Demographics
In contrast to the mainly Protestant cantons of Vaud to its west and Bern to its east, the canton of Fribourg is a predominantly Roman Catholic enclave (as of 2000, 70%) with a Protestant minority (15%). This explains the canton's existence, even though it straddles the French-German linguistic border, for in the past, denominational considerations were more important than linguistic when drawing Switzerland's cantons.
The main centres of population are the capital Fribourg (34,300 inhabitants) and Bulle (18,200 inhabitants).
Two-thirds of the population speak French, and one-third speaks Alemannic dialects of German. The French-speaking areas are in the west of the canton, whereas the Alemannic-speaking areas are in the east. There are a number of bilingual towns, a fact that has attracted some businesses, such as telesales. The population of the canton (as of 31 December 2011) is 284,668. As of 2007, the population included 43,838 foreigners, or about 16.65% of the total population.
Read more about this topic: Canton Of Fribourg