Geography of Switzerland - Western or Central Europe?

Western or Central Europe?

There is no universally accepted subdivision of Europe and the issue how to name the different European regions and define the borders between them is subject to debates. Depending on the definition chosen, Switzerland can be either part of Western or Central Europe, both concepts being context-dependent and carrying cultural, economical and political connotations.

The term "Western Europe" commonly indicates the region west of the Baltic and Adriatic Sea. Countries described as Western European (including Switzerland, according to the United Nations Statistics Division and the National Geographic Society) are invariably high-income developed countries, characterized by stable democratic political systems, mixed economies combining the free market with aspects of the welfare state. On the other hand, the term "Central Europe" refers to the region between Western and Eastern Europe. Central European countries (including Switzerland in the westernmost part, according to the World Factbook and various encyclopedias such as Britannica and Columbia) show high disparities with regard to income but possibly share similar cultural characteristics. The concept came back into fashion by the end of the Cold War, which had divided Europe politically into the Western World and the East Bloc, splitting Central Europe in half. Before World War I, in the German-speaking world, the term Mitteleuropa (from German: Middle Europe) was used to refer to an area larger than most conceptions of Central Europe, encompassing Switzerland and the other German-speaking countries.

Physically, Switzerland is situated approximately in the middle of the portion of Europe west of the Carpathian Mountains. Defining the Ural Mountains as the eastern limit of the continent, Switzerland is located within the western third of Europe, approximately 15 degrees of longitude away from the extreme west and 50 degrees away from extreme east.