Cantons

The Swiss Confederation is made up of 26 members with equal rights, known as the cantons or «states». Among them, there are the following half cantons: Basle-City, Basle-Country, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Appenzell Innerrhoden.

Districts

The administrative level below the canton is the district. In 2025, 17 cantons had an administrative level between the canton and the municipality. Together, they comprise 135 districts, administrative districts, offices or regional divisions. If we include the cantons which have no further intermediate administrative level (Uri, Glarus, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Zug, Basel-Stadt, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Neuchâtel and Geneva), we arrive at a total of 144 regions. The beginning of 1997 saw the elimination of the subdivision of canton Appenzell Innerrhoden into an Inner and Outer region. In 2001, the 14 districts of canton Grisons were rearranged to 11 districts, followed in 2003 by the canton St. Gall with a reduction from 14 to eight districts. In 2010, the canton of Berne replaced its 26 districts by ten administrative units. At the end of 2017, all districts in the canton of Neuchâtel were abolished.

Municipalities and MS regions

The smallest administrative unit is the commune. At the beginning of 2026, there were 2113 communes in Switzerland; in the early Nineties, there were more than 3000! This subdivision level is very suitable for spatial analysis. It is used as a statistical observation unit for the Population Census (since 1850). For statistical purposes, some communes are grouped into conurbations. Nowadays, the 106 MS regions (mobilité spatiale) are the most important micro-regional analysis areas in Switzerland.

Major regions

In the wake of European integration, the process of economic concentration and globalisation, Swiss statistics have created large regional units for the purpose of regional comparisons within Switzerland itself and in Europe. This regionalization is aligned on European statistics. At the end of a process which took several years and required consultation with cantonal governments, the country was divided into seven large regions. This subdivision has been mandatory for Swiss statistics since 1997.