleys and lakes, not cantonal borders, so one canton can belong to two of them and one region can hold several cantons. Bernese Oberland and Engadin are not cantons: the first is the Alpine south of the canton of Bern, and the second is the upper Inn valley in Graubünden, with St. Moritz at its head. The table follows Switzerland Tourism, the national tourist board, as used on myswitzerland.com.
| Tourist region | Cantons | Best-known areas |
|---|---|---|
| Bern Region | Bern | Bernese Oberland, Jungfrau Region (Interlaken, Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen), Thun, Gstaad, Emmental |
| Lucerne – Lake Lucerne | Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Zug | Lucerne, Rigi, Pilatus, Engelberg, Andermatt, Lake Zug |
| Zurich Region | Zurich | Zürich, Winterthur, Lake Zurich |
| Eastern Switzerland | St. Gallen, Thurgau, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Glarus, Schaffhausen | St. Gallen, Appenzell, Lake Constance, Rhine Falls (also covers Liechtenstein) |
| Graubünden | Graubünden | Engadin (St. Moritz, Scuol), Davos, Arosa, Chur, Rhaetian Railway |
| Ticino | Ticino | Lugano, Locarno, Ascona, Bellinzona |
| Valais | Valais | Zermatt, Saas-Fee, Verbier, Aletsch Arena, Sion |
| Vaud (often called Lake Geneva Region) | Vaud | Lausanne, Montreux, Vevey, Lavaux, Vaud Alps |
| Geneva Region | Geneva | Geneva and the lake shore |
| Fribourg Region | Fribourg | Fribourg, Gruyères |
| Jura & Three-Lakes | Jura, Neuchâtel, the Bernese Jura, Lake Murten area of Fribourg | Neuchâtel, Lake Murten, the Jura |
| Basel Region | Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft | Basel, Liestal |
| Aargau and Solothurn | Aargau, Solothurn | Aarau, Baden, Solothurn |
Two points cause most of the confusion. First, “Lake Geneva Region” in a travel guide usually means Vaud and Geneva, while the BFS region of that name adds Valais. Second, Bern and Fribourg each appear in two tourist regions. The Lake Geneva Region on this map uses the BFS definition.
The “Swiss Alps” are not a region at all. By the usual split, the Alps cover about 60% of the country, the Central Plateau about 30% and the Jura about 10%. The Alps run through Bern, Valais, Graubünden, Uri and northern Ticino, among others, and they are where Switzerland’s rivers begin: the Rhine and the Inn rise in Graubünden, and the Rhône in Valais. The Rhine drains to the North Sea, the Inn to the Black Sea through the Danube, and the Rhône and the Ticino (through the Po) to the Mediterranean. Our list of rivers in Switzerland covers them. For the country’s best-known sights, see what Switzerland is known for.
Which canton is it in?
Search a town on the map to see its canton and region. These are the places visitors ask about most, and a few are not where the name suggests.
| Place | Canton | Region |
|---|---|---|
| Zermatt | Valais | Lake Geneva Region |
| Interlaken | Bern | Espace Mittelland |
| Grindelwald | Bern | Espace Mittelland |
| Gstaad | Bern | Espace Mittelland |
| Lugano | Ticino | Ticino |
| Locarno | Ticino | Ticino |
| Montreux | Vaud | Lake Geneva Region |
| Vevey | Vaud | Lake Geneva Region |
| St. Moritz | Graubünden | Eastern Switzerland |
| Davos | Graubünden | Eastern Switzerland |
| Lucerne | Lucerne | Central Switzerland |
| Andermatt | Uri | Central Switzerland |
| Winterthur | Zurich | Zurich |
| Baden | Aargau | Northwestern Switzerland |
| Basel | Basel-Stadt | Northwestern Switzerland |
| Rapperswil | St. Gallen | Eastern Switzerland |
Baden is in Aargau, not the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Rapperswil is in St. Gallen, on the Zurich lake shore. Vaduz is the capital of Liechtenstein, a separate country, not a Swiss canton.
On a map of Switzerland and its surroundings, the neighbors are Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to the south, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Three cantons border Italy: Valais, Ticino and Graubünden. Switzerland is outside the EU but inside the Schengen Area, so days spent there count toward the 90/180 rule in our Schengen calculator.
How Switzerland grew, 1291 to 1979
The Confederation started with three cantons and reached 26 units in 688 years.
| Year | Change |
|---|---|
| 1291 | Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden (today Obwalden and Nidwalden) form the Eternal Alliance. Schwyz gives the country its name. |
| 1332 to 1353 | Lucerne (1332), Zurich (1351), Glarus and Zug (1352) and Bern (1353) join, which makes the eight old cantons. |
| 1481 to 1513 | Fribourg and Solothurn (1481), Basel and Schaffhausen (1501) and Appenzell (1513) join. The Thirteen Cantons remain the Confederation until the French invasion of 1798. |
| 1803 | Under Napoleon’s Act of Mediation, St. Gallen, Graubünden, Aargau, Thurgau, Ticino and Vaud become cantons, which makes 19. |
| 1815 | Valais, Neuchâtel and Geneva join at the Congress of Vienna, which makes 22 cantons by the traditional count. |
| 1848 | A new federal constitution turns the alliance into a federal state, with Bern as its federal city. |
| 1979 | Jura separates from Bern after plebiscites in 1974 and becomes the newest canton. It is the 23rd by the traditional count and the 26th when half-cantons are counted separately. |
| 2026 | Moutier moves from Bern to Jura on 1 January. The number of cantons stays at 26. |
The traditional count treats Unterwalden, Basel and Appenzell as one canton each, which is why you will see both 23 and 26 in books and on maps. Use the year joined layer to see the order on the map.
Moutier moves to Jura: what changed in 2026
Moutier, a French-speaking town in the Bernese Jura, became part of the canton of Jura on 1 January 2026, after its residents voted for the move in 2021 and the approvals that followed. Its BFS number changed from 700 to 6831. It had 7,053 residents at the end of 2025, with an area of about 19.6 km². Every map printed before 2026 shows it in Bern.
This map places Moutier in Jura for all dates, so the cantons compare like with like. Bern has 1,069,074 residents and 334 municipalities, and Jura has 82,231 residents and 51. BFS published 1,076,127 for Bern and 75,178 for Jura on the 2025 borders, before the move. The national total, 9,127,125, does not change. The rest of the Bernese Jura, including Saint-Imier and La Neuveville, stays in Bern.
Districts and municipalities
Switzerland has 2,110 municipalities as of 1 January 2026, down from earlier counts because small ones keep merging. Fribourg, for example, now has 119, and Neuchâtel 24. Bern has the most (334), then Vaud (300), Aargau (196) and Zurich (160). Glarus has three, after merging 25 into 3 in 2011, and Basel-Stadt has three: Basel, Riehen and Bettingen.
A municipality is an administrative unit, not a city in the everyday sense. The municipality of Lausanne, for example, is smaller than its urban area. Many cantons also have districts, called Bezirke, districts or distretti. Their number, powers and names are set by each canton, and a few, such as Geneva and Zug, have none. The search box on the map covers all 2,110 municipalities.
UNESCO World Heritage sites by canton
Switzerland has 13 UNESCO World Heritage properties: 9 cultural and 4 natural. The most recent addition was the Swiss part of the beech forests in 2021, and none were added in 2025 or 2026. A property that crosses a cantonal border counts in every canton it touches, so the canton lists add up to 32.
| Property | Cantons | Inscribed |
|---|---|---|
| Old City of Berne | Bern | 1983 |
| Abbey of St Gall | St. Gallen | 1983 |
| Benedictine Convent of St John at Müstair | Graubünden | 1983 |
| Three Castles of Bellinzona | Ticino | 2000 |
| Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch | Bern, Valais | 2001 |
| Monte San Giorgio | Ticino | 2003 |
| Lavaux, Vineyard Terraces | Vaud | 2007 |
| Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes | Graubünden | 2008 |
| Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona | Glarus, St. Gallen, Graubünden | 2008 |
| La Chaux-de-Fonds / Le Locle, Watchmaking Town Planning | Neuchâtel | 2009 |
| Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps | 15 cantons | 2011 |
| The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier | Vaud, Geneva | 2016 |
| Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests | Solothurn, Ticino | 2021 (Swiss parts) |
Bern, Graubünden, St. Gallen, Ticino and Vaud have three each, and Geneva, Neuchâtel and Solothurn have two. Seven cantons have none: Uri, Obwalden, Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden and Jura. The pile dwellings account for most of the overlap, with 56 Swiss sites in the 15 cantons of Zurich, Bern, Lucerne, Schwyz, Nidwalden, Zug, Fribourg, Solothurn, Schaffhausen, St. Gallen, Aargau, Thurgau, Vaud, Neuchâtel and Geneva. Vaud has 10 of them and Zurich 7. The UNESCO layer counts the sites per canton.
Frequently asked questions
How many cantons does Switzerland have?
Switzerland has 26 cantons. Twenty are full cantons and six are half-cantons: Obwalden, Nidwalden, Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft, Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Appenzell Innerrhoden. The count has been 26 since Jura became a canton in 1979, and the 2026 transfer of Moutier from Bern to Jura did not change it.
What is the capital of Switzerland?
Bern is the capital of Switzerland in practice. It is the seat of the federal government and parliament and holds the official title of federal city. The Swiss constitution does not name a capital. Zurich, with 440,935 residents, is the largest city, and Bern, with 138,562, is the fifth largest.
Does Switzerland have states or provinces?
No. Switzerland is divided into 26 cantons, and each is a sovereign state within the federation, with its own constitution, parliament, government and courts. Cantons are divided into 2,110 municipalities, and many also have districts. The seven regions on this map are statistical groupings and not a level of government.
Which canton are Zermatt, Interlaken, Lugano and Zurich in?
Zermatt is in Valais, Interlaken in Bern, Lugano in Ticino and Zurich in the canton of Zurich. To check any other town, type it in the search box above the map. It shows the canton and the region, and it covers all 2,110 Swiss municipalities.
Which canton is Moutier in now?
Moutier has been in the canton of Jura since 1 January 2026. It was in Bern before that. The move shifted 7,053 residents and about 19.6 km² from Bern to Jura, and the total number of Swiss cantons remained 26.
What are the biggest and smallest cantons in Switzerland?
Graubünden is the largest by area at 7,105.3 km², and Basel-Stadt the smallest at 37.0 km². Zurich has the most people, 1,632,918, and Appenzell Innerrhoden the fewest, 16,890. Basel-Stadt is also the most densely populated canton, with 5,517.8 people per km².
Which Swiss cantons speak French, German or Italian?
Seventeen cantons are German-speaking. Vaud, Neuchâtel, Geneva and Jura are French-speaking, and Ticino is Italian-speaking. Bern, Fribourg and Valais are bilingual in French and German, and Graubünden uses German, Romansh and Italian. Switch the map to the language layer to see the borders by municipality.
How do the 7 regions differ from tourist regions?
The seven regions are fixed statistical groupings of whole cantons, set by the Federal Statistical Office. Tourist regions such as the Bernese Oberland, Engadin or Three-Lakes follow valleys and lakes, and they can split a canton or take in only part of one. Neither type has legal powers.
Which canton is the oldest, and which three founded Switzerland?
Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden founded the Confederation in 1291. Unterwalden is today the two half-cantons of Obwalden and Nidwalden, so four of today’s 26 units date from 1291. Jura, which joined in 1979, is the newest.
Which canton has the highest GDP per capita?
Zug has the highest GDP per capita, CHF 317,725 in 2024, followed by Basel-Stadt at CHF 300,128 and Geneva at CHF 165,459. The Swiss average is CHF 95,486. BFS figures for 2024 are provisional and use the borders before Moutier moved.
How many municipalities does Switzerland have?
Switzerland had 2,110 municipalities on 1 January 2026. Bern has the most with 334, followed by Vaud with 300. Glarus and Basel-Stadt have the fewest with three each. The number falls most years as small municipalities merge.
How many UNESCO World Heritage sites does Switzerland have?
Switzerland has 13 UNESCO World Heritage properties, 9 cultural and 4 natural. Bern, Graubünden, St. Gallen, Ticino and Vaud have three each, while seven cantons have none. Sites that cross cantonal borders, such as the Jungfrau-Aletsch area, are listed in each canton they touch.
Sources and methodology
- Population: Federal Statistical Office (BFS), STATPOP, permanent resident population on 31 December 2025 (definitive) and 31 December 2020. The 26 cantons sum to the national total of 9,127,125.
- Moutier: BFS publishes 31 December 2025 data on the 2025 borders, one day before the transfer. Moutier’s 7,053 residents (2025) and 7,348 (2020) are moved from Bern to Jura so that both dates and both cantons use the same territory. Municipality counts and areas use the 2026 borders.
- Area and boundaries: swisstopo swissBOUNDARIES3D, release 2026-01, © swisstopo. Area includes lakes. The Swiss shares of Lake Constance count in Thurgau and St. Gallen. Density divides population by total area.
- Municipalities, regions and language areas: the BFS commune register at 1 January 2026: 2,110 municipalities, the seven major regions and the 2020 statistical language areas, which have no legal status.
- GDP per capita: BFS cantonal GDP, 2024, in Swiss francs at current prices. The figures are provisional, were published on 26 October 2026 and use the 2024 borders, so Moutier is still counted in Bern.
- Language shares: BFS Structural Survey, main languages of residents aged 15 and over in private households, with 2022, 2023 and 2024 pooled. Respondents may name several languages, so shares add to more than 100%. Official cantonal languages are from the cantonal constitutions.
- World Heritage: UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 13 properties, checked on 1 November 2026. Serial properties are split by canton using their component sites.
- Towns: populations of the five largest municipalities per canton are BFS figures for 31 December 2025, with coordinates from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0).
- Tourist regions: Switzerland Tourism (myswitzerland.com) and the regional tourist boards; tourist-region borders are approximate.
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