Land Use
| Land use |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Main areas | Surface (in %) |
Land use | Surface (in ha) |
| Surfaces of housing and infrastructure |
|
Building areas | 137,564 |
| Industrial areas | 20,233 | ||
| Special infrastructure areas | 16,111 | ||
| Green spaces and recreation areas | 15,860 | ||
| Transportation areas | 89,329 | ||
| Agricultural land |
|
Orchards, vineyards, horticulture | 60,956 |
| Arable land, local pastures | 926,378 | ||
| Alpine pastures | 537,802 | ||
| Forests |
|
Forest | 1,102,160 |
| Scrub forests | 60,514 | ||
| Other woodlands | 108,978 | ||
| Unproductive areas |
|
Lakes | 142,234 |
| Rivers | 31,724 | ||
| Unproductive vegetation | 263,051 | ||
| Unvegetated surfaces | 615,597 | ||
The Swiss territory is divided into four major types of land use. As of 2001, 36.9% of the land in Switzerland was used for farming. 30.8% of the country is covered with forests and woodlands, with an additional 6.8% covered with houses or buildings. About one-fourth (25.5%) of the country is either mountains, lakes or rivers and is categorised as unproductive.
Read more about this topic: Geography Of Switzerland
Famous quotes containing the word land:
“All over this land women have no political existence. Laws pass over our heads that we can not unmake. Our property is taken from us without our consent. The babes we bear in anguish and carry in our arms are not ours.”
—Lucy Stone (1818–1893)
“That garret of the earth—that knuckle-end of England—that land of Calvin, oat-cakes, and sulphur.”
—Sydney Smith (1771–1845)